Spartan Girls Tested By New Conference Foe West Catholic

Timothy Blystone

The Lady Spartan track and field team has not lost a conference dual in 5 years. They faced a tough test Tuesday against the West Catholic Falcons. Sparta was given a scare by their new OK Blue conference foe, but ultimately prevailed, winning the meet 73-64 and extending their impressive conference win streak to 31 consecutive dual victories.

 Junior Andrea Kober and sophomore Kelsey Blystone both provided stunning performances to keep the streak intact. Kober displayed dominance with her victories in the 110-meter hurdles (16.92 seconds), 300-meter hurdles (46.56 seconds breaking her own school record), 800-meter relay, and 1600-meter relay. Blystone continued to shine, winning the 100-meter dash (13.43 seconds), the 200-meter dash (27.70 seconds), as well as leading comeback victories as the anchor leg in the 400-meter and 800-meter relays. Coach Adam Pfeffer was extremely pleased with his two young stars, "What can you say about Kelsey, and Andrea in that 1600-relay with her (60.00) split, they were amazing today."

The Lady Spartans have been top-heavy for most of the last 5 years, but this year they are displaying some unusual depth as well. Says Pfeffer, "A lot of times meets come down to the little things, the second and third places. Other people have to step up and we had a bunch of girls do that with some great performances." Girls across the board stepped up for the Spartans to snag those second and third places for Pfeffer's squad. Chelsea Andrews took second in the 300-meter hurdles (49.94). Michelle Michel anchored the throwing events with a 83-4.75 foot discus throw, and a 29-1.50 foot shotput. Paige Urlaub outkicked West Catholic's Katie Sochacki in the 400-meter dash for second place. Indeed the little things added up for the Spartans as they scored 27 of their 74 points in second and third place finishes. These blue-collar finishes, as well as outscoring the Falcons 20-0 in relays, are what spelled victory for the Spartans. "It was tight throughout, but we managed to take some relays that I didn't think we could take. We've got some great depth," said Pfeffer after the victory.

With two more duals remaining, the Lady Spartans look to finish the season strong and hang another conference championship banner in Spartan Fieldhouse. No doubt with the strength at the top, as well as the depth, the Spartans will be aiming for more than that.