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| SportsSaturday, March 31, 2007 10:49 PM CDT |
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Bloomington-Normal students stand out at indoor meet
BLOOMINGTON - The joy of early season high school track and field is that most competitors have yet to get stuck in a performance rut. If Bloomington High School juniors Ashley Verplank and Tyler Sipes, Normal West senior Cory Nanni and Mahomet-Seymour sophomore Daniella Bunch have reached a plateau, it's at the top. Each won in what many consider the unofficial indoor state meet Saturday, the Class AA half of the 18th annual Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic at Shirk Center. Verplank and Nanni made Bloomington-Normal the capital of 1,600-meter running by sweeping the girls and boys titles. Each strode to a career best, Verplank in 5 minutes, 7.27 seconds and Nanni in 4:17.08. Verplank doubled her pleasure by rallying her 1,600 relay to victory in 4:00.21 with a 56.5 anchor leg. Preceding her were Michelle Harrison (60.0), Paige Steffen (61.0) and Ashley Brown (62.0). Sipes, a No. 6 seed, skimmed over the 55 high hurdles in a personal best of 7.46 seconds to win by a relatively large one tenth of a second over Harvey Thornton's William Lindsey. Bunch obliterated her shot put best of 42 feet, 8 inches with a monster meet record of 46-3½, taking down the old mark of 45-10¼ set by Belvidere's Heather Nelson in 1991. Girls It's not uncommon for competitors to scratch out of an event to avoid losing to a star, but Verplank made the rare decision to scratch out of the 800, in which she was the No. 1 seed with a time below the meet record, to focus on the 1,600 in which her seed time of 5:17.84 only ranked seventh. "I've never walked into a race with nothing to lose," said Verplank, who felt she did that in the 1,600. Verplank trailed Bartonville Limestone's Nicole Benson until bursting to the front with 170 meters left. Benson, who had beaten Verplank by 17 seconds earlier this year, hung on for second in the 22-runner race in 5:07.64. "I got boxed in 10 times," Verplank said. "I was working twice as hard to catch up. Nobody was ready for me. Nobody even thought of Verplank. I think I need to prove I'm not just an 800 runner." Verplank bolstered her reputation as a 400 runner by rallying her relay from third to first, making up a 20-meter deficit in the process to edge Proviso East's 4:00.67 by .47. "No matter how tired I am ... I still want to run the four-by-400," Verplank said. "There is something about it. When you get that baton, you just go." The shot put went a long way after it left the hand of Mahomet-Seymour's Bunch, whose toss is superior to the Pantagraph area outdoor record of 46-¼ set by Gardner's Darla Bryant in 1989. Bunch said her next goal is 47 by the state meet. "I got to go to state last year as a freshman," she said. "I got the freshman jitters and totally lost it. I think I've gotten over the fear now." The 6-foot-1 Bunch, who came in with a best of 42-8, produced a stunning six-throw series of 45-1, 46-½, 46-3½, 44-2¼, 42-4 and 44-5¼. Bailey Wagner of Fox Lake Grant was a distant second at 44-6¾. Bunch's top toss didn't feel unusual. "It just kind of happened," she said. "My throws coach, Tom Willard, has gotten me to this point because coming in I was not that good." Indiana recruit Laura Morris of Mahomet-Seymour long jumped 17-10 for third. She also high jumped 5-4 to tie for fourth after missing at 5-6. "Her timing was a little off (in the high jump)," said Coach Bonnie Moxley, whose star placed second in that event last year. "She hasn't had many opportunities to look at heights like 5-5 and 5-6. She comes to us late because of basketball season. She'll be ready by outdoor state." All six of Morris' long jump attempts were over 16-11½. "I was happy with my long jump, but I was so frustrated with my high jump," Morris said. "I was so frustrated I wanted to go leave all my anger out in the long jump." Mahomet-Seymour ran fifth in the 3,200 relay in 9:39.79 thanks to Josi Parker (2:21.6), Julie Jarrett (2:26.4), Jessica Butcher (2:26.7) and Hannah Schaap (2:24.9). "We were just happy to be in the fast heat because they (orginally) had us in the slow heat," Moxley said. Another top area placer was Mahomet-Seymour sophomore Amy Clawson, who took sixth in the 3,200 in a season best of 11:33.55. She may have gone faster if not for an exuberant 72.3 for the first 400. "It was reminiscent of the outdoor state meet in that she was slightly overzealous the first 400," Moxley said. "She fought back very well to get back in the thick of things so she could compete. We're just happy she's healthy because we missed her all cross country season (with hip injuries)." Waubonsie Valley's Shakeia Pinnick was named the meet's outstanding female performer after winning the 200 (25.11) and 400 (56.40). Boys Sipes' triumph came with tunnel vision. "I just focused on my own race," he said. "I was trying to stay sharp over the hurdles. I love running on this track." Sipes' third meet this year at Shirk Center saw him run 7.65 in the prelims to rank second behind the 7.48 by Thornton's William Lindsey. "I'm excited," Sipes said. "I'm ready for outdoor state now. I want to see what I can do there. Hopefully I can keep it going." "Coach (Keith) Enyart has done a great job with his technique and really helped him improve a lot," said BHS head coach John Szabo. Normal West's Nanni had hoped to duel reigning state champion Evan Jager of Algonquin Jacobs in the 1,600, but Jager had to scratch because of an injury. That left the pace setting to Nanni, who led through 400s of 61.3, 65.2, 67.4 and 62.9 to dip under his previous best of 4:19.35. Second went to Naperville Central's Steve Couch (4:18.62), the grandson of Normal residents Pete and Margaret Couch. "I was really bummed out," said Nanni of the news Jager scratched. "I really wanted to run against the best runner. I knew he would push my time a lot. "I still pushed it at the beginning. I know he is famous for pushing the pace at the beginning, too." Normal Community's Maxim Bakana, the No. 3 seed in the triple jump at 45-3, bounded a lifetime best of 46-9¾ to place second behind meet record setter Tory Doris of Bolingbrook, who went 50-2¾ en route to the meet's most outstanding performer honors. Doris also won the long jump at 23-6.25. "He really is motivated to place well at state this year," said NCHS coach Tom Patten. "That's a huge PR. We rested him up a bit this week in practice to get his legs back." Mahomet-Seymour senior Jason Seaman grabbed fifth in the shot put at 54-7½, well off his season best of 56-6. Willowbrook's Colin Madison won with a meet record 60-3¾. "I'm dropping my elbow so I'm not really getting the push I want on it," said Seaman, a Southern Illinois football recruit. "I scratched three of my four times in the last meet so my form is not where I would like it to be." Blain Peckmann of NCHS scaled a personal best of 14-9 in the pole vault for seventh. "It was just a great day for both of our jumpers," Patten said. Normal West's 3,200 relay ran 8:08.5, which would have earned sixth if the Wildcats hadn't been disqualified when No. 3 runner Matt Sullivan bumped another team during the second exchange. Brant Basting split 1:58.8, Jesse Holliger 2:02.6, Sullivan 2:07.3 and Jonny Kaufmann 1:59.9. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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