Highest State Finish Ever for CAL Track Teams
The Christian Academy of Louisville track & field teams concluded their seasons with a very memorable State Meet, held at the University of Lousville track stadium. It has been an outstanding season and after earning Regional Runner-up trophies last week, went into the State Meet looking for their best team finishes in the school's history. They were not disappointed, as the girls scored 38 points to finish 6th place place in the team race. It was however only an agonizing 7 points from 4th and the team trophy that goes with that place. The boys pooled together 28 points for a great 7th place finish. As with the girls, they were only 4 points from moving up 2 spots in the team rankings. All in all though, a very satisfying finish. This is only the second year for the Centurions to compete in Class 2A competition and already the team has placed themselves among the top teams in the state. If the State scores for boys and girls were combined, Christian Academy would place 3rd in all of 2A, behind only Central and South Oldham. Two years ago both of those schools were 3A and are still pretty much the biggest in Class 2A.
Sadie Stone finished an outstanding career by adding 3 more medals to the 10 she had won in the four previous years. Ranked as one of the top hurdlers in the state, Sadie's first event of the evening was the 100 meter hurdles. She got out strongly and ran well, but was still just slightly behind Henry County's Brittany Crawford. Precision is essential in hurdling and Crawford smashed into the last hurdle, as Sadie raced cleanly over to claim CAL's first State Title. Courageously Crawford got up after about 20 seconds of laying on the track and crossed the finish line. As usual, Sadie was the first to console Crawford. With 3 more races to run, there was little time for Sadie to relish her victory as she had to immediately report for the 4x200 relay. Joined by Lana Franzcek, Paige Raque and Chalisa Helm, the foursome rushed out to an early lead, but were passed right at the finish line by team State Champs Highlands. Even though just missing a state title, the relay team was rewarded with yet another school record and earn 1st Team All-State honors. Again with little rest, Sadie began preparing for her next event, the 300 hurdles. She ran another outstanding race, smashing the school record with a time of 46.54. This mark is only four hundredths of a second away from the 2nd Team National Elite Standard, but so tough has the competition been in the hurdles this year, that Sadie finished 3rd place. The other big scorer for the Lady Centurions was Jenna Rogers. Jenna finished State Runner-up in the 3200 meter run, after a hard fought race with South Oldham's Grace Whitworth. It was another close race between the two who have traded wins several times this season and who been the class of the state in the event. Jenna also joined Sarah Reese, Dria Stallings and Sarah Beth Burnett in the 4x800 relay. The squad was only seeded 7th in the meet, after their 4th place finish at Regional. But knowing that seeds don't matter in the final standings, the team ran an outstanding race to chop 11 seconds off their Regional time to seize 3rd place and 2nd Team All-State status. The time was only 1 second off the school record - set by the 2008 squad that Dria, Sarah Beth and Maddie Preston were on.
Senior Connor English led the scoring for the boys team. Connor ran the second fastest time in school history to take 3rd place in the 400 meter and was also on two high scoring, school record setting relay teams. The first was the State Runner-up finishing 4x200 relay team, with Drew Wilder, Caleb Love and Jason Allen joining Connor. This was the fourth time this group has broken the school record this season. Connor, Drew and Jason picked up Garrett Gamble for the 4x400 relay. This was a blazing race from the start as all the runners were running their fastest splits of the year. On the anchor leg, Connor made a bold bid to take the race but just couldn't get by Mason County and Central. After the finish we realized why - the boys had just run 3:25 to take an amazing 4 seconds off the school record. The other points scored were by the 4x800 relay team of Alex Schaper, Nathan Allen, Tyler Karnes and Jared Burnett. Like the girls 4x800 team, they were only seeded 7th coming into the meet and also like the girls way out-performed their seeds, running to an outstanding 2nd place to earn 1st Team All-State honors and break the school record (held by the 2008 team with Jared on it).
The 2010 State Meet closes out the high school careers of an outstanding group of seniors. Career high finishes were achieved in the meet by the five year veterans Sadie Stone, Dria Stallings and Jared Burnett and also by four year varsity runner Connor English. First year senior Alex Schaper showed that he could make a splash out of the pool also, by becoming the missing link to the 4x800 relay team. Maddie Preston, Brooke Glidewell and Max Godby also competed in their final high school State Meet, with Mark Waggener and Jack Vandertoll serving as alternates on relays. This group has steadily raised the level of competition and expectations for future teams. With a strong group returning, who now have big meet experience, the stage is set for years of future success.
CAL places and perforances:
State Champion & 1st Team All-State
Sadie Stone - 100 hurdles, 15.73
State Runner-up & 1st Team All-State
4x800 (Alex Schaper, Nathan Allen, Tyler Karnes, Jared Burnett), 8:17.23
4x200 (Lana Franzcek, Stone, Paige Raque, Chalisa Helm), 1:47.03
4x200 (Drew Wilder, Caleb Love, Jason Allen, Connor English), 1:30.67
Jenna Rogers - 3200, 11:35.99
3rd place finish & 2nd Team All-State
4x800 (Sarah Reese, Dria Stallings, Rogers, Sarah Beth Burnett), 10:15.81
Connor English - 400, 50.92
Sadie Stone - 300 hurdles, 46.54
4x400 (Wilder, Garrett Gamble, J. Allen, English), 3:25.78
10. Chalisa Helm - 100, 12.98
10. Drew Wilder - 400, 52.43
10. 4x400 (Erika Busse, Reece, Maddie Preston, Stone), 4:21.83
11. Jared Burnett - 800, 2:04.19
13. 4x100 (Franzcek, Preston, Raque, Helm), 53.42
14. Brooke Glidewell - discus, 84' 1"
15. Dria Stallings - 3200, 13:07.26
15. Andi Moser - pole vault, 6' 6"
16. Chalisa Helm - 200, 27.36
17. 4x100 (Love, Ryan Dixon, J. Allen, Schaper), 45.42
17. Caleb Love - triple jump, 39' 9"
18. Jared Burnett - 1600, 4:48.82
18. Sean French - pole vault, 9' 6"
21. Max Godby - shot put, 41' 5 3/4"
23. Paige Raque - long jump, 13' 5 1/4"
