RIO GRANDE – The first meet of the season might mean teams are just taking baby steps.

Sunday, March 26, 2000

RIO GRANDE – The first meet of the season might mean teams are just taking baby steps. The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers seem to prefer a little longer stride.

Despite a young team running in its first meet of the season, the Lady Tigers gave a strong effort as they placed second Saturday in the River Valley Invitational.

Wheelersburg won the meet with 178 points and Ironton was runner-up at 119. River Valley was a distant third with 94 points followed by Meigs with 57, Wellston 53, Eastern Meigs 32, and South Gallia 3.

"We had a good meet, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. This is the first meet and it’s only the first step in a long season. We’ve got a lot more steps up the ladder before we reach our potential," Ironton coach Tim Thomas said.

"Our girls gave a real good effort, but in a meet like this that scores three from each team, Wheelersburg just had too much depth for us."

Depth wasn’t a factor when it came to high point scoring as Ironton’s Rachael Perry took meet honors with 29.5 points.

Perry won the 100 meter dash (12.96) and 200 dash (28.0) while placing third in the 400 (1:08) and ran a leg on the 4×400 meter relay.

Perry was joined on the 4×4 relay by Alisa Philabaun, Sarah Herman, and Ashley Neal.

"Ashley Neal actually had the best split on the 4×4. She ran well. That’s encouraging when you look toward the rest of the season," said Thomas.

Perry, Herman, and Christy Lilly all came through with solid performances.

Lilly won the high jump at 4-4, ran a leg on the winning 4×100 relay team along with Herman, Philabaun, and Neal (54.77), was third in the 200 (28.51), and joined Shay Hannon, Neal, and Philabaun to place second in the 4×200 relay with a 1:57.02 clocking.

Herman was second in the 400 hurdles (54.1) and runner-up to Perry in the 100 (13.36) to go along with her two relays.

"The veteran girls did what was expected of them," said Thomas. "Perry high-pointed, and Herman and Lilly came up big.

"But it’s important for the veteran girls to keep focused on the task at hand and not become complacent with their past performances. They need keep improving to make us a better team and to provide leadership for the younger girls."

Hannon also finished fifth in the long jump (14-4).

Marlie Ford turned in a nice effort as she took fourth in the long jump (14-4 1/2), was fifth in the 100 meters (14.14), and seventh in the 400 (1:12.5).

Amy Bunker and Randa Collins made key contributions. Bunker was fifth in the 200 and sixth in the high jump. Collins was sixth in the 3200 run and joined Jessica Gillum, Chelsea Kehoe, and Shalonda Scott to place fifth in the 4×800 relay.

Scott also came through with a fifth place finish in the discus with Alfreda McAfee sixth and Candace Ferguson seventh for Ironton. Desiree Coleman claimed fifth in the shot put with a 26-412 throw.

"That was a good throw for the first time out by Coleman. That was one of our pleasant surprises," said Thomas.

Ironton will run a dual with Chesapeake Thursday.

River Valley Invitational

Girls Team Scores

1. Wheelersburg 178, 2. Ironton 119, 3. River Valley 94, 4. Meigs 57, 5. Wellston 53, 6. Eastern Meigs 32, 7. South Gallia 3.

Field Events

Discus – 1. Bauman (Wh) 94-4, 2. Means (Wh) 93-10, 3. McGlone (Wh) 75-5, 4. Lonchar (We) 72-1, 5. Scott (Ir) 71-9, 6. McAfee (Ir) 71-8, 7. Ferguson (Ir) 70-5, 8. Brill (We) 67-5.

Shot Put – 1. Bauman (Wh) 33-712, 2. Means (Wh) 33-0, 3. Stout (RV) 27-11, 4. Lonchar (We) 27-0, 5. Coleman (Ir) 26-412, 6. Boll (Wh) 24-912, 7. Nida (RV) 23-1012, 8. McGlone (Wh) 23-8.

High Jump – 1. Lilly (Ir) 4-4, 2. Clarke (Wh) 4-2, 3. (tie) Williams (Ir), Elliott (RV), Nida (RV) 4-0, 6. Bunker (Ir) 4-0, 7. Circle (RV) 4-0.

Long Jump – 1. Sisler (Wh) 15-0, 2. Philabaun (Ir) 15-0, 3. Haner (SG) 14-912, 4. Ford (Ir) 14-412, 5. (tie) Marcinko (RE), Hannon (Ir) 14-4, 7. Queen (Wh) 14-0, 8. Soulsby (Me) 13-1112.

Running Events

4×800 M Relay – 1. River Valley 11:24.88, 2. Meigs 11:29.69, 3. Wellston 11:55.14, 4. Wheelersburg 12:05.96, 5. Ironton 13:20.74.

100 M Hurdles – 1. Sisler (Wh) 16.6, 2. Balm (Me) 17.48, 3. Queen (Wh) 18.06, 4. Preston (We) 19.31, 5. Burdette (Me) 20.36, 6. Frazee (RV) 21.13, 7. Ingles (SG) 21.38, 8. Gillian (RV) 24.06.

100 M Dash – 1. Perry (Ir) 12.96, 2. Herman (Ir) 13.36, 3. Boggs (Wh) 14.01, 4. Justice (RV) 14.10, 5. Ford (Ir) 14.14, 6. Baker (RE) 14.47, 7. Emmett (Wh) 14.77, 8. Thomas (Wh) 14.85.

4×200 M Relay – 1. River Valley 1:56.72, 2. Ironton 1:57.02, 3. Wheelersburg 1:57.61, 4. Wellston 2:00.97, 5. South Gallia 2:07.02.

1600 M Run – 1. Walburn (We) 6:07.7, 2. Schmidt (Wh) 6:10.83, 3. Baker (RE) 6:14.68, 4. Broderick (RE) 6:17.27, 5. Burdette (Me) 6:46.0, 6. Barley (Wh) 6:49.94, 7. Murphy (Wh) 7:00.95, 8. Baker (We) 7:15.59.

4×100 M Relay – 1. Ironton (Lilly, Herman, Philabaun, Neal) 54.77, 2. Eastern 59.44, 3. Wheelersburg 1:00.44, 4. Wellston 1:00.69, 5. River Valley 1:03.91.

400 M Dash – 1. Johnson (RV) 1:04.6, 2. Boggs (Wh) 1:06.1, 3. Perry (Ir) 1:08.0, 4. Danzer (Wh) 1:09.7, 5. Thomas (Me) 1:09.8, 6. Soulsby (Me) 1:12.3, 7. Ford (Ir) 1:12.5, 8. Brill (Wh) 1:13.0.

300 M Hurdles – 1. Sisler (Wh) 50.8, 2. Herman (Ir) 54.1, 3. Bolin (Me) 54.6, 4. Chadwell (RE) 57.9, 5. Emmett (Wh) 58.9, 6. Harder (RV) 59.4, 7. Clark (Wh) 62.3, 8. Elliott (RV) 62.5.

800 M Run – 1. Degarmo (RV) 2:53.0, 2. Story (Me) 2:54.0, 3. Schmidt (Wh) 2:54.8, 4. Baker (RE) 2:56.5, 5. Buckingham (Me) 3.00.0, 6. Harrington (RV) 3:07.0, 7. Murphy (Wh) 3:10.0, 8. Moody (Wh) 3:13.0.

200 M Dash – 1. Perry (Ir) 28.0, 2. Boggs (Wh) 28.5, 3. Lilly (Ir) 28.51, 4. Justice (RV) 30.2, 5. Bunker (Ir) 30.6, 6. Bussa (Wh) 31.3, 7. Thomas (Wh) 31.5.

3200 M Run – 1. Walburn (We) 13:51.6, 2. Broderick (RE) 14:01.4, 3. Godwin (RV) 14:40.6, 4. Bailey (Wh) 14:41, 5. Burdette (Me) 15:19.7, 6. Collins (Ir) 15.26.0, 7. Tilley (Wh) 15:32.5, 8. Boll (Wh) 16:32.5.

4×400 M Relay – 1. Wheelersburg 4:34.8, 2. River Valley 4:38.1, 3. Ironton 4:38.3, 4. Meigs 4:51.0, 5. Wellston 5:18.7.

High Point: Rachael Perry, Ironton, 29.5 points.