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From Coach Houwers:

The Whippets track and field teams competed at the Edgerton Tider Invite on Friday night.  Spring weather was finally cooperating, giving us a great night to compete.  The teams struggled early on in prelims, advancing just one individual to the finals of the 100, 200, or 100/110 hurdles.  Tyler Sheffield managed to sneak into the 200 finals with the final qualifying spot.  Jack Mayer got out to a great start in the 110 hurdles and looked to be on his way to finals before catching his trail leg on a hurdle mid-race and falling.  As the meet progressed, things did begin to improve, but not enough to prevent finishing in the bottom 3 teams for both the girls and boys teams.  Even without a good team performance, there were some highlights from the competition.

The highlight for the girls’ team came in the technical events.  Sydney Treder finished second with another 8′ 6″ vault in the pole vault.  Freshman Jenna Caldwell tied for 3rd, clearing 8′ 0″ for the first time this season.  Ali Ketterhagen continues to improve in the high jump.  She finished 3rd, clearing 4′ 10″ for the first time in her career.  She looks to hit the 5′ mark as we come into the championship part of the season.  Hailey Murphy dropped 2 seconds off her 300 hurdles race to also finish third.  Her time moves her into the top ten all-time times in the event.

For the boys’ team, Sashi Popke took home to only gold, winning the pole vault.  Aidan Coburn was a bright spot, trying the 1600, 3200 double for the first time.  He proved ready for the task, as he set personal bests in both events, going under the 5 min barrier in the 1600 for the first time.  Jacob Korf impressed to close out the night, running a great split on the 4×400 relay.

This week is a busy week as the JV teams compete Monday and Thursday, and the Varsity goes Tuesday in Elkhorn at the Walworth County meet and again on Saturday at the Conference Championships in Jefferson, beginning at 10 am.