Rochester track salutes seniors, beats Valley, Triton

Doran, Dunwoody sweep hurdles, Hisey, Bailey also win 2 events; Derf, Martin, Omondi, Marquez among Valley winners

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Seniors on the Rochester track team pose for a group photo following senior day ceremonies prior to Tuesday’s meet against Tippecanoe Valley and Triton at Barnhart Field. Rochester won the girls meet with 65.5 points, Triton had 57.5, and Tippecanoe Valley had 33. Rochester won the boys meet with 67.5 points, Triton had 51.5, and Valley had 29. Valley will travel to Bremen for a meet later tonight. Rochester will travel to Wabash for the Three Rivers Conference meet Friday.

The Rochester track team’s three-way home meet against Tippecanoe Valley and Triton at Barnhart Field Tuesday was as much about the past and the future as it was the present.

On one hand, the seniors reminisced during pre-meet festivities. On the other hand, it was a preview of the most important 16 days of the season coming up.

The Three Rivers Conference meet is at Wabash Friday, the girls sectional is at Bremen May 19, and the boys sectional is at Plymouth May 21.

Rochester wound up winning both meets against two rivals they will see at both sectionals. They scored 65.5 points in the girls meet while Triton had 57.5 and Valley had 33. The Zebras had 67.5 points in the boys meet while Triton had 51.5 and Valley had 29.

The weather conditions were miserable – bone-chilling and damp with intermittent rain with temperatures in the upper 40s.

“First and foremost was honoring the seniors,” Rochester coach Ryan Helt said when asked what the objective of the meet was. “A group with over 20 kids. They’ve been a really good class for me.

“Our conference lineup is due Wednesday, and we just wanted to test out an idea here and there to see if it changes our mind on our lineup configuration. Also, with conference being on Friday and having a meet on Tuesday, for a lot of kids, it was just a workout tonight.”

Girls

Rochester individual winners included Kyra Doran in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump; Maddie MacLain in the 100 meters; Maddie Bailon in the 400 meters; Allyson Calloway in the 1,600 meters; and Ashlynn Weyant in the shot put.

The 4 x 100 relay team of Doran, Bailon, Kyla Conley and Jordyn Hackworth also prevailed.

Doran also won the long jump at the Tipton Invitational, but she bounced back after not placing in the 100 hurdles and finishing eighth in the 300 hurdles at Tipton. Teammate Kyla Conley beat her out at Tipton in the 300 hurdles – Conley took fourth there – and Conley took second behind Doran in both hurdles races Tuesday. Throw in the 4 x 100 relay, and Doran and Conley alone combined for 21 of Rochester’s 65.5 points.

“Well, Tipton just got off to a bad start for her,” Helt said of Doran. “She had a big lead in the 100 hurdles to open the night. She was over a hurdle ahead about two hurdles to go, and she hit the hurdle and fell. She came back nicely. She ran great in the four by one. She won the long jump there. 300 hurdles was a little bit of a dud Friday, and I think that was a wake-up call for her. Kyla Conley ran a PR and beat her on Friday night, and it looked like she was determined to come back and reestablish her place there, and I think with those two going back and forth with each other competitively, that just helps the whole team out.”

Valley winners included Haley Derf in the discus and Lauren Martin in the 200. Derf also took second behind Weyant in the shot put, and Martin took second behind MacLain in the 100.

Betty Shepherd, a state qualifier in the 300 hurdles in 2024 and the school record holder in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, finished third in the discus but did not do either of the hurdles races.

“She hasn’t really had any competition as far as anyone pushing her, so that’s been the downside,” Moriarty said. “We’ve been packing in the meets just to get them in. … We’ve only had two full weeks of meets. So yes, her not having the competition in some of the meets has been discouraging, but she’s still doing well. She PR’d (set a personal record) and set the school record in the 100 hurdles at CMA, and I don’t think anybody was within a second-and-a-half of her. So that’s really nice that she’s still able to push herself, but I am excited to see what she can do when someone’s breathing down her neck.”

Boys

Starting a new senior night tradition, Grant Bailey gave a speech prior to the meet urging his younger teammates “not to take a single season for granted.”

He then went out and won both the 1,600 in 4:55.0 and the 800 in 2:13.7. Junior teammate Leandro Javier was second in the 1,600 and third in the 800.

Bailey was one of three Rochester athletes to win multiple individual events. Harrison Dunwoody won both the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, and Mason Hisey won both the discus and shot put. His discus throw of 145-2 beat the rest of the field by 28 feet.

Other Rochester winners included Clarence Garrett in the long jump and Grayson Miller in the pole vault.

Helt said Dunwoody will compete in the 100, the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the long jump at the conference meet. The 100 and 110 hurdles are a unique challenge as Dunwoody will have to run a qualifying heat in both events and then a final later in the evening.

“He can do both,” Helt said. “Harrison and I spoke, and our objective is to maximize our team points. He’s our best athlete in terms of scoring potential, so four individual events really makes sense for us with him.”

The night’s two biggest showdowns might have been between a Valley athlete and a Triton athlete. In the 100, Valley junior Owen Omondi ran an 11.1 to squeeze out a win over Jayden Overmyer. In the 200, Isaac Quintana ran a 22.8 and beat Omondi by 0.4 seconds.

In addition to Omondi, the other Valley winner was Christopher Marquez, who won the 3,200 in 11:55.

“It’s good,” Valley coach Jenny Moriarty said of the competition Omondi received. “We’ve been lacking in having meets this season, so it is really good for him to be pushed. He needs that. That’s key to help making conference and sectional successful for him. He hates running in the rain. He didn’t enjoy that part, but having the competition is key for him.”

Girls results: Rochester 65.5, Triton 57.5, Valley 33

Scoring on 5-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 5-3 basis for relays

Winners plus all Rochester and Valley scorers

100 m

1. Maddie MacLain (RHS) – 13.1 seconds, 2. Lauren Martin (TV) – 13.3, 4. Jordyn Hackworth (RHS) – 13.7

200 m

1. Lauren Martin (TV) – 29.1 seconds, 2. Maddie MacLain (RHS) – 29.4, 4. Audrey Birge (TV) – 29.9

400 m

1. Maddie Bailon (RHS) – 1:05.5, 2. Mackenzie Evans (TV) – 1:05.7, 4. Chaney Miller (TV) – 1:08.1

800 m

1. Gephardt (TRI) – 2:49.3, 3. Brooklyn Chandler (RHS) – 2:54.5

1,600 m

1. Allyson Calloway (RHS) – 5:46.0, 4. Adison Hayes (RHS) – 6:21.0

3,200 m

1. Rettinger (TRI) – 13:33

100 m hurdles

1. Kyra Doran (RHS) – 16.4 seconds, 2. Kyla Conley (RHS) – 17.7

300 m hurdles

1. Kyra Doran (RHS) – 52.4 seconds, 2. Kyla Conley (RHS) – 54.8, 3. Alexis Elliott (TV) – 55.3

4 x 100 m relay

1. Rochester (Kyra Doran, Maddie Bailon, Kyla Conley, Jordyn Hackworth) – 53.8 seconds, 3. Valley – 57.8

4 x 400 m relay

(not contested)

4 x 800 m relay

1. Triton – 11:02.0, 2. Rochester (Daniela Ochoa, Adison Hayes, Brooklyn Chandler, Vivian Miller) – 11:26.0

Long jump

1. Kyra Doran (RHS) – 14-2, 2. Chaney Miller (TV) – 13-3, 4. Sophia Baker (RHS) – 12-11

High jump

1. Faulkner (TRI) – 4-8, 2. Ella Hake (RHS) – 4-8, 4. Jordyn Hackworth (RHS) – 4-2

Discus

1. Haley Derf (TV) – 95-4, 2. Claire Kelley (TV) – 89-7 ½, 3. Betty Shepherd (TV) – 86-4

Shot put

1. Ashlynn Weyant (RHS) – 29-2, 2. Haley Derf (TV) – 28-3, 3. Claire Kelley (TV) – 24-8

Pole vault

1. Bemish (TRI) – 8-6, 2. Maddie MacLain (RHS) – 8-0, t-3. Sophia Baker (RHS) – 7-0

Boys results: Rochester 67.5, Triton 51.5, Valley 29

Scoring on 5-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 5-3 basis for relays

Winners plus all Rochester and Valley scorers

100 m

1. Owen Omondi (TV) – 11.1 seconds, 3. Spencer Backus (RHS) – 12.0

200 m

1. Quintana (TRI) – 22.8 seconds, 2. Owen Omondi (TV) – 23.2, 3. Spencer Backus (RHS) – 25.4, 4. Hunter Kamp (RHS) – 26.4

400 m

1. Bradley (TRI) – 55.2 seconds, 2. Tyson Wachtmann (RHS) – 56.6, 3. Camdyn Furnivall (RHS) – 56.7

800 m

1. Grant Bailey (RHS) – 2:13.7, 3. Leandro Javier (RHS) – 2:14.9, 4. Collins Hammons (TV) – 2:21.7

1,600 m

1. Grant Bailey (RHS) – 4:55.0, 2. Leandro Javier (RHS) – 5:00.0, 3. Mason Miller (TV) – 5:02.0, 4. Collin Hammons (TV) – 5:18.0

3,200 m

1. Christopher Marquez (TV) – 11:51.2, 2. Caden Biernacki (RHS) – 12:00.9, 3. Lucas Scorsone (RHS) – 12:01.6

110 m hurdles

1. Harrison Dunwoody (RHS) – 14.7 seconds

300 m hurdles

1. Harrison Dunwoody (RHS) – 43.0 seconds, 2. Clarence Garrett (RHS) – 44.5, 4. James “Auggie” Wells IV (RHS) – 50.6

4 x 100 m relay

1. Triton – 45.1 seconds, 2. Rochester (Spencer Backus, Clarence Garrett, Preston Luhnow, Harrison Dunwoody) – 47.0, 3. Valley – 48.1

4 x 400 m relay

(not contested)

4 x 800 m relay

1. Triton – 9:25.0, 2. Rochester (Evan Rudd, Caden Biernacki, Lucas Scorsone, Lincoln Holder) – 9:35.0

Long jump

1. Clarence Garrett (RHS) – 17-5, 2. Hudson Shepherd (TV) – 17-4, 

High jump

1. Callahan (TRI) – 5-10, 2. Hudson Shepherd (TV) – 5-8, 3. Clarence Garrett (RHS) – 5-4, 4. Van Kiser (RHS) – 5-0

Discus

1. Mason Hisey (RHS) – 145-2, 2. Will Kelly (TV) – 117-5 ½, 3. Grady Moriarty (TV) – 114-0 ½

Shot put

1. Mason Hisey (RHS) – 41-7, 2. Grant Clark (RHS) – 41-4 ½, 4. Blake Cooksey (TV) – 39-3

Pole vault

1. Grayson Miller (RHS) – 9-6, t-3. Tanner Horn (RHS) – 7-6