Track season underway, Carlinville and Staunton athletes compete at Jersey Indoor Winter Thaw

By JACKSON WILSON
Enquirer Democrat Reporter

On Mar. 11, high school track and field athletes from Carlinville and Staunton traveled to Principia Jim Crafton Training Center in Elsah to compete at the Jersey Indoor Winter Thaw.

The title of the meet was rather fitting, as boys and girls from the local area began to loosen up and light a fire in preparation for the spring season.

Boys

Weston Kuykendall of Carlinville placed fifth in the men’s shot put at 12.98m.

Staunton’s Braden Buffington and Carlinville’s Ethan Gibbel took the 17th and 18th spots in the men’s long jump. Buffington launched 5.25m and Gibbel 5.17m.

Mason Gilpin represented Carlinville in the pole vault and ranked fifth in a 3.35 m draw with Mascoutah’s Michael Scott. Michael Matesa placed eighth for Staunton and tied with Vandalia’s Christian Duplayee at 3.05m.

In the men’s 4 x 400, Staunton won the first heat in 3:53 while Carlinville settled for fifth in the fourth heat at 3:46. Staunton also competed in the 4 x 200 and was fourth in the fourth heat at 1:40.

Lucas Dawson (Carlinville) and Thomas Ogata (Staunton) took on the 60m hurdles but failed to surpass preliminaries. Ogata clocked a 10.94 second time and placed third in the second heat. Dawson came in fourth at 10.47 seconds in the third heat.

The Carlinville duo of Matt Dunn and Kaney Roper reached the 400m dash finals. Dunn ranked third in 59.72 seconds with Roper right behind in fourth at 1:01 in the second heat. Staunton’s Christian Haas finished in a minute flat for fourth place in the third heat. Nathan Oller, also of Staunton, competed in the sixth heat and placed third at 54.94 seconds.

In the 200m dash, the winner of the second heat finals was Staunton’s Ethan Rantanen, who finished his race in 25.34 seconds.

Ronald LaPlante nearly pulled out a victory of his own in the first heat, but fell roughly half a second short. 26.36 was the Carlinville sophomore’s final time.

Trace Trettenero of Staunton placed fifth overall in the 60m dash with a time of 7.45 seconds.

Girls

In the girls’ shot put. Carlinville sophomore Hannah Gibson placed third out of 30, with 10.44m being her longest throw. Her CHS classmate Isabella Tiburzi ranked 14th (9.25m).

Staunton’s Samantha Fulton placed 22nd out of 33 long jumpers, leaping 4.01m.

Gianna Bianco of Staunton placed 11th in the high jump (4’ 8”).

Staunton finished third in the first heat of the 4 x 400 finals at 5:03.

Staunton also competed in the 4 x 200 and ranked fourth in the second heat with a time of 2:03.

Elyse Eldred (11.96 seconds) and Lilly Foiles (12 seconds) placed third and fourth for Carlinville, respectively, in the third heat of the 60m hurdles.

Morgan Carrino of Carlinville ran the 1600m race in 6:13 for 11th place out of 17 competitors.

Lilly Trettenero (Staunton) and Sara Wiese (Carlinville) ran the 200m dash. Trettenero landed in fourth at 29.08 seconds in the third heat and Wiese placed sixth in the fourth heat with a time of 29.8 seconds.

In the 60m dash, two Staunton athletes failed to reach the finals in preliminary action. Samantha Fulton (9.43 seconds) placed sixth in the first heat and her teammate Kristin Wagoner (9.88 seconds) fourth in the second heat.