Personal bests rolling in for Harlem’s girls track team

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Harlem Invite
Harlem’s Sara Brien leaps during her turn in the long jump competition at the Harlem Invitational on April 22.

Personal bests rolling in for Harlem’s girls track team
By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
Members of Harlem’s girls track team just keep getting better, individually, as the season continues.
There recently was a boatload of personal bests as the Lady Huskies made sure the championship trophy from their fifth annual invitational stayed right in their school. The varsity won out over runner-up Rock Island, 192-113, while DeKalb was third in the eight-team field.
Harlem’s junior varsity also emerged victorious, 104-62, over Rock Island. Sterling was third; there also were eight teams in this meet.
The varsity was led by its relay teams, which won three of the four events. They were the 4-by-100-meter team, consisting of Sierra Schaffer, Kathleea Washington, Katie Dietmeier and Jordynn Warren; 4-by-200, made up of Schaffer, Zakia Buchanan, Dietmeier and Warren; and the 4-by-200, including Dietmeier, Breanna Sheldon, Ingrid Alcala and KlaireBoisvert.
Finishing fourth was the 4-by-400-meter relay team.
Boisvert was the only other winner in track events, claiming the 800-meter run. Sheldon was next, in second with a personal best.
Harlem’s other first-place finishers were in the field events. Catie Daily won the discus with Emily Kern in second; Annie Myers was first in the pole vault, employing a personal best, while Reagan Cejka took fifth; and Olivia Lewis won the long jump, with Maliyah Woodard in fourth.
Also in field competitions Emily Johnson came in third in the high jump while Lewis finished seventh; Washington was seventh in the long jump; Megan Kempthorne was ninth.
There was a host of second-place finishes in track events as seven girls delivered personal bests in the sprints and hurdles.
Warren was second in the 100-meter dash as was Taylor James (PB) in the 200; Washington (PB) in the 400; and Chloe Fare (PB) in the 100-meter hurdles. Fare also took second in the 300, with TambrynHecox (PB), third.
Dietmeier recorded a personal best while taking fourth in the 100. The same was true of Washington, with a third in the 200; and of Taylor, who was third in the 400.
In long-distance running Julia Fewell and Alexis Kuehne finished 6-7 in the 1,600-meter event; Alyssa Kuehne was second in the 3,200; Katie Perkins wound up sixth.
Kahley Logan was second in the shot put with Kern right behind in third.
Junior varsity results
There were nine personal bests turned in by performers in the junior varsity track events, starting off with Buchanan in the 200-meter dash, where she placed first.
Other winning efforts came from Michaela Day (PB) in the 400-meter dash; Alcala (PB) in the 800; Miranda Dooley (PB) in the 1,600; Haleigh Gilligan (PB) in the 3,200; Kempthorne (PB) in the 100 hurdles; and Allison Montaya (PB) in the 300 hurdles.
Schaffer was second in the 100 with Darian Valden (PB) third in the 3,200 and Miranda Johnson (PB) in fourth.
Like the varsity, Harlem’s junior varsity relay teams stood out with first-place efforts in the 4-by-100-meter race (Buchanan, Taylor, Lillian Hardy and Cali Haun); 4-by-200 (Hardy, Katie LaRue, Johnson and Tamai Stamper); and the 4-by-400 (Hardy, Chloe Fare, TambrynHecox and Haun).
The 4-by-800-relay team was second.
Harlem’s JVs fared extremely well in the field events, led by Daily, first in the shot put; Logan, first in discus; and Stamper, first in the triple jump.
Jada Cooper plied a personal best into a second-place finish in the pole vault; Sara Brien was second in the long jump; and Sherron Burks tied for fourth in the high jump.