JH Girls Track are Making Strides

Friday, May 3, the JH Tiger girls had a good meet at Columbus. They finished in fourth place, just missing third place by five points.

Some of the highlights were Hailey Deterding’s 400 meter dash. She took first place with a time of 1:03.72. She was .08 second shy of the JH record set by Kristen McPheron in 2005. Another bright spot was Kylea Schwenker taking second in the 100 meter dash.

Coach Bridget Swailes relates that there were several PRs (personal records) at both the New London and Central Lee meets. Coach Swailes celebrates her team’s improvement. They have one more meet which is Conference.

“We hope to end our season on a high note with more PRs,” she said.

She realizes how tough it gets with her limited numbers.

“I just go into each week with our small but mighty squad of 11, hoping that every girl steps onto the track with her best foot forward and does her very best on that given day,” Swailes said.

Tiger Nation agrees and will be rooting for a great performance!

The boys' team also competed at Columbus. The top three teams finished with 10 points separating them, with the Tigers taking third.

“We were missing two key guys which undoubtedly would have given us some more points,” Coach Barron said. “On the trip home, I began to look at the points they gave us and I think we may have been shorted two points for a fourth-place finish in the shot put, which would have put us into second. When it was all done, I reflected as a coach and believe we did our best and we continue to establish that our hard work is paying off."

As the last meet — the conference meet — looms, he sums up his hopes for his team, saying, “We are still moving in the right direction and I'm hoping we can perform at our best for the Conference meet.”

He feels that the eighth graders have really established themselves this year and he has been fortunate to get some fantastic performances from the seventh graders. He feels that even eighth graders who didn't go out have made it clear that they intend to continue with their track careers. As a coach, he can ask for nothing more.

Barron believes that Mediapolis is the clear favorite for the conference meet, but all of the other schools in the conference have performed well this year, and the fight for those positions will be a difficult challenge for his team. In summing up, he says: “I'm hoping we can get a bunch of PRs at the conference meet and establish ourselves as one of the better track teams in the future.”

Good luck to both teams and their coaches!