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THS girls track takes 3rd at Cardinal Relays

By Benton Smith - | Apr 25, 2011

The Tonganoxie High girls track team wasn’t operating at full strength on Thursday at the Cardinal Relays, but that didn’t stop the Chieftains from finishing third at the Eudora meet.

THS senior runner Cristina Rubio had a bad leg, sophomore Jenny Whitledge was held out of the 300-meter hurdles, senior pole vaulter Dannie Oelschlaeger was out of town and Tonganoxie finished third in team points, behind champion Baldwin and runner-up Eudora.

THS girls track coach Chris Weller said he didn’t want Rubio overusing her bad leg and he held Whitledge out of the low hurdles because she would be competing at the Kansas Relays the next day. Those factors, along with Oelschlaeger’s absence, the coach said, made it tricky for the Chieftains to field their relay teams.

“It seemed like every one of our relays, we were trying to find replacements,” Weller said.

Without many options, both Rubio and Whitledge had to take part in the 4×100 relay race and THS finished sixth in the event.

The result was characteristic of a pretty dismal night.

“I thought we’d do a little better,” Weller said. “It was raining most of the meet.”

The coach said Tonganoxie’s girls competed in “miserable conditions,” noting the long jump and pole vault events finished in the dark.

“Under the conditions, I guess we didn’t do so bad,” Weller said.

In fact, the Chieftains had three placers in the shadowy field events. Whitledge won the long jump, junior Jordan Weber had the sixth-best long jump and freshman Jessica Rubio placed seventh in the pole vault.

Whitledge also took first place in the high jump as she and senior thrower Domino Grizzle continued their impactful seasons. Grizzle won the shot put, took second in discus and was seventh in javelin.

Said Weller of their night at Eudora: “They were our leaders there and they’re our leaders point-wise the whole year. They’re the real go-getters.”

Tonganoxie has received a boost of late from Weber, a transfer from Piper who came out late for track. Weller said he held the junior out for the first 10 days of the season but she has been an asset since entering the lineup. Not only did Weber place in the long jump, but she finished fifth in triple jump and ran on the 4×100 relay team.

“She’s working hard and doing a good job,” the coach said.

Weller said the development of the 4×800 relay team has been good news for THS, too.

“They hadn’t had a great season so far, but they came together and got third place,” he said of the runners’ finish at Eudora.

Each of the relay team’s runners — Hunter Cook, Kara Banks, Abby Thomas and Sagan Scates — ran a personal record split on Thursday and they combined to knock 36 seconds off their time from the previous meet, finishing in 11:09.8.

At 4 p.m. Friday, the Chieftains will compete at the De Soto Invitational.

Cardinal Relays

Thursday at Eudora

Girls

Team scores: 1. Baldwin, 197.5; 2. Eudora, 70; 3. Tonganoxie, 68; 4. Mill Valley, 60; 5. De Soto, 54; 6. Perry-Lecompton, 37; 7. Piper, 37; 8. Kansas City Christian, 32.5; 9. McLouth, 28; 10. Pleasant Ridge, 25.

THS results

Shot put — 1. Domino Grizzle, 40-11; 6. Makayla Sample, 32-5.5.

Discus — 2. Domino Grizzle, 99-1; 5. Holley Thompson, 85-4.

Javelin — 7. Domino Grizzle, 104-4.

Long jump — 1. Jenny Whitledge, 16-11; 6. Jordan Weber, 14-11.5.

High jump — 1. Jenny Whitledge, 5-0; 7. Haley Griffin, 4-6.

Triple jump — 5. Jordan Weber, 29-10.5.

Pole vault — 7. Jessica Rubio, 7-0.

4×800 relay — 3. Hunter Cook, Kara Banks, Abby Thomas, Sagan Scates,11:09.8.

100-meter hurdles — 4. Hannah Kemp, 17.6.

4×100 relay — 6. Cristina Rubio, Hannah Kemp, Jenny Whitledge, Jordan Weber, 54.4.

300-meter hurdles — 6. Hannah Kemp, 52.1.

4×400 relay — 5. Kara Banks, Hunter Cook, Abby Thomas, Jessica Rubio, 4:53.8.