Toledo Christian takes 2 titles
5/17/2008Toledo Christian used different routes to win the girls and boys track titles in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference meet hosted by Ottawa Hills yesterday.
The Eagle girls ran away from the rest of the field to win their second title in three seasons with 154 points, with Cardinal Stritch taking second with 97.5.
The Toledo Christian boys had to scramble to win their fifth straight title. The Eagles scored 26 points in the final two events to beat Northwood 149-138.
Northwood's Kyle Gunn and Chris Keith finished 1-3 in the 200-meter dash to help the Rangers move to within one point of TC at 123-122. But the Eagles got a 1-3 finish by
Anthony Althauser and Nathan Wirebaugh in the 3200 to push their advantage to 139-130.
"The end of the meet clearly was the key for us, and that began with the 3200," Toledo Christian coach Paul Barney said. "Anthony had just the fourth-best time [in the 3200] and Nathan's time wasn't in the lead group, but we had a great game plan for the race and they both ran it to perfection.
"They both had PRs by 20 seconds."
Then the Eagles clinched the victory by winning the 1600 relay.
"I told [that relay] we were only up by one point, and that we had to [beat Northwood] to win the meet," Barney said. "And every guy on that relay responded with a PR."
Nate Konzen led the Eagles with wins in the 800 and 1600 and also ran legs in the winning 3200 and 1600 relays. The other winner for TC besides Konzen and Althauser was Kyle Barney in the discus.
Gunn won the high jump to go with his victory in the 200, and Philip Tewers won the 400 to lead Northwood.
Danbury's Nick Wiedenhoft was named the league's athlete of the year on the boys side thanks to four individual titles. He tied the meet records in the 100 (10.9) and the 300 hurdles (39.6). He also won the 110 hurdles and the pole vault.
On the girls side, Toledo Christian cruised to the title despite winning only five events. The key to their victory, according to Barney, was that the Eagles placed two people in 12 of the 14 individual events.
"With the girls, we knew we had the best team," he said. "The key was to be able to score two people in different events. If our second people performed well, we knew we'd be OK."
Rosalie Dillon won both hurdle events to lead the Eagles. Mary Ashbaucher won the high jump and Bethany Critchley finished first in the shot put and Christina Snyder won the 3200.
Katherine Jamieson of Ottawa Hills was voted the athlete of the year for the girls. She set meet records in winning the 100 (12.3) and 200 (25.8), and anchored the Green Bears' 800 relay to a meet record with a 1:49.6 clocking. She also won the 400 with a time of 60 seconds flat.
Sara Armstrong of Emmanuel Christian was the only other double winner in the meet after taking first in the 1600 and 800.
Contact John Wagner at:
jwagner@theblade.com
or 419-724-6481.