Fairfield girls easily handle Brookhart field

Even with some bumps in the road, the Fairfield girls? track team made it clear to a home crowd that it has hit its stride.

And they made it clear to the rest of the conference as well.

The Trojans suffered a few mid-meet injuries, but regrouped and didn?t miss a beat at Tuesday?s Brookhart Relays. In what could be a preview of next week?s Southeast Conference meet, Fairfield ran away with the first place in the final team standings putting up 153 points. Washington was second with 115 and Fort Madison edged Mount Pleasant for third.

?It was really close to what we?ll be running aside from maybe a few little tweeks,? said head coach Ron Hunerdosse. ?We?ll have to be ready to go, but you have to think we?re the favorite until someone proves otherwise.?

An injury to middle-distance runner Tori Keltner in the midst of winning the 4x800 relay threw Hunerdosse and a handful of Trojans a curveball, but everyone showed they were ready to step up. Freshmen Hannah Sobaski and Courtney Laux both overhauled their plan for the evening, and pulled it off without a hitch as Sobaski ran three relay events and Laux filled in to take fouth-place in the 400-meter dash.

?They don?t even realize how big of a deal it is to step up like they did,? said Hunerdosse. ?You sometimes forget the fact that they?re really young, and it?s nice having kids that can make that adjustment.?

Fellow freshman Jessica Lamb ran four races for Fairfield including wins in both the 3,000 (11:45) and 800 (2:30) to lead the middle-distance crew. Those distance runners have been at the forefront of the overall improvement of the squad that has given the Trojans a good heap of confidence heading into the final stretch run of the season.

?The sprinters have always delivered, but you have to have a combination to be a good team,? Hunerdosse said. ?With the improvement our distance runners have made, we?re a pretty good team when we step out onto the track.?

And as Hunerdosse said, the sprinters delivered again Tuesday night beginning, as always, with senior Libbey Schubert. The birthday girl won four events for Fairfield including individual wins in the 100 (12.34), 200 (25.86) 400 (1:00.06). Schubert also blew down the home stretch to win the 4x100 relay along with Edna Jones, Sydney Howard and Kiersten Vaughan in 51.76.

?Again, that?s just Libbey being Libbey,? Hunerdosse added.

Jones, Erin Thompson, Vaughan and Howard also took the 4x200 title five full seconds ahead of the rest of the field with a time of 1:52.88. Howard?s anchor leg on that relay was just another part of another impressive night for another freshman. Howard also took second behind Schubert in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.62.

Katie Hammes and Sidney Baumann were rock-solid again in the Trojan field events as Baumann placed second in the discus (103? 9?) and Hammes gathered another shot put crown (39? 0.5?) with a near personal best.

The victory for Hammes made her one of five seniors to win an event in their last meet at Trojan Stadium. Lindsey Borgomainerio and Tiffani Brush were both part of the winning 4x800 team along with Keltner and Sobaski. Vaughan and Schubert are the other two seniors with plenty of first-place finishes by their names.

The Trojans now figure to take it easy at Thursday?s meet at Washington in preparation for Monday?s conference meet in Fort Madison.