Lady Redskins place third

By Greg Keim
THE GOSHEN NEWS

May 04, 2008 12:21 am

— On a day when not all members of the Goshen High School girls track and field team could be present, the Redskins still had a pretty good day.
They won four events and finished third as a team in the 19th running of the Goshen Girls Relays Saturday at Foreman Field.
“It was an impressive performance considering we did not have a full team,” Goshen coach Bruce Bergdall said. “We were missing at least six girls, but the ones who were here ran with heart. This is my fourth season as coach and I’ve learned you put your team out there and do the best you can.”
South Bend Riley captured its first-ever team title with 95 points, followed by Plymouth 88, Goshen 76, LaVille 73, Bremen 64 1/2, New Prairie 63, South Bend St. Joseph’s 60 1/2, Eastside 35, Mishawaka Marian 31, Culver Girls Academy 30, Jimtown and South Bend Washington tied at 27, NorthWood 26 and Whitko 23.
“I didn’t expect this. We were using this meet as a practice for the Northern Indiana Conference meet on Tuesday,” Riley coach Nancy Simon said. “I love this meet, but we have never been able to past the runner-up spot before.”
No meet records where set on a dry but very windy day.
Goshen had impressive performances from two seniors — Rachel Hollinger-Janzen and Kaila Stevens — who were competed for the last time on their home track.
Hollinger-Janzen ran two incredible 1,600 meters within the span of about 20 minutes. She took the baton for the anchor leg (1,600) of the distance medley relay and nearly caught a New Prairie runner that she trailed by nearly 300 meters at the start. Two events later, she won an open 1,600 race in 5:28.41.
“I only had time to do a cool down between races,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “I hate making up ground. I like to run out front and stay there.”
In the open 1,600, Hollinger-Janzen took over the lead on the home straightway running right into the wind.
“I always look for the most undesirable place to take the lead. There is less resistance,” she said. “I try to run the way I would not want to be raced.”
Hollinger-Janzen may have found a new training tip.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” she said. “We had an academic honors banquet Thursday night at the Essenhaus and I ate two-and-a-half pieces of peanut butter pie. On Friday, I had cheesecake at a Rotary luncheon.”
Bergdall said, “Whatever it takes.”
Stevens finished fifth in the 100 (13.52), anchored the 4 x 100, the sprint medley and 4 x 400 relays to victory.
“The wind made it feel like you were going backwards,” Stevens said. “It was a big factor.
“This was a good warmup for Tuesday (Northern Lakes Conference meet at Warsaw).”
Stevens had a big lead on the final leg of the 4 x 400.
“I would rather be chasing someone,” she said. “I would rather be the hunter than the hunted.”
Stevens was joined on the 4 x 100 by Tana Hardy, Kelsey Peters and Maranda Reed as the foursome set a school record of 51.01, breaking the mark of 51.2 by Brooke Doriot, Nancy Moyer, Karen Riley and Sherry Snodgrass in 1974.
“That is not our normal 4 x 100, so winning and breaking the school record are bonuses,” Bergdall said.
Joining Stevens on the sprint medley (1:54.46) were Steph Banakis, Hardy and Peters; on the 4 x 400 (4:13.62) Peters, Maranda Reed and Laura Sorg.
Reed, a freshman, won a 300 hurdle race (49.60) and finished second at 19.
“Any time a freshman can win a race against the caliber of competition we see in the relays it’s impressive,” Bergdall said. “Her time was one of her best of the season under some of the worst conditions.”
Breann Hall of NorthWood won pole vault (8-6) and Emily Dean of Jimtown a 1,600 (5:37.10).
Jacquese Donaldson of Riley totaled 21 1/2 points to win the high-point award.