Saline Girls Show Across-the-Board Strength in Regional Victory

Last year, when the Saline boys’ track and field team celebrated on their home track after winning the regional, the girls’ team felt a little left out, having falling just short of victory.

“I think the girls knew the boys were probably going to win again and they wanted to be right there with the trophy, too,” said Mike Smith, assistant coach of the Hornets.

This year, the Lady Hornets weren’t denied.

Saline won with equal parts star power and depth.

Randi Bennett continued her big season, winning the discus with a throw 119-04. She settled for second in the shot put, despite a best throw of 38-07, which equaled the best throw from April Micheaux, of Taylor Truman. Their second throws were also identical, but Micheaux won because her third throw was best.

Saline’s other individual win came in the 3200, where Abby Rentschler won in 10:56.17. She was followed in by three Hornets, Elianna Shwayder, Amy Creutz and Gloria Park, giving the Hornets a 1-4 sweep.

Saline also sent all four relay teams to the state meet, picking up wins in the 3200 relay and the 400 relay.

The 400 relay of Amanda Luurtsema, Alana Hollis, Samantha Richart and Quenee’ Dale won in 48.88, knocking almost a half-second of their time. The team is approaching the school record of 48.61.

The 3200 team of Creutz, Lauren Green, Rentschler and Elianna Shwayder bested its season mark by finishing in 9:22.49.

Saline had several great performances in other events.

In the 100 Hurdles, Dale broke the school record, running the event in 13.86 seconds. She’s knocked more than a full second off the record this season.

In the 1600, Saline placed five girls in the top nine. Rentschler (2^nd, 5:01.31), Shwayder (5:03.16) and Creutz (4^th, 5:14.89) helped the Hornets rack up points. Melanie Schroeder was eighth and Kelly Hall was ninth.

In the 800, Lauren Green (2:19.54)

 placed second. Emily Reyst (4^th, 2:22.71) Kristin Green, (5^th, 2:27.08)  and Maria Romero (7^th, 2:27.57) also placed.

In the 200, Alexa Ross finished third (26.30). Luurtsema was third in the 100 (12.52).

In the long jump, Jacqueline Marchidon was second with a jump of 17-2. Wendy Szuminski was fourth (16-6.25).

Wendy and Samantha Szuminski went 2-3 in the pole vault. Wendy cleared 10’2 while Samantha cleared 9’8.

Three Hornets cleared 5’2 to finish in the top eight in high jump. Wendy Szuminski was third (5-0.4), while Samantha Richart was fourth (5-2.25) and Rachel Paxton was seventh (5-02).

The win was special for many Hornets. Perhaps for none more than senior Amy Creutz, whose two older sisters also ran track for the Hornets.

“It’s nice to have a good day in my final regional,” said Creutz, a distance runner who has also been an important member of the cross country team. “We wanted to win this today for coach, so I’m glad we were able to do it.”

The Hornets are home Wednesday for the SEC meet. The state finals are two weeks from Saturday.

For full results, click here.

(Click here to see a photo gallery from Friday's regional.)