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Girls fall short against MV

By Scott Tittrington - | May 16, 2007

? Tracie Hileman piled up the points in a two-hour tour de force.

Jennifer Wagner and Christy Weller etched their names in the school record book.

Ali Pistora and the Grizzle sisters — Ronnie and Roxi — tossed in their latest impressive medal haul.

Still, once the Kaw Valley League track and field championships came to a close last Wednesday, all the talk in the Tonganoxie High camp was about the one thing the Chieftains didn’t do — win the girls league title.

“Our overall goal was to beat Mill Valley. I’m a little bit disappointed in that,” said Tonganoxie coach Chris Weller, who started scratching out possible point totals on his trusty clipboard as soon as the competition began and didn’t stop until the final relay broke the tape some seven hours later.

“But the girls really worked hard tonight,” Weller said. “They came out and competed and did their best. Maybe next year.”

For much of this year’s gathering at Santa Fe Trail High, it looked like 2007 might indeed be a breakthrough for the Chieftains.

As usual, the throwers did their part, with Ronnie Grizzle winning the shot put and discus, Roxi Grizzle finishing second and third, respectively, in the same two events, and Ali Pistora, Roxi Grizzle and Chrissie Jeannin finishing 1-2-3 in the javelin.

Meanwhile, Hileman was keeping busy in a two-hour whirlwind of events that saw her finish second in the long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles, and tied for fourth in the high jump, accounting for 27 team points by herself.

“When you want it so bad and you try so hard, you get exhausted,” said Hileman of a grueling schedule that all but rules her out from competing in later events. “There’s no pacing yourself in the events I do. It’s all out.”

While Hileman provided the best individual point total, Wagner was at the center of arguably the Chieftains’ two most memorable moments.

First, she and teammate Christy Weller — who entered the meet tied with two former Tonganoxie athletes for the school’s girls pole vault record — each broke the mark, clearing 9 feet.

Then came Wagner’s performance — and better yet, her post-race reaction — in the 100 hurdles final. After crossing the line in 16.43 to win the event, Wagner turned to Hileman and loudly exclaimed, “Where the flip did that come from?”

“Last year, I used to run really, really well. And this year, I haven’t run under 17 (seconds),” Wagner said. “It was kind of a nice surprise. So, I was like, yeah.”

Despite all those gaudy results, Mill Valley used its advantage in both the sprints and distance races to win the title with 168.5 points, followed by Tonganoxie at 153.5.

Third-place finisher Santa Fe Trail managed just 75, a subpar score not lost on Chris Weller when deciphering why his team couldn’t snare the gold trophy.

“It’s a little bit things we could have done better in a few things, but a lot of the other teams usually give you some help,” Weller said.

The Tonganoxie boys also received a strong showing by its usual strong cast of throwers and jumpers, scoring 96 points and finishing third in the team race behind Bonner Springs (142) and Mill Valley (123).

Jeff Hughes accounted for 18 by himself, including a tiebreaker victory in the triple jump against Bonner Spring’s Anthony Brown with a final leap of 41-9.

“Anthony Brown’s beaten me all year. He beat me all last year. It feels great to beat him,” said Hughes, who also took fourth in both the long jump and the 110 hurdles. “To beat him today means going out in style.”

Other top boys performances included runner-up finishes by Chris Jordan in the 300 hurdles, Chris Price in the 3,200, Tyler Gurss in the discus and Justin McDaniel in the shot put, as well as a 2-3-4 finish by Zeb Kissinger, Travis Guthrie and Gabe Belobrajdic in the javelin. “The one thing our team has had as a strength all year is some depth,” said Tonganoxie coach Phil Williams. “That’s what allowed us to get as high as third in the league.”

Both Tonganoxie squads next will compete Friday at the Class 4A regional meet at Royal Valley High near Hoyt. The meet, which will start at 3 p.m., will determine qualifiers for next week’s state meet in Wichita.

Other teams at the event will be Atchison, Basehor-Linwood, De Soto, Clay Center, Concordia, Hiawatha, Holton, Royal Valley, Bishop Ward, Piper, St. James Academy, Marysville, Jeff West, Perry-Lecompton and Wamego.

KAW VALLEY LEAGUE MEET

Boys team scores

Bonner Springs 142, Mill Valley 123, Tonganoxie 96, Lansing 58, Kansas City Piper 41, Basehor-Linwood 36.5, Kansas City Ward 30, Santa Fe Trail 19, Leavenworth Immaculata 10, Perry-Lecompton 2.5.

Tonganoxie individual results

100 — 13. D.J. Lindsey, 12.10. 18. Alex Nowasell, 12.58. 23. Kazy Fukuyasu, 13.33.
200 — 7. Lindsey, 24.48. 17. Nowasell, 26.00.
400 — 8. John Davis, 54.66. 17. Wes Armstrong, 57.58. 18. Pat Holton, 57.73.
800 — 5. Matt Brock, 2:09.90. 6. Justin Smith, 2:10.73. 13. Tim Beeman, 2:18.75.
1,600 — 7. Chris Price, 4:55.01.
3,200 — 2. Price, 10:40.13. 9. Colin Perkins, 11:10.10. 10. David Powell, 11:17.16.
110 hurdles — 4. Jeff Hughes, 17.30. 6. Chris Jordan, 17.76.
300 hurdles — 2. Jordan, 42.13. 9. Jamison Bloomer, 44.88. 14. Fukuyasu, 49.26.
4×100 relay — 5. Tonganoxie, 46.07.
4×400 relay — 5. Tonganoxie, 3:39.70.
4×800 relay — 2. Tonganoxie, 8:43.94.
Pole vault — 3. Blaize Oelschlaeger and Shane Banks, 11-0.
Long jump — 4. Hughes, 19-2 1/2. 9. Kendrick Whittington, 17-7 3/4. 24. D.J. Gray, 13-1.
Triple jump — 1. Hughes, 41-9. 5. Whittington, 39-2.
Shot put — 2. Justin McDaniel, 42-5 1/2. 8. Chance Rawlins, 38-4 1/2.
Discus — 2. Tyler Gurss, 127-2. 9. Stephen Wilson, 105-9.
Javelin — 2. Zeb Kissinger, 163-7. 3. Travis Guthrie, 159-9. 4. Gabe Belobrajdic, 154-9.

Girls team scores

Mill Valley 168.5, Tonganoxie 153.5, Santa Fe Trail 75, Perry-Lecompton 57, Basehor-Linwood 27, Kansas City Ward 24, Lansing 21, Bonner Springs 18, Kansas City Piper 14.

Tonganoxie individual results

400 — 18. Laurie Chenoweth, 1:10.97.
800 — 1. Christy Weller, 2:27.54. 2. Andie Jeannin 2:30.85.
3,200 — 9. Kayla Leffert, 13:50.41. 13. Megan Schenk, 14:57.01.
100 hurdles — 1. Jennifer Wagner, 16.43. 2. Tracie Hileman, 16.96. 7. Rachel Bogard, 17.19.
300 hurdles — 2. Wagner, 48.93. 4. Bogard, 50.64. 6. Abby Eisman, 52.34.
4×100 relay — 8. Tonganoxie, 54.62.
4×400 relay — 5. Tonganoxie, 4:23.99.
4×800 relay — 2. Tonganoxie, 10:12.92.
High jump — 4. Hileman and Ali Pistora, 5-0.
Pole vault — 2. Wagner, 9-0. 3. Weller, 9-0. 6. Eisman, 8-0.
Long jump — 2. Hileman, 15-11 1/2. 12. Amber Sanborn, 13-10 1/4. 21. Michelle Lindsey, 11-2 1/2.
Triple jump — 2. Hileman, 33-5 1/2. 7. Sanborn, 30-7 1/2. 16. Lindsey, 25-6.
Shot put — 1. Ronnie Grizzle, 41-2 1/2. 2. Roxi Grizzle, 40-11 1/2. 12. Elise Drennon, 27-9 1/2.
Discus — 1. Ron. Grizzle, 119-8. 3. Rox. Grizzle, 104-0. 9. Sami Franiuk, 83-8.
Javelin — 1. Pistora, 143-9. 2. Rox. Grizzle, 141-2. 3. Chrisse Jeannin, 120-10.