PROCTORVILLE – The surprise team almost pulled off another surprise.

Sunday, May 20, 2001

PROCTORVILLE – The surprise team almost pulled off another surprise.

The surprise strength of the South Point Pointers track team almost surprised the entire field Saturday as they finished second in the Southeast District meet.

"Nobody gave us a chance to do well. It was a great effort," Pointers coach Randy Smith said.

"The 4-by-4 gutted it out, but so did everyone. We had to score as high as we could in each event to have a chance and the kids all pushed themselves."

Portsmouth won the meet with 112.5 points. South Point had 109 and Chesapeake 91.5.

Wheelersburg was fourth at 64, Ironton had 46, River Valley 40, Federal Hocking 32, Wellston 26, Minford 24, Meigs 21.5, Belpre 19, Northwest 18, Fairland 8, Rock Hill 3.5, and Alexander 2.

Chesapeake’s Ryan Slone had one of the top performances in the boys meet as he broke two minutes in winning the 800 meter run at 1:58.9.

"Before the race I was worried about the weather, but it turned out to be perfect. It wasn’t hot and that kept me fresh," Slone said. "I wasn’t expecting to to run under two minutes. The guy from Portsmouth pushed me a little the first lap. That’s the hardest I’ve run the first lap."

South Point qualified Jarrod Smith who won the shot put and discus, Jarred Perdue who won the high jump, Patrick McCleary in the 110 hurdles, Donte Pennington in the 100 and 200, Adam Workman in the pole vault, Zach Smith in the 800, and the 4×800, 4×100, and 4×400 relay teams.

Chesapeake’s qualifiers besides Slone were Josh Waugh who won the long jump, Michael Hunt in the 300 hurdles, Chris Muncie in the 3200, Eric Myers in the shot put, T. R. Hannon in the high jump, Scott Davison in the pole vault, and the 4×800 and 4×400 relay teams.

Ironton’s qualifiers were Hugh Scott in the 400 dash, Mark Gleichauf in the discus, Erique Bacon in the shot put, Derique Bacon in the long jump, Jesse Collins in the pole vault, and the 4×100 relay team.

The top four finishers in each event advance to Wednesday’s regionals in Zanesville.

In the girls meet, Gallipolis won easily with 140 points. Portsmouth had 77 points followed by Wheelersburg with 68, Alexander 58, Ironton was fifth with 47, Fairland had 45, Meigs 42, River Valley 29, Wellston 28, Rock Hill 22, Belpre 18, South Point 17, Northwest 15, Jackson 10, and Minford 6.

On the girls’ side, Rock Hill’s Jessica Kerns turned in an outstanding performance in the 100 meter hurdles as she set a new district meet record with a 15.5 clocking to win the event.

Kerns also placed second in the 300 hurdles at 50.7 seconds behind Jessica Bodimer of Gallipolis who ran a 48.7.

Ironton’s three relay teams all advanced. The 4×200 team of Sarah Herman, Ashley Neal, Adriane Hurley, and Christy Lilly was second at 1:50.7.

The 4×100 team Marlie Ford, Neal, Ashley Hannon, and Hurley was third (53.4) as was the 4×400 team of Herman, Neal, Hannon, and Hurley (4:26.5).

"Christy hasn’t had one back meet up to this point, so I have to think her illness had an effect on her," Ironton coach Tim Thomas said. "I’m pretty well pleased. We got everyone through who we thought we would except for a couple of events.

"I think if we had had a little better meet, we could have been third. But when one of your horses is down, it takes its toll. But I’m still excited about the regionals. The girls still did a nice job."

Lilly was second in the 400 and fifth in the 200.

"I got sick earlier in the meet and it hurt my performance," Lilly admitted.

Hurley, who ran a strong opening leg on the 4×400 relay, placed second in the 800 meter run with a 2:31.7 time.

Fairland’s Jennifer Jones, who played softball most of the season, won the 400 meter dash at 1:01.6. She was second in the 200 at 27.5 seconds behind Stephanie Johnson of Gallipolis who ran a 27.4.

Fairland’s Chelsea Walls qualified in the 3200 for the fourth straight year with a 12:44 clocking.

South Point’s Deidra Layne advanced as she finished second in the 100 meters . The 4×200 relay team was fourth.

A complete list of the boys and girls meets appears on Page 11A.

The Division III meet will appear in Monday’s Tribune.