May 26, 2005

sports

Brad Benning-Clark took off after receiving the baton from teammate Jeremy Upton. The Bulldogs relay team, which also included Evan Gerthoffer, placed third in the race to advance to regionals this week. Six athletes from YSHS qualified for the regionals in Piqua in a total of 10 events.

YSHS track team sends six athletes to regionals

By Lauren Heaton and Robert Mihalek

The YSHS boys track team finished third in the Division III Southwest district track and field championships on Saturday, May 14, at Dayton Welcome Stadium.

photos by robert mihalek YSHS junior Tina Peters shortly after she overtook Tiffany Daughtery of Tri-County North in the 1600-meter run at the Division III Southwest district championship Saturday. Peters won the race and placed third in the 3200, qualifying for the regionals in both events. Below: Sam Borchers, right, sprinted toward the finish line in the 1600 relay at the Division III Southwest district championships.

Five boys qualified in eight different events for the regional competition to be held at Piqua High School on Wednesday, May 25, and Friday, May 27, at 6 p.m. The top four finishers at regionals will advance to the state meet on Friday, June 3, and Saturday, June 4, at Ohio State.

In addition, junior Tina Peters qualified for regionals in two events, the 1600 and 3200 runs.

The boys team scored 80 points at districts to finish behind Cedarville, which had 97 points to finish second, and Twin Valley South, which won the competition with 98 points.

Sophomore Sam Borchers had the team’s only first-place finish, winning the 1600 in 4:29.97. Senior David Warren finished almost seven seconds behind Borchers to place second. Borchers ran right behind Kevin Kuhn of Cedarville for most of the race’s first three laps, then took the lead as they entered the fourth and final lap. Warren also passed Kuhn on the last lap, as the Bulldog runners finished with comfortable leads.

Borchers and Warren teamed with junior Evan Gerthoffer and senior Jeremy Upton in the 3200 relay to place second in 8:22:64, just over seven seconds behind Cedarville.

Junior Bradley Benning-Clark advanced to regionals in the 300 hurdles when he finished second in 41.5, just 0.21 seconds behind Michael Komisarski of Xenia Christian.

Warren also advanced to regionals in the 3200 run, after he finished third on Saturday with a time of 10:31.4.

Upton placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 53 seconds, 0.25 seconds behind Daniel Donaldson and 0.64 seconds after Tyler Loxley, both of Twin Valley South.

The 1600 relay team — Upton, Benning-Clark, Gerthoffer and Borchers — finished third in the race’s finals to also qualify for the regionals. Borchers, who ran the anchor leg, held off the runner from New Madison Tri-Village, finishing 0.4 seconds ahead of the rival athlete. The Bulldog relay team improved in the finals by almost two seconds over its time in the preliminaries.

As he did in the 1600, Borchers came from behind in the 800 to finish fourth, in 2:05.28, just 0.68 seconds behind third-place finisher Cameron Lambert of Arcanum.

Not advancing in competition but scoring for the Bulldogs on Saturday were fifth-place finishers freshman Andy Peters in the 3200, John Pamplin in the discus, senior Alban Holyoke in the pole vault and Benning-Clark in the high jump. Gerthoffer placed sixth in the 800, junior Anthony Carter finished seventh in the long jump and Peters finished eighth in the pole vault. The 400 relay team (Benning-Clark, Carter, junior Issa Walker and junior Matt Hull) also finished eighth.

In the girls competition, Tina Peters came from behind to win the 1600-meter run in 5:43.73, a personal best time. Peters trailed Tiffany Daughtery of Lewisburg Tri-County North before taking the lead at the end of the third lap.

Peters later placed third in the 3200 in 5:43.3.
Sophomore Carly Bailey made it through the preliminaries to compete in the finals in the long jump. She placed sixth overall, with a leap of 13 feet six inches. She tied with two other athletes for eighth place in the high jump.

Peters and Bailey combined for a total of 19.33 team points, as the YSHS girls team finished 13th out of 16 schools.

Coach John Gudgel praised the track team’s performance, noting that over the last two weeks, in the Metro Buckeye Conference meet and the district championship, he and coach Vince Peters have been “very impressed and moved with their performance.”

He said that the team has overachieved this season, reaching “times and marks” that are “beyond what we foresaw them doing.” He added that the team also sent more athletes to regionals than the coaches had expected.

“In many respects, this group has inspired us in a manner that has been unmatched in many years,” said Gudgel, who is also the principal of YSHS.

Gudgel attributed the team’s success to the athletes’ camaraderie, which, he said, is “unmatched compared to other groups.”

Baseball closes year with win

The YSHS baseball team closed out the season with one of its best games, a 4–1 win at Ridgeville Christian on Tuesday, May 17.

The Bulldogs took a 2–0 lead in the first on a walk to Aaron Willis, a Kyle Truitt single and some daring base running. They added another run in the fourth on a Clayton Wolfe hit and a Lions error.

Meanwhile, Jake Fulton had a no-hitter until the fifth. In the sixth he surrendered a run, but Drew Stratton scored in the top of the seventh to push the lead to 3 again. Fulton then got the final outs of the game in strike outs.

The ’Dogs finished the year 5–12, and Fulton closed the season with an impressive 86 strike outs in 58 innings.

Miami Valley Track Club starts summer practices

The Miami Valley Track Club will hold practices for the summer season Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6–8 p.m., at the YSHS track.

Club members must be 8 or older during 2005. The track club has been providing the opportunity for young people of Yellow Springs and surrounding communities to participate in the National Junior Olympic programs since 1982. Membership in the club costs $35. Athletes are responsible for individual meet entry fees.

For more information, call Vince Peters, 767-7424, or visit www.miamivalleytrackclub.org/.

Local team joins baseball league

A new competitive baseball team, the Yellow Springs Bulldogs, will play in the Dayton Amateur Baseball Commission 14 and under traveling division this summer.

The team includes Ethan Brown, Asa Casenhiser, Ben Clonch, Jack Daily, Lucas Donnell, Tarren Finch, Matt Finn, Kevin Greco, Yosef Johnson, Jamie Kitzmiller, Jarrett Moon, Alexis Onfroy-Curley, Jeremy Paul, Anthony Pettiford, Brandon Semler, Conor Stratton and Jerimiha Stubblefield. The players have already shown improvement thanks to the instruction of coaches Hal Moon and Ted Donnell.

The Bulldogs’ home games will be played at 7 p.m. at Gaunt Park as follows, unless noted otherwise: June 4, at 1 p.m., Cedarville; June 7, Westwood; June 9, Tipp City; June 14, Patterson Park Wildcats; June 21, Patterson Park Raiders; June 23, Pinewood 2; June 28, North Riverdale; and June 30, Patterson Park Flyers.

Anyone interested in contributing to the team through the Yellow Springs Recreation League should call Donnell at 767-9967.