South and Dixie Do Well at District

Both Twin Valley South and Dixie boys found success at the district track meet. The two teams dueled for the championship and when the day was done, South took home the first place hardware, while Dixie was runnerup. And the girls teams added to their respective medal counts as several local teams sent athletes to the regional meet to be held next week in Troy. Athletes had to finish in the top 4 in their event to qualify. And it was great weather in an otherwise wet spring. A track official remarked to me that this was only the second meet all season that he had attended where there was no rain! The hot weather made for some good performances.

Steve Balthis from Twin Valley South had an impressive meet, he qualified for all 4 of the events that he participated in. Another athlete had to over adversity to go to the next level, Myranda Schoen from TCN qualified in 2 field events – winning the shot and second in the discus. She had a noticeable limp from a pulled hamstring when she entered the circle for her throws, but was able to persevere. But she missed a trifecta due to the injury which caused her to be scratched from the 100m dash.

South coach Farenholtz was all smiles at the end of the meet. “Steve Balthis qualified in all 4 of his events. And George Holman won the 1600m run, and also qualified on his relay team. Bobby Green finished second in the shot and this was his first year of doing it. He is a junior so he will be back next year. We had great performances today – the 4X100 relay team, well that was their best time all year. They picked the right time to run there best. We scored in all of the field events. Ryan Burns and Jordan Krickenbarger both qualified in the pole vault. Burns has been playing catcher on the baseball team this spring, so we just picked him up – we are hoping that he gets even better for next week. It’s been a fun day for us”.

TVS girls Coach Mabry is sending some athletes to Regionals as well. “Haley Glander is going on two relay teams, but she just missed qualifying in the open 100 and 200. Finishing 5th in both races. It would have been nice if she could have moved up one spot. But both relay teams, the 4X200 and 4X400, ran their best times today. The 4X100 ran their best time of the year – but it just wasn’t fast enough. But next week the girls aren’t running as many races, so they will be fresher and we have time to prepare”.

Coach Via from Dixie was ecstatic about Megan Uzzel who was district champion in the pole vault. “She put in a lot of work in the off season. She won last year with a 9 foot jump. She spent the season breaking her own records and has the school record this year – 10 feet.” Coach Hughes, boys coach from Dixie, was pleased with the Dixie boys team, “The winning 4X100m relay team ran a personal best today. This is back to back championships for our 4X100 team. Our high jumper, John Isaacs was also a district champ. He’s had a good year, tied our school record with a 6’6” jump earlier in the spring. We double qualifiers in the 300m hurdles, De’Aaron Issacns and John Nguyen. This will be De’Aaron’s third year at Regionals. Both he and John have been working really hard this year. Stapleton, our distance runner, has had a good meet – he will be going to regionals in two events”.

Other regional qualifiers are: TVS 4X800 (George Holman, Anthony Botting, Josh Perry, Nick Guerhing); 110m hurdles TVS Steve Balthis, Dix De’Aaron Isaac. 100m dash TVS Steve Balthis. 4X200m relay TVS (Hayley Glander, Kim Perry, Alyssa Wysong, Katherine Leach). 4X200m relay Dix (Tony Prater, John Isaacs, Doogie Hauser, Ryan Jordan).

1600m run TVS George Holman, Dix William Stapleton. Girls 4X100m PS (Taylor Fultz, Jessika Evans, Mackenzie Steele, Cassie Crawford). Boys 4X100m Dix (Tony Prater, John Isaacs, Doogie Hauser, Ryan Jordan). TVS (Tyler Leach, Brandon Gorby, Ryan Burns, Jacob Hemmelgarn). 300m hurdles Dix De'aaron Isaac, Dix John Nguyen, TVS Jacob Hemmelgarn. 800m TVS Kim Perry, TCN Makayla Conley. Boys 3200m Dix William Stapleton; Nick Guehring TVS.

4X400m TVS (Ashton Beneke, Kim Perry, Abbey Voge, Hayley Glander). 4X400m relay Dix Tony Prater, Patrick Bain, John Nguyen, De'aaron Isaac). Discus Myranda Schoen TCN. High Jump John Isaacs Dix, Steve Balthis TVS. Long Jump Steve Balthis. Girls shot Myranda Schoen TCN; boys shot Bobby Green TVS. Pole Vault Dix Megan Uzzel. Pole Vault Jordan Krickenbarger, Ryan Burns.