Lady Jackets finish 6th at Marion track meet
Basketball season just came to a close and already Coach Jenny Stumpe-Cartwright has got her Chester High School Lady Jacket Indoor Track and Field Team competing at indoor meets.
The girls began training in December and January and were ready to start competing in mid-February. The first meet was Feb. 23 at the Joe Elliot Girls Indoor Track and Field Invitational at the new Marion High School Health and Education Complex.
The competition was fierce for the Lady Jacket's squad so early in the season.
"We only have nine girls today that could compete. We will hopefully have more girls come out for the outdoor season in a few weeks, but for today, we have nine dedicated, hard-working young ladies," Stumpe said.
The indoor squad at Marion included seniors Jessica Kattenbraker, Taylor Dunning, Tayler Howie, Kaitlyn Hoffman, Abby Myers and Maddie Hoffman; sophomore Avery Runge, and Ashtyn freshmen Josie Kattenbraker and Juliette Abernathy. Sophomore Ashtyn Jany and freshman Lauren Soellner were not available due the having to cheer at the Regional Championship game and senior Ashley Hennrich was sick.
Chester only entered 10 of the 17 events; six running events and four field events. In spite of going into battle with only ten athletes and only being able to enter ten events, the Lady Jackets competed beautifully and earned enough points to finish tied for sixth place against some of the best competition in the state. All but one or two of the schools were significantly bigger than Chester.
"I am very proud of these nine girls. We went up against big schools and it was our first meet of the season and we still finished in a tie for 6th Place,"
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said Stump. "This is a very talented bunch of young ladies and I look forward to successful indoor and outdoor seasons".
There were three heats of the 60 meter hurdles prelims. Chester's Juliette Abernathy competed in that event, finishing 29th out of 30 competitors with a 9.77 time. In the 200-meter dash, the Lady Jackets entered sisters Jessica and Josie Kattenbraker. Jessica, a senior, finished 9th (1:09.04) and Josie finished close behind in 11th (1:10.53).
Taylor Dunning, a senior, and Avery Runge, a sophomore, competed in the field of 21 mile or 1600-meter runners. There were two heats of this event. Dunning finished 6th overall with a time of 6:07.91 (earning one point for CHS) while Runge finished 19th with a time of 7:18.45.
Chester's 4 X 200 (800-meter) Relay team included Abby Myers, Tayler Howie, Juliette Abernathy and Katie Hoffman. This foursome finished in 8th Place out of 11 relay teams. The Jackets had a time of 2:05. 59.
The Lady Jacket 4 X 400 Relay team (1-mile) placed 3rd out of nine teams with a time of 4:43.55. By virtue of their 3rd Place finish, the girls, including Taylor Dunning, Tayler Howie, Josie Kattenbraker and Jessica Kattenbraker, earned medals and six points for the team.
Taylor Dunning, Avery Runge, Josie Kattenbraker and Jessica Kattenbraker just missed the medal podium in the 4 X 800 Relay team (3200-meters or 2-miles). They finished 4th out of 12 teams with a time of 11:26.37. For their efforts the relay earned five points for the team. That was Chester's final running event.
The Lady Jackets had competitors in four field events including the pole vault, long jump, triple jump and the shot put. Senior Abby Myers finished 3rd in the pole vault with her vault of 8-06.00. This height is exactly where she finished last year at the 2017 IHSA State Meet. In her first meet of 2018 she started with that height which is very encouraging. With her 3rd Place finish Myers earned a medal and six points for Chester. There were nine competitors in the pole vault.
In the long jump 23 ladies competed. Seven of those committed fouls and were eliminated from competition including Chester's Kaitlyn Hoffman. The winning jump was by DeJae Hudson of Mascoutah with her jump of 16-06.00.
Chester entered two jumpers in the triple jump including Jessica Kattenbraker and Kaitlyn Hoffman. There were 19 competitors in the triple jump and four of those committed fouls and were eliminated.
Chester's Jessica Kattenbraker was the runner-up in this competition with her jump of 32-03.00. Kattenbraker earned a medal and eight points for CHS. Teammate and fellow senior, Kaitlyn Hoffman, finished 8th with her jump of 30-00.25. She earned one points for her team.
Finally, senior Maddie Hoffman finished 4th out of field of 33 shot putters. Her throw of 31-10.00 earned five points for Chester's point total.
O'Fallon was the winner of the 2018 Joe Elliot Invitational with a total of 99 points, followed by Mt. Vernon (2nd, 69), Mascoutah (3rd, 63), Paducah Tilghman (4th, 54), Marion (5th, 46), CHESTER (6th, 35-tie), Althoff (6th, 35-tie), Herrin (8th, 32), Carbondale (9th, 28), DuQuoin (10th, 27), Harrisburg (11th, 22), Centralia (12th, 16), Murphysboro (13th, 15-tie), Carterville (13th, 15-tie), Salem (15th, 13), and Benton (15th, 13-tie).
There were 16 schools represented at this early-season meet including Althoff, Benton, Carbondale, Carterville, Centralia, Chester, DuQuoin, Harrisburg, Herrin, Mascoutah, Marion, Mt. Vernon, Murphysboro, O'Fallon, Paducah Tilghman, and Salem.