by Phil Knapper

The easiest way to get to the Southern Illinois River to River Track Championships in Harrisburg on Thursday was taking a left off Sloan Street.

The hardest route to winning the championship, though, was going through Sloan and Company.

Benton girls track coach Andy Sloan and his Rangerettes ran roughshod through the rest of the SIRR-Ohio competition to win its third straight title, scoring 195 points to easily top Herrin, which was a distant second with 136 points.

Benton won eight events and also scored in every event to dominate the meet from start to finish.

“What a tremendous effort by our track team,” said Sloan. “These kids have worked so hard and I am extremely proud of them and happy for them. They have earned this as much as any group I have ever been around. We have talked about being special and being great, and how they want to be remembered. After today’s performance it is pretty clear they want to be remembered as champions. 

“The one thing that sticks out with this group is that it is a “group” effort,” he said. “They work together and it takes them all to get things done. They know they have a job to do and they go out and do it.”

The Rangerettes took the top two spots in three events as well. Sydney Potts and Madaline Parrish went 1-2 in both hurdles events, while Sara Miller and Macy Shurtz both cleared 8-feet in the pole vault to score 18 big points.

Benton was just a few inches from dominating two more events, too. Ashley Webb won the shot put and discus handily, but the battle was for second place in both events. In the shot put, Chelsea Hayden and Frankfort’s Amanda Bymaster were neck and neck until their final throw.
Hayden had the second spot with her toss of 35 feet, 4 inches, until Bymaster launched a 35 foot, 10 inch throw on her final attempt.

In the discus, Natalie Taylor looked to be sitting pretty with a throw of 97 feet, 7 inches until Bymaster pulled off a   throw of 98 feet, and one-half inch in her final attempt.

“Taylor and Hayden had big days with Chelsea pr’ing on all four throws,” Sloan said. “Those are big points from those two kids.” 

Potts had three total wins on the day. Besides her wins in the hurdles, she also took the high jump crown with a leap of 5-feet.

Kaitlyn Schutt also won two events, winning the 400- and 800-meter runs. Schutt did her normal work in both races, hanging with the crowd until the final 200 meters, separating on the third curve and running away down the homestretch.

The pole vault was a pressure-cooker. Not because there was a lot of competition for Miller and Shurtz, but because Shurtz was battling a pulled stomach muscle, which made it hard to bend the pole. But she cleared 8-feet on her final attempt to tie Miller on height, taking second on misses.

“Sara Miller and Macy Shurtz going 1-2 in the vault was a huge boost in the field,” said Sloan.

But to get seven wins and six runner-up finishes from the core group of Webb, Potts, Parrish and Schutt was special, Sloan said.

“I guess we start with Potts, Parrish, Schutt and Webb,” he said. “ Seven wins, and six runner-up finishes. They were outstanding on the track and in the field.”

The event wins were just part of wining the title. Benton picked up points in every event and would not allow any team to catch up.

Their 2-mile relay team of Cassidy Neal, Valarie Repp, Chelsea Tabor and Sammi Bybee was second in 11:06.6, the 4×100 relay team of Shurtz, Neal, Bybee and Miller took third, and Bybee and Jennifer Adams picked up points in the 2-mile as well, taking third and fourth,
respectively. Parrish was second in the long jump, Schutt second in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Shurtz was fifth in the 100-meters, Neal was sixth in the 800 meters, Tabor was fifth in the mile, Potts was third in the triple jump and the mile relay team of Repp, Neal, Tabor and Bybee was third. Repp was also fourth in the open 400 meters, with a personal best 63.9.

“How about the unsung heroes, starting with Bybee and Adams,” said Sloan. “They pick up 10 points in the 3200 run when we knew we needed some. Valarie Repp in the 400, Cassidy Neal in the 800, and Chelsea Tabor in the 1600 all scored big points as freshmen in individual events. They also played big roles in the relays and Mara McQuillen stepped up and replaced Macy in the 4×2 and had a nice leadoff leg.

“To win this, and continue the 10-meet win streak, has been unbelievable to say the least,” he added. “This gives us back-to-back-to-back conference championships and it takes a special group over an extended period of time to accomplish something like that. But our work is not finished and we have more to do. These kids are not satisfied and are ready to take care of business on Friday (at the sectional).”

The Class A girls sectional will be held at West Frankfort next Friday.