BARRIERS TUMBLE AT CENTRAL RELAYS

Since her freshman year of high school, Jackson senior Lindsey Meyr has dreamed of breaking a barrier. A 17-foot barrier.

Her four-year goal was realized Saturday at the Cape Central Relays as Meyr broke her own school record with a long jump of 17 feet, 1 inch.

"I'm pretty excited," Meyr said. "I hope to get even farther. I think I've got it figured out now. I've got to jump higher instead of out."

Meyr had a great all-around day. She also ran the 400 leg of Jackson's sprint medley relay that took first and ran the anchor on the winning 1,600-meter relay team (Jessica Venable, Jeanna Bolen, Kelly Lichtenegger and Meyr). Jackson's sprint medley team consisted of Rachel Smith, Jessica Venable, Jeanna Bolen and Meyr.

Cape Central's Heather Jenkins had a superb day as well, earning the Relays' outstanding field competitor award on the girls side. Jenkins posted a season-best 41-2 in the shot put and won the discus competition with a toss of 139-1. Jenkins led Cape Central to first places in both the shot put and discus relays. In this meet, the top three scores of each team in every field event were tallied for a relay score. No team results were kept.

Also for Central's girls, the 3,200 relay team of Kim Pancoast, Rachel Sprigg, Whitney Pingel and Amanda Hutteger took first place in 10:11.44. The distance medley team of the same four runners took first in 4:05.61.

"Our distance squad has carried us from Day 1," Cape Central coach Lawrence Brookins said. "We've had good field events too, but our distance kids have helped us keep our heads above water until some of our other kids get healthy."

The Lady Tigers' 400 relay team also took first. Vicky Wilson, Lauren Lee, Lameeka Waters and Deandria McCaule ran the race in 52.28.

Vicky Wilson, Central's promising sophomore sprinter, came back from an injury to take first in the 100. She posted a time of 12.93. Kim Pancoast won the 1,600 run in 5:28.95.

Central's girls team, which has proven it is the best in the area this year, still has a few athletes out with injuries, including Courtney Edge.

"The girls we have out would make us 40 percent better," Brookins said.

On the boys' side, Jackson's 400 relay team of Michael Schuette, Gabe Baugh, Ray Goodson and Mario Whitney took first place with a school-record time of 43.41. Whitney, the area's fastest athlete, tweaked a muscle and didn't compete in any of the events the rest of the day.

Jackson coach Bob Sink is excited about the possibilities of his team. Many of Jackson's athletes posted season-best times and distances Saturday.

"We've got a lot of kids getting better," he said. "The biggest deal has been the weather. It hasn't been decent enough to train lately. The weather will change and when it does, some of these times will pop."

For Central, Mark Stone, Ross Tilghman, Trevor Duncan and Gabe Austin teamed up to win the 3,200 relay in 8:22.17.

Both the boys' and girls' 3,200 relay teams shaved seven seconds off their season-best times.

Complete results in Scoreboard on 4B.