South Track Gets Their Feet Wet at Versailles.

“Well we got our feet wet today” was the quote from coach Fahrenholtz and that was true in more ways than one as a sunny, calm morning evolved into a cold and blustery afternoon with bursts of rain at the Versailles Invitational. They had to suspend the pole vault for about an hour as the wind gusts peaked at about 45 miles an hour. Even though the vault was being done perpendicular to the wind, the vaulters were still in danger of being thrown side ways. Making a challenging event even more hazardous.

Strong headwinds were a factor in the sprints and the discus throwers had a tough time throwing into the teeth of the wind. If there was any wobble in the trajectory of the disc, the wind would catch it and throw the disc violently to the ground. One Versailles staffer remarked to me that the only folks that were happy with the wind was the clean up crew. With the debris being blown against the fences, it made their jobs that much easier.

South had other obstacles as well. I asked the coach about the numbers – it sure looked like several athletes were missing. South had to pull out of several relays and had to rely on individuals for most of their points. “Well several kids went on a trip to France – and just got back at midnight. Then with Easter weekend, we had some that went out of town with their parents.”

Coach Fahrnholtz was asked about the South athletes that were able to put in substantial individual performances. “George Holman had a nice day – first in the 1600m and 800m runs. Balthis won the long jump and was second in the 100m – but pulled up injured, so the injury is something we need to watch. Jordan Krickenbarger was third in the pole vault. Jesse Koeller got second place in the shot, but he is having some back problems.” With two meets next week South will need these two athletes to heal in a hurry.

As a team Twin Valley South placed 6th overall in the Black Division.

South times and distances: 4X800m relay 7th, 10:06.66; 110m hurdles Krickenbarger, Jordan 19.36;2nd Balthis, Steve 12.03; 1600m run 1st Holman, George 5:00.47;400m Reece, Jacob 65.68, Wells, Zach 69.14. 800m run 2nd Holman, George 2:10.98; Perry, Josh 2:29.26. 200m Eck, Chris 27.07. 3200m 3rd Hemmelgarn, Josh 10:55.28; 5th Guerhring, Nick 11:04.96. 7th 4X400m relay 4:13.21. Shotput 2nd Koeller, Jesse 44-01.50. Long Jump 1st Balthis, Steve 19-07.25. Pole Vault 3rd Krickenbarger, Jordan 12-00.00.

South will next journey to National Trail on Tuesday, April 6 and then to TCN on Thursday, April 8. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com