(May 5th, 2015) – STRYKER: A mere two points is all that separated growing rivals in a four way meet held at Stryker. The Lady Panthers came up just short against their guests from Pettisville, as the hometown girls fell to the Lady Blackbirds 85-83. Also visiting were North Central and Edon, who turned in respectable scores of 49 and 37, respectively.
Brooke Schofield earned first place in the high jump for the Lady Eagles, leaping over the bar at 4’6”. Edon’s Sarah Lemmon took second place at 4’4”, while Kira Petitt gave Stryker third place by clearing that same height as well. Fellow Panther Sierra Whitman and Pettisville’s Rebekah Steele rounded out the top five performers, making jumps of 4’2” and 4’0” to reach their respective places.
The long jump saw another strong showing for North Central, as Alaina Kemarly and Keeley Shaw took home first and third places in the event with jumps of 15’2.5” for the former and 13’5.75” for the latter. Brittany Breier, of Stryker, made a leap of 14’10” to claim second place. Edon’s Paige Schaffter used a 12’8” jump to claim fourth place.
Elizabeth Sauder won the 800 meter run for Pettisville, completing the two lap race in 2:37.6. Lady Bomber Kaitlin Sonneberger was second to finish at 2:54.9. Third place went to Stryker’s Shi’anna Whitman, who ran a 2:56.6.
In the 200 meter dash, Stryker sophomore Paige Speelman claimed victory by turning in a 27.9. North Central’s Schofield earned second place at 28.9. Sarah Herring put up a 30.4, good enough for third place on Pettisville’s behalf.
The meet came down to the final event, the 4X400 meter dash, to determine its winner. Much like the rest of the afternoon, the battle between Stryker and Pettisville was an intense one. The Blackbird relay team of Kyra Behnfeldt, Sauder, Mikala Avina, and Alexa Leppelmeier edged out the Panther quartet of Speelman, Gabrielle Paxton, Breier, and Audra Rupp by the narrowest of margins, as both squads crossed the finish line at 4:19.3. It was less than a step that made the difference in the race.
Stryker and Pettisville are two evenly matched teams, though the Lady Panthers would have benefited more from the absence of Edon and North Central in this particular meet. While those latter two teams couldn’t keep pace with the former two, the Lady Bombers and Eagles had several standout performers, which held a great impact on this meet.