Orion tracksters save best performances for conference meet

Competing on a cold, windy day, Orion girls recorded several personal bests at the Olympic Conference track meet on Friday, May 2, in Sherrard.

“Overall, I thought we ran well,” coach Jeff Padgett said. “(Assistant coach Scott) Briney and I felt pretty good after the meet. The kids really worked at it. Most of them ran their best and ran hard. It’s a pretty young team.”

Brittany Scott ran a personal best 17.2 seconds for third place in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles. She cut two-tenths of a second off her time of 17.4 in prelims.

The 3200 relay turned in its season-best time of 11:03.40 for fourth place. Running the oval were Katherine Woody, Page Miller, Megan Miller and Brittany Bush.

Page Miller set a personal record in the triple jump with 30-8 1/4 for seventh place. She had done almost as well at 30-7 in prelims.

Besides Scott in the hurdles, the Chargers also got a third-place effort from the 400 relay team of Andrea DeDecker, Jaclyn Johnson, Scott and Megan Maher. They were clocked at 54.20 seconds.

Maher turned in a time of 13.50 in the 100 prelims, then finished in 13.20 in the finals for fourth place.

In the 800 relay, DeDecker, Page Miller, Baillie Hancock and Jaclyn Johnson came in fifth with a time of 1:58.80.

Also finishing in fifth place with a time 4:34.20 was the 1600 relay of Woody, Maher, Scott and Jaclyn Johnson.

Morgan Mason came in fifth in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 8 inches.

The wind definitely was a factor, Padgett said, though Hancock jumped well into the wind during the long jump. She reached 13 feet, 6 inches, in prelims to qualify for the finals, where she did even better with a distance of 14-2 for fifth place.

Charger girls in sprints were Jordan Knoll, 14.40 in the 100; Brooke Bush, 31.90, and Sara Marshall, 32.90, in the 200; and Brooke Bush, 1:10.00, and Mason, 1:10.10, in the 400.

Striding out over longer distances were Alexis Long, 3:02.41, and Morgan Martin, 3:06.38, in the 800 run, and Megan Miller, 6:18.00, and Kayla Descamps, 6:53.4, in the 1600.

Scott leaped 12-11 3/4 in the long jump, while Jaclyn Johnson reached 28-8 in the triple jump.

In the shot put, Alex Martens’ best throw was 22-even, and Melinda Shake’s was 20-11.

Discus throwers were Jerica Johnson, 71-11 1/2, and Martens, 60-11 1/2.

Orion finished seventh with 27.5 points. The Chargers scored only one point in field events, Padgett said.

“It’s pretty hard to play catch up on the track when you don’t have a few more points in the field,” he said.

Sherrard won the conference championship with 185 points, followed by Knoxville, 123; Farmington, 69; Monmouth-Roseville, 68.5; Rockridge, 53.5; and Macomb, 31.5.