Aquinas girls cruise to district title
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - 12:55 am
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
For the most part, it turned out to be a good day for the Aquinas and East Butler girls track teams at the District C-1 meet at Memorial Field Thursday.
The Monarchs won six events and placed second in six others to cruise to the district championship.
Aquinas scored 171 points, finishing well ahead of Yutan, which scored 119.5.
"If you had told me two weeks ago that this would happen, I probably wouldn't have believed you," Aquinas Coach John Svec said. "We had injuries. We had illnesses. But we got people back and our whole team responded."
The Tigers scored 68 points to place third.
Junior standouts Mary Klosterman of Aquinas and Marissa Bongers of East Butler won two individual events apiece.
Bongers' two victories came after a shocking development earlier in the day. One of the state's top runners in the 400, Bongers was disqualified for a false start. It's the first time she'd ever false started in a race.
"She showed such character and class, which wasn't a surprise. She was mad at herself, but she didn't make any excuses. She came back and ran very well the rest of the day," Nielsen said.
"I was really disappointed. I've never had that happen before," Bongers said. "I knew I had two races left and I wanted to try my hardest."
Bongers won the 800 meters easily in a time of 2:23.7.
Although she didn't run the event the last two weeks of the season, moving into the 3,200 relay instead, Bongers felt running the 200 through most of the season.
"It's made me better. I started to get to 200 speed and it gives me an extra kick to finish with," she said.
She saved the best for last, breaking her own school record in the 1,600. She posted a winning time of 5:30.7, breaking the mark of 5:32.1 she set last year and finishing 4.4 seconds ahead of teammate Cassie Aerts.
"It's good to have Cassie there, because she pushed me, too. It helps when you have good runners to push you," Bongers said.
Klosterman had a different kind of adversity to overcome. She'd missed three of the Monarchs' previous four meets due to illness. She came back to compete a full schedule, even if she wasn't at full strength.
Maybe the junior wasn't 100 percent, but she was close enough to have a big impact for the Monarchs. She won the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.9 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 48.5 seconds. She ran on the runner-up 400 relay team, which had a time of 51.6 seconds which was easily fast enough for an at-large spot. She finished her day by running a 400-meter split of just over 61 seconds to overtake the anchor runner from Omaha Christian and win the 1,600 relay.
"She's not at 100 percent yet, but she's getting there. We're going to have to rest her a bit, but she's going to be fine by the time Friday comes around," Svec said.
"It was definitely tough. I tried to compete the best I could. I'm just so thankful I have such a great team to be a part of," Klosterman said.
Bongers wasn't the only Tiger to break her own school record.
Aerts had set the school record in the 3,200 at the ECNC meet just under two weeks previous, breaking the mark set by her sister, Andrea, in 2007.
The freshman cut just over nine seconds off that mark, setting a new standard of 12:00.9 to win the 3,200.
"I kept pushing hard, especially through those fifth and sixth laps. I wanted to run faster for my sister and Marissa," Aerts said.
"Cassie ran just about a perfect race," Nielsen said. "She had that race scripted out, as far as how it would go and when she would make her move. I know she wanted to go under 12:00, but she ran really well all day. She ran her fastest times of the season. I'm excited for her to see what she can do against the competition she'll see at state."
The girls 3,200 was one of the fastest of the day.
Aquinas freshman Brooke Anderson cut 14 seconds off her previous personal best to place second in a time of 12:18.3.
"Brooke's race was outstanding," Svec said. "She wasn't 100 percent last week, but she was able to come back strong. She ran a very smart race which puts her in contention for a medal."
"It's been a crazy week," Anderson said. "I just tried to eat healthy and stay in shape. I focused harder on giving everything I had."
Even the third place finisher, a runner from Yutan, ran a time that would have won eight of the other ten Class C districts.
Aquinas also had a pair of sisters emerge victorious.
Junior Cortny Novacek and Yutan's Kayla Ambrose, who had the top high jump coming in, both cleared 5'1". Novacek got the first place medal by tiebreaker.
"This is the same time she started to peak the last time she made it to state," Svec said. "She'd been going 4'10" and 5' and today she goes 5'1". She's got to be taking some confidence to state."
Freshman Amanda Novacek had one of her better days of the season. She won the 100 meters with a time of 12.8 seconds. She went 16'2 3/4" to qualify with a second-place finish in the long jump. She also ran on the qualifying 400 relay team.
"She rose to the occasion against the competition. You look for someone to do that at district time and we had a lot of girls to that today," Svec said.
Klosterman's performance was part of a strong day for the Aquinas hurdle corps. Megan Engel's struggled much of the season, but things clicked for the sophomore Thursday. She placed second in the 300 hurdles in a time of 48.9 seconds, a time two seconds off her previous best this season and her fastest since she ran the event in 48.25 seconds at the 2008 state meet. She also placed third with a season-best time in the 100 hurdles. Shianne Chlupacek placed fourth in both hurdles, cutting over two seconds off her 300 time.
"That was good to see, especially in the long hurdles. Mary ran hard. Megan had a good day and Shianne loves to compete and it really showed today," Svec said.
Sophomore Bri Romshek rounded out the list of area individual qualifiers. She threw the discus 109'6" to win.
"After she threw 116'2" (at the Centennial Conference the previous week), we thought she had a chance. She did what she needed to do today. I'm glad she's also going to get that experience of competing at state," Svec said.
"I tried to not to worry about the rest of the competition and just do my best," Romshek said.
The Monarchs' 1,600 relay was a mixture of youth and experience. Klosterman and senior Amy Kreikemeier ran on the school's state-title winning relay two years ago. Regina Blowers and Laura Andel are freshmen.
"Nobody knows what to expect from freshman when you get to district time, but we had some of them step up with a couple of nice runs. Hopefully they'll get the chance to experience state and use that to build for the future," Svec said.
East Butler's team of Kylee Sisel, Aerts, Rachel Svoboda and Bongers ran a deceptive time of 10:33.5. That time should get cut down at state, as Bongers ran a 2:43 split, easily the slowest of her career, as she was conserving energy for the later races.
"I think we might surprise some people, given that we have the slowest time in the field at state. Marissa running her normal 800 cuts us down another 20 seconds at least, which starts to get us within range for a medal. If we can run a 10:10 or better, we have a chance," Nielsen said.
Kreikemeier qualified for state in the triple jump for the third time in four years. She placed second Thursday by going 33'8 1/4".
The battle for the second qualifying spot in the shot put turned out to be close between two area seniors.
Aquinas' Gabi Comte threw a personal-best 35'2 1/2", but was edged out by East Butler's Sara Vandenberg. She threw 35'4", just off her personal best, to get the second place spot.
The 400 relay turned out to be a highlight for the older Klosterman, as it gave her the chance to get to state in an event with her younger sister, Caitlin. The team of Kreikemeier, Novacek, Klosterman and Klosterman will be competing in Omaha.
"It's definitely been the best part of the year, being able to run with my best friend. We get along so well. It's going to be fun to be able to run at state together," Mary said.
The only second-place finish not to garner a trip to state came from Aquinas' 3,200 relay team of Norah Hilger, Rachel Stara, Cortny Novacek and Jill Stara. That group posted a time of 11:10.5.
Aquinas also received third-place finishes from Katie Holoubek (high jump), Comte (discus) and Blowers (pole vault).
In the event she's needed, sophomore Lindsey Dobesh showed she's ready to step in to the 3,200 relay for East Butler. The Tigers' alternate, she placed third in the open 800 with a personal-best time of 2:38.1
East Butler's 1,600 relay team of Heather Helman, Dobesh, Sisel and Svoboda placed fourth.
The Monarchs got fourth place finishes from Kreikemeier (long jump), Amanda Novacek (200), Blowers (400) and Anderson (800) in addition to Chlupacek (both hurdle races).
The Class C State Meet runs Friday and Saturday at Omaha Burke Stadium. The Friday session starts at 9 a.m.
District C-1
At David City Memorial Field
Girls Division
Team Standings
1. Aquinas 171; 2. Yutan 119.5; 3. East Butler 68; 4. Louisville 59.5; 5. Oma. Brownell-Talbot 46; 6. Oma. Christian 26; 7. Conestoga 20.5; 8. Oma. Concordia 10.
Event results
High jump - 1. C. Novacek (A) 5'1"; 2. Ambrose (Y) 5'1"; 3. Holoubek (A) 4'11"; 4. Burg (C) 4'9"; 5. (Tie) Black (C) and O'Malley (Y) 4'9".
Long jump - 1. Hart (Y) 16'4 3/4"; 2. A. Novacek (A) 16'2 3/4"; 3. Neukirch (Y) 15'3 1/2"; 4. Kreikemeier (A) 15' 1/2"; 5. Dillon (L) 15' 1/2"; 6. Minchow (L) 14'8 1/2".
Triple jump - 1. Hart (Y) 34'9"; 2. Kreikemeier (A) 33'8 1/4"; 3. Coughlin (L) 32'9 1/2"; 4. Drelicharz (L) 32'4"; 5. Amsler (A) 31'4 1/4"; 6. Zaracki (L) 30'5 1/2".
Shot put - 1. Hamilton (OC) 36'5"; 2. Vandenberg (EB) 35'4"; 3. Comte (A) 35'2 1/2"; 4. Allen (L) 34'8 1/4"; 5. Romshek (A) 34'8"; 6. Ambrose (Y) 34'6 1/2".
Discus - 1. Romshek (A) 109'5"; 2. Hamilton (OC) 107'4"; 3. Comte (A) 105'6"; 4. Davis (Y) 102'10:"; 5. Allen (L) 101'1"; 6. Fisher (Y) 99'1".
Pole vault -1 . Johnson (Y) 9'6"; 2. Timperley (Y) 9'; 3. Blowers (A) 7'.
100 - 1. Novacek (A) 12.8; 2. Page (Y) 12.8; 3. Welchen (OBT) 13.0; 4. Hart (Y) 13.1; 5. Sherman (OC) 13.3; 6. Yapp (OBT) 13.5.
200 - 1. Yapp (OBT) 27.0; 2. Welchen (OBT) 27.1; 3. Page (Y) 28.0; 4. A. Novacek (A) 28.1; 5. Burg (C) 28.6; 6. C. Klosterman (A) 29.1.
400 - 1. Welchen (OBT) 1:02; 2. Dillon (L) 1:04.9; 3. Burg (C) 1:05.9; 4. Blowers (A) 1:06.4; 5. Andel (A) 1:06.9; 6. Martin (C) 1:07.3.
800 - 1. Bongers (EB) 2:23.7; 2. Wingert (L) 2:34.4; 3. Dobesh (EB) 2:38.1; 4. Anderson (A) 2:42.6; 5. Hilger (A) 2:43.6; 6. Mohler (L) 2:45.8.
1,600 - 1. (School Record) Bongers (EB) 5:30.7; 2. Aerts (EB) 5:35.4; 3. Martin (C) 5:50.5; 4. Sweeney (OC) 5:56.4; 5. Roth (Y) 5:58.8; 6. Stander (L) 6:09.2.
3,200 - 1. (School Record) Aerts (EB) 12:00.9; 2. Anderson (EB) 12:18.3; 3. Roth (Y) 12:21.8; 4. Schnoes (Y) 12:52.3; 5. Stander (L) 13:26.3; 6. Pilcher (L) 13:32.5.
100 hurdles - 1. Klosterman (A) 15.9; 2. Johnson (Y) 16.1; 3. Engel (A) 16.6; 4. Chlupacek (A) 17.3; 5. Coccia (OBT) 17.6; 6. Helman (EB) 17.6.
300 hurdles - 1. Klosterman (A) 48.5; 2. Engel (A) 48.9; 3. Johnson (Y) 49.5; 4. Chlupacek (A) 49.7; 5. Laughlin (L) 51.0; 6. Coccia (OBT) 51.3.
400 relay - 1. Yutan (Hart, Neukirch, Rew, Page) 51.0; 2. Aquinas (M. Klosterman, C. Klosterman, Kreikemeier, Novacek) 51.6; 3. Oma. Brownell-Talbot 53.2; 4. Louisville 53.4; 5. Oma. Christian 57.2; 6. East Butler (Helman, Vandenberg, Kouma, Janak) 57.5.
1,600 relay - 1. Aquinas (Kreikemeier, Blowers, Andel, Klosterman) 4:19.8; 2. Oma. Concordia 4:20.3; 3. Louisville 4:31.7; 4. East Butler (Helman, Dobesh, Sisel, Svoboda) 4:42.6; 4. Yutan 4:49; 6. Oma. Christian 5:08.6.
3,200 relay - 1. East Butler (Sisel, Aerts, Svoboda, Bongers) 10:33.5; 2. Aquinas (Hilger, R. Stara, C. Novacek, J. Stara) 11:10.5; 3. Louisville 11:22.8; 4. Yutan 11:49.9; 5. Oma. Brownell-Talbot 12:01.2; 6. Oma. Christian 12:55.2.
