(Published Friday, April 27, 2007 11:50:18 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By John Barry Gazette staff
The Waterford boys and Middleton girls won team titles at the 60th Cougar Relays on Friday night, but only by the slimmest of margins.
Middleton edged Janesville Parker by two points to win the nine-team girls field. The Cardinals finished with 101.5 while the Vikings were right behind with 99.5. Waterford finished third with 94 and the host Cougars were fifth with 75.
Waterford won the final relay of the night-the pole vault-to edge defending champion Madison La Follette by one point. The Wolverines finished with 111 while La Follette had 110. Milton was third with 108, while Craig and Parker tied for fourth with 105.
Despite coming up two points short of a team title, Parker girls coach Dave Lehmann was ecstatic with his team's performance.
"I'm really surprised we're that close to Middleton," Lehmann said. "They have a really nice team, especially in the distance events, which can get you a lot of points in a meet like this.
"All I know is that we're continuing to work hard, and because of that, we're getting better. This was a fantastic night for us."
The Vikings won two relay events, including a record in the pole vault. The team of Brianna Zeilinger, Katelyn Presti and Alex Oines combined to clear 26 feet to establish a record. The old mark of 25-6 was set by Craig in 2002.
In the girls pole vault, Craig's Abby Mayer had the best individual effort of the night after clearing 11-0. The mark was a school record, breaking Mayer's previous best of 10-9.
Parker's other win came in the 800 relay where Kristen Heitsman, Niquisha Kenerson, Danielle Garber and Kelsey Jones won in 1:50.68.
Sam Markham turned in another dynamite performance to highlight the Craig boys night. The senior had the top shot put (52-6) and discus (156-5) throws in leading the Cougars to wins in both events. He also ran anchor on Craig's victorious 400 relay team that won in 44.15.
Craig also got wins from the frosh/soph 400 relay team of JoJo Pregont, Bentley Geldard, Joe Kennedy and Will Clanfield, along with the distance medley team of Joe Kennedy, Will Clanfield, Will Gilmore and Josh Lund.
"The Cougar Relays seem to get better and better every year," Craig boys coach Jeff Deininger said. "There was an awful lot of talent competing here tonight-both in the boys and the girls.
"Sam had another strong night for us, but we had a number of other kids really step up as well."
The Parker high jump trio of Riley Grafft, Jared Fox and Alex Fox combined to clear 17-10 to win the relay. Grafft, a junior, tied for the top individual effort by clearing 6-4.
Cougar Relays
At Monterey Stadium
BOYS TEAM SCORES
Waterford 111, Madison La Follette 110, Milton 108, Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker 105, Middleton 55, Beloit Memorial 42.
RELAY RESULTS
400-1. Craig (Greg Pedersen, Tyler Uschan, Ryan Kinkade, Sam Markham), 44.15. 2. La Follette. 44.67. 3. Beloit, 45.16.
Distance medley-1. Middleton (Glassburn, Pulvermacher, Bollig, Coyle), 12:42.56-breaks record of 12:52.6 set by Madison Memorial in 1985 ; 2. South Milwaukee, 13:34.51; 3. Hartford, 13:46.84.
2-mile-1. Middleton (Glassburn, Pulvermacher, Coyle), 9:34.86-breaks record of 9:44.36 set by Neenah in 1982; 2. South Milwaukee, 10:21.21; 3. Waterford, 10:28.93.
Shot put-1. South Milwaukee (Lacasier, Bohochik, Tatre), 87-2; 2. Craig, 86-2; 3. Milton, 85-6. Best individual-Tamara Wade (ML), 30-7.
Discus-1. South Milwaukee (LaCasier, Bohochik, Swenson), 289-5; 2. Parker, 277-1; 3. Milton, 254-1. Best individual-Samantha Bohochik (SM), 106-6.
High jump-1. Waterford (Schaal, Scott, Knurr), 14-6; Parker, 14-4; 3. La Follette, 13-4. Best individual-Shelby Demos (JP), 5-4.
Long jump-1. Beloit (Bridges, Davis, Tester), 45-10; 2. La Follette, 45-3; 3. Parker, 44-11. Best individual-Alyssa Davis (B), 17-3.
Triple jump-1. La Follette (Knight, Atkinson, Gloede), 102-11; 2. Beloit, 96-5; 3. Craig, 94-5. Best individual-Davis (B), 36-21/2.
Pole vault-1. Parker (Brianna Zeilinger, Katelyn Presti, Alex Oines), 26-0-breaks record of 25-6 set by Craig in 2002. 2. Craig, 25-0. 3. Waterford, 23-3. Best individual-Abby Mayer (JC), 11-0.
