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closeJaguars track teams flex muscles
Emerald Ridge boys and girls tracksters show off their athletic talents in SPSL showdown
Shaun Scott
In a battle of schools just separated by a mere nine miles, the Emerald Ridge Jaguars boys and girls track teams came out on top against the Bethel Braves on April 23 at Emerald Ridge High School.
The Jaguars girls squad defeated Bethel 78-62 and the Jaguars boys team collected a 80-59 victory to boot.
Emerald Ridge boys track and field coach Rick Burnley expected his team to perform well in all of its events against Bethel.
“Nothing that has happened today has really surprised me,” Burnley said. “I feel we’re right on par with where we should be with our times. Bethel is a little down this year and they don’t have the numbers they usually have. I think our success point-wise has a little to do with that contributing factor.”
Burnley said the majority of the track athletes are approaching their specific conditioning peaks of the season.
“Right now everybody is in shape. Now it’s all a mental game. They have to mentally get there and believe in their abilities,” Burnley said. “It’s all mental for each athlete and as coaches we just keep pushing them to get there mentally.”
Sophomore distance runner Chris Schroll tasted the thrill of victory for the first time this season. He earned first place in the 3200M, turning in a time of 10:33.8. Schroll finished 1:11 ahead of the second place finisher.
“Today was more of a race against the clock for me. I was concentrating on running my splits as fast as I could,” Schroll said. “But its my first victory in any race this season.
“It’s been my goal to win. I’ve came close in other meets but I finally did it today. It was nice to pull one out.”
Fellow sophomore Kayla Stueckle took home four first place finishes in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 1600M relay and long jump. Stueckle has her eye set on advancing to the Class 4A State Meet in at least three events.
“I’m hoping to make it in both hurdles events,” Stueckle said. “But I really want our relay (1600M) team to go to state. Right now our best time we’ve had is a 4:07. We need to get that down to the 4:05 range.”
Emerald Ridge girls coach Gary Osborne believes the 1600M relay team has a good shot at not only advancing to state, but also has the ability to turn some heads once they get there.
“The relay is ranked No. 4 in the state right now,” Osborne said. “They should have a good shot at placing.”
Osborne said Stueckle is the glue that holds the relay team together.
“In just about any event she competes in she can win,” Osborne said. “It’s just too bad an athlete can only compete in four events. She’s that good that she could go to state in more than that if she had the chance. It’s nice to have that kind of a caliber of an athlete on your team.”
Emerald Ridge girls athletes earning first place in their specific events included Whitney Henderson (400M, 1600M relay), Erica Worswick (800M), Shelby Leimback (1600M), Shannon Doran (3200M), Stueckle (300 hurdles, 100 hurdles, 1600M relay, long jump), Alicia Brannan (1600M relay), Livia Mahaffie (1600M relay) and Megan Albert (high jump, triple jump).
Emerald Ridge boys athletes nabbing first place finishes included Kevin Espino (triple jump), Cory Okazaki (300 hurdles, 110 hurdles), Schroll (3200M), JP Strosewski (1600M), Jordan Mirk (800M, 1600M relay), Brent Young (400M, 1600M relay), Jess Underhill (400M relay), Drake Wilkins (400M relay), Caleb Triplett (400M relay), Erik Pollard (400M relay, 1600M relay) and Kyle Vuksich (1600M relay).