Link, Johnson take titles (05/21/03)

MUNCIE — With the exception of one slip, the Delta Eagles dominated the Muncie Southside girls track sectional for the second straight season Tuesday. But, not an Eagle or any other athlete at the meet evened challenged the two champions from Jay County.

Senior Kristina Link and freshman Alyssa Johnson headlined a group of 10 Patriot athletes heading on to the regional round, each winning sectional titles as their team finished third. Jay County scored 77 points to finish behind Delta (137) and the Muncie Central Bearcats (104).

The Eagles earned seven event victories, Muncie Central had six and Jay County took the other two.

“It’s nice to have 10 girls go on to regional,” said Jay County coach Tyler Caldwell, adding that the goal is always to send double digits to the next round. “I had some surprises. I didn’t know how Alyssa (Johnson) would run tonight.”

He may not have known about one of his future sectional champions, but there was almost no doubt about Link. After she cruised to the Olympic Athletic Conference title Friday at Huntington North, much the same fate was in store for the rest of the field at Southside.

Link went unchallenged in the shot put, clearly the favorite to win the event simply by the reaction of the onlookers after her first throw. She got nothing but oohs and ahhs after her first toss went well past the 37-foot mark, and she would never be challenged.

Her best throw of the night was a toss of 37 feet, five and one-half inches to win the sectional crown. That was more than enough, as the second-place finish came in well short of 35 feet.

“I’m really excited,” Link said. “I was really disappointed last year when I lost to that girl from Union City by a half-inch. I didn’t want to lose to her again.”

The effort was exactly what Caldwell expected from her.

“It’s fabulous to have someone like that who you can count on every meet,” he said.

Johnson is a similar type of athlete, one who you could count on for first-place points every meet of the year. Only she broke her foot two days before the Patriots’ season started, and didn’t return until last Tuesday’s meet at Muncie Central.

She went on to place second in the 3200-meter run at the OAC meet Friday, and then exploded back onto the scene at the sectional.

Unsure if she could even run less than an hour before the starting gun, Johnson was never challenged in her signature event. She opened a big lead early, and it just continued getting bigger as she lapped a large amount of the field.

She finished in 12:14.35, more than 15 seconds ahead of Delta’s Brittany Lane.

“It felt really good,” said Johnson. “I wasn’t sure right before it, and then I didn’t know what would happen. As soon as I started out I felt great.”

Johnson, a state qualifier this year in cross country, and Link should both have a chance to advance to the state meet when they compete at the Lawrence North regional Tuesday at 6 p.m.

They will be joined at the regional by eight other Jay County athletes who finished in the top four at Southside. Danielle Michael leads that pack, having qualified to compete in three events at Lawrence North.

Michael placed fourth in the high jump, clearing easily at five feet. With fourth place secure, she missed her next three attempts at 5 feet, one inch.

However, she also ran the final leg for Jay County’s 1600-meter relay team, joining Amber Golden, Jamie Bruggeman and Jessica Heitkamp for a third-place finish. They crossed the line in 4:24.73 behind the team’s from Delta and Muncie Central.

Michael also had a chance to advance in the 300-meter hurdles, but lost a tight battle for third and fourth place as she finished fifth. Instead, she benefited from some race-ending tumbles in the 100-meter hurdles to advance in that event.

She was destined for fifth place in the shorter hurdle race, but Christie Heban of Delta clipped the last hurdle and went crashing to the ground. Heban — who was in a battle for first place with Muncie Central’s Vaneisha Ivy — slipped all the way to seventh place while Michael jumped to fourth.

Nicole VanSkyock and Heather Manor picked up the only other individual regional spots for the Patriots.

VanSkyock led for almost the entire way in the 1600-meter run, but Brittany Lane charged and this time she finished the job. Lane, who broke the Delta school record at the Muncie Relays but still lost to VanSkyock, took the lead with less than 20 meters to go Tuesday and VanSkyock placed second in 5:40.76.

Manor again teamed with Link for a strong Patriot showing in the throwing events. She had a toss of 100 feet, two inches to place second in the discus.

VanSkyock and Golden joined Megan Franks and Jill Roughia in placing third in the 3200-meter relay with a time of 10:46.22.

“With all the injuries we had this year I think they did a god job,” said Caldwell. “They pulled together and made the best of what we had.”[[In-content Ad]]