EudoraNews.com

In its final regular season meet of the year, Eudora had several athletes improve on season-best performances and both teams finished well in a 20-team competition at the Redbud Classic in Wellsville.

The girls scored 84 points to edge out Festus High School, Missouri, for first place while the boys scored 27 to place sixth in a very competitive field.

On a windy day at the end of a season full of great performances, the Cardinals posted new season best times and distances in multiple events.

Senior Jordan Katzfey scored big points in the horizontal jumps with two season-best leaps. In the long jump, Katzfey reached 20 feet, 1.5 inches for a third place finish, and he won the triple jump with a distance of 41 feet, 5 inches.

“It’s been really good,” he said of the season. “I’ve improved a lot over my years here and this is by far my best year.”

Also performing well in the field events were juniors Allison Hoover and Kendal Abel.

Hoover placed second in the pole vault with a height of 8 feet, 6 inches, while Abel scored points in three field events.

She finished sixth in the triple jump (31 feet), fifth in the long jump (15 feet, 8.5 inches) and for the second straight week Abel threw a season-best distance and placed second in the javelin (115 feet, 1 inch).

“I was really nervous because there were 20 teams there and we haven’t seen most of them,” Abel said.

Abel’s nerves never wavered in the javelin ring, despite being there for just the third time in her career.

While she’s falling in love with the technique of the javelin throw, Abel said her heart still belongs to the 400 meter relay, which she helped carry to another victory Friday.

“I love to feel the adrenaline rush you get when you run it, it’s just awesome,” she said.

Senior Emily Ballock ran the opening leg, handing off to Abel who passed the baton on to juniors Tianna Dunnaway and Rachel Pyle. The team finished in 51.1.

“We’ve noticed that our times aren’t as fast as this time last year but now we’re starting to crank it up so our times are getting better and we’re feeling a lot stronger,” Abel said.

Abel said the weather had been holding them back a bit but now that the competition was revved up nothing will stand in their way.

Ballock had her usual dominant evening. In addition to the 400 relay, Ballock won both the high hurdles (15.6) and 300 hurdles (45.9) and she finished second in the 400 with a season best time of 51.1.

Dunnaway and Pyle finished second and sixth in the 200 while freshman Kaya Riemann had a season best race in the 800, crossing the line in 2:32.4.

In the boys 200, junior Mike White placed third with a time of 23.4. Both the boys and girls 3,200 relay teams placed second.

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the Cardinals compete in the first step of postseason competition, the Frontier League championships, at Spring Hill.

Post a comment

EudoraNews.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

Requires free EudoraNews.com registration.