LANCASTER – This King didn’t mind sitting next to the throne.

Sunday, May 27, 2001

LANCASTER – This King didn’t mind sitting next to the throne.

Laura King didn’t win first place in the discus event at the Division III regional track meet, but she did finish second and that enabled her to qualify for next weekend’s state meet at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium.

King threw the discus 115-10 to place second behind Newark Catholic’s Sarah Stickle who had a throw of 122-11.

"She was the most consistent thrower," Chesapeake coach Chris Smith said. "Her best throw all year was 108 and she popped 110 the first throw. Then her second was 115. All her throws were past what she has done the past four years. And being a senior made it even better for her."

King will be joined at the state meet by teammate Janelle McQuaid who qualified on Wednesday in the shot put.

The Lady Panthers Michelle Christian tied for fifth place in the high jump. Christian and Fisher Catholic’s Melissa Gressick each went 4-10.

Chesapeake’s 4×100 relay team of Lindsey Thomas, Brittney Pollock, Joy Mayenchein, and Lisa Perry were sixth at 53.01 seconds. The Lady Panthers had 21.5 points to finish 10th in the team standings.

‘I was real proud of them. To finish 10th was a nice accomplishment," Smith said. "And for those two seniors to experience a state meet is something they’ll always remember."

Coal Grove ‘s Tara Jackson was eighth in the discus with a toss of 100-1.

In the boys’ meet, Coal Grove’s Ricky Wynn got stuck on fifth place for the second time.

Wynn took fifth in the discus on Wednesday with a throw of 148-6, just 10 inches behind Chris Calderon of Strasburg-Franklin.

Friday in the shot put Wynn came even closer to the state meet as he missed a top four finish by a meager one inch, again to Calderon.

Wynn threw 49-10 1/4 while Calderon had a heave of 49-11 1/4.

Another near miss was the Hornets Dennis Wilson in the high jump.

John Strauss of Strasburg-Franklin won the event, but the top seven finishers all cleared 6-foot. Strauss won on the fewest misses and Wilson, who also went 6-foot, settled for seventh.

Dan Cordle was eighth in the discus at 139-3.