BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity track teams turned in several strong performances in the state 3A South regional meet last week including a continued dominance in the pole vaulting events and another regional championship in the girls’ high jump.
Decatur as always produced champions in the pole vault and this year was no different. On the girls’ side, Katie Hofman finished first and Hannah Wilson finished second in the 3A-South regional. On the boys’ side, Decatur’s Brett Kim was first, Hyun Chun was second and Evan Hass was fourth.
Last year, Wilson won the 3A-South girls’ pole vault championship, while Haas finished first on the boys’ side and Adam Kristick was second. In 2013, Katie Collins was the regional champion and Sonny Aroh finished second in the boys’ competition. In 2011, Bradley Hollowell won the region championship while Matt Allenbaugh was second. Jessica Ames finished second the regionals in the pole vault in 2011. In 2010, Hollowell won the boys’ state championship in the pole vault, while Jenna Vignale won the girls’ state championship for Decatur.
While the pole vaulters took center state last week at the 3A-South regional, Hannah Wilson also won the regional championship in the high jump. In the long jump, Bethany Williams finished fourth and Jessica Wharton was sixth. Williams also finished sixth in the triple jump and finished eighth in the high jump while Malea Saunders was 12th.
In the track events on the girls’ side, Emily Cook finished sixth in the 100 hurdles after taking second in her preliminary. Emily Kolarik finished fourth in her prelim. Amari Harmon finished third in her prelim in the 100. Jessica Reimer finished sixth overall in the 1,600, while Alison Alvarado finished 11th and Peyton Dunham finished 13th in their prelims.
Malea Saunders finished fifth in her prelim in the 200. In the 300 finals, Cook finished fifth overall. Reimer was fifth in the 3,200, while Claire Billings finished 18th and Rachel Savage finished 19th in the 400. Savage also took 10th in the 800, while Amelia Nickell was 19th. In the relays, the Decatur girls finished seventh in the 4×800, and ninth in each of the other distances.
On the boys’ side, Tyrese Milbourne finished ninth in the long jump, while Avonte Purnell finished 11th. Justin Longest was sixth in the shot put, while Ernest Shockley was 12th and Gavin Payne was 19th. Ben Short finished eighth overall in the high jump.
In the track events, Parker Harrington finished fourth overall in the 800. In the 110 hurdles, Sean Velazquez-Alvinio was fourth, while Jeremy Danner finished fifth in his prelim and Alex Beckelman was seventh in his prelim. Avonte Purnell was sixth in his 200 prelim, while Zach Bernal finished seventh in his prelim. Velasquez-Alvino was 11th in the 300 hurdles while Jacob Forrester was 18th. In the 3,200, Jack Reimer finished 15th, Javier Hernandez was 19th and Jacob Gaddis was 23rd. Milbourne finished 13th in the 400. In the relays, the Decatur boys finished sixth in the 4×100, seventh in the 4×200 and seventh in the 4×800.
The 3A state championship meet will be held this weekend and Decatur will be well represented. Hofman and Wilson will compete in the pole vault, while Wilson will also compete in the high jump. Haas, Chun and Kim will represent Decatur in the boys’ pole vault. Harrington will compete in the 800.