It was All About Personal Bests!!!

Springfield, Illinois -- May 9, 2001-- Going into the meet May 3, 2001,
against Washington Middle School the impression was that the meet would run
like any other meet. Well, it didn't take place in exactly that fashion.
While events were run on time and in the usual order, all placement times
were not kept and team scores were never tallied. Furthermore, "official
results" were never given. From Washington's point of view it was a FUN RUN
and an opportunity to run on the Sectional Track.

However, St. Agnes Blessed Sacrament tracksters decided to take this
opportunity and improve on some personal bests(PB). Hailee Elmore lit fire to
the track with a phenomenal posting of 5:26 in the girls 7th grade mile,
improving her PB by 7 seconds. Think she will qualify for state this
weekend?? Only the gods know for sure.

Jacki Alexander led the field in the 800M running her PB and at a state
qualifying time of 2:39. Again looking to the gods to be with this young lady
at sectionals. Ryan Farris and Kevin Frank performed personal bests(PB) in
the high jump both skying 5' and 5' 2" inches respectively, not too far out
of state contention. Jeff Sanders is sure to qualify for state in both the
shot and the discus throw. His PB are 35' 2" for the shot and 99'4" for the
discus.

Anna Newell ran a :30.37 200M for her PB in that event while Liz Pinkham ran
the same race in :31 flat. Both girls are state hopefuls. Amy Jones and Betsy
Metz have PB of :14.5 and :14.4 in the 100M. Both girls are just fractions of
a second off state time. Anything is possible at sectionals.

Hailee Elmore is a hopeful in the 400M having her PB in New Berlin at 1:06.
Allie Bloxdorf ran a PB at the Washington meet in the 800M posting 2:59.
Allie will be competing in the 8th grade division in the 800M at sectionals.
Should she place first or second according to her time she too could go to
state.

While Karen Trott and Jacki Alexander did not run a PB at the Washington meet
both girls remain just one-second off state time with their PB in the 100M
hurdles.

Ryan Farris ran a :12.78 in the 100M last week at Memorial Field and stands a
good chance of making state. Kevin Frank and Dan Rebbe both ran a very very
impressive 400M posting times of 1:04 and 1:06 respectively. Matt Monaghan
also ran a PB in the 800M with a time of 2:36. AS did Andrew Squires running
the 1600M at a time of 6:20.

The 4X200 relay team for 7th grade girls ran a PB of 2:04 at Memorial Field
placing them just 3 seconds off state time. Working on handoffs this week
from that relay team are Anna Newel, Liz Pinkham, Betsy Metz and Hailee
Elmore.

The Sectional meet is Saturday, May 12, 2001 at Memorial Field starting at
9:00 a.m. Keep in mind literally anything is possible. A runner can run his
best time and qualify for state according to time or a runner can run his
best time and qualify for state according to time placement. Runners #1 and
#2 in each event go to state regardless of metric time of linear distance.
All runners who meet state qualifying times and distance no matter their
placement will go to state. It is all about personal bests.