CHS Girls Track and Field athletes compete at SIU-C Indoor Invitational
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Chester High School Girls Track and Field team members traveled to Southern Illinois University Friday, March 5 to compete in the 2010 SIU-C High School Track and Field Invitational.
This year CHS Head Girls Coach, Jennifer Stumpe started an indoor track and field program to prepare her girls for the upcoming outdoor season. Those students who did not participate in a winter sport began practicing and training right after Christmas break.
At SIU there were field events in Pole Vault (22 athletes), High Jump (38 athletes), Long Jump (3 flights), Shot Put (4 flights) and Triple Jump (3 flights).
There were also 12 running events including 55-Meter Dash Prelims (11 heats), 55-Meter Hurdles (7 heats), 3200-Meter Run (3 heats), 55-Meter Dash Finals (2 heats), 800-Meter Relay (4 heats), 800-Meter Dash (5 heats), 400-Meter dash (10 heats), 200-Meter dash (12 heats), 1600-Meter Run (4 heats) and 1600-Meter Relay (4 heats).
Needless to say the event was a huge undertaking which began at 4:00 p.m. and did not finish until approximately 11:00 p.m. Chester's Paul Stallman, who is a registered IHSA Track and Field Official, served as a starter for the long and drawn out invitational.
Schools from all across Southern and Central Illinois participated in the event and gave the CHS girls a chance to see how they stack up against some of the top competition in the state.
Chester's Jordan Clendenin placed 4th out of 22 athletes in the Pole Vault. Clendenin vaulted 9-0 to earn her 4th place finish. For her effort she received a medal.
The Lady Yellow Jackets had three girls compete in the 55-Meter Dash. Rachel Young, a senior, finished 8th overall with a time of 7.80. Chelsea Schroeder, a freshman, finished 37th overall with her time of 8.50. Freshman Danielle Smith finished 55th with a time of 9.42. There were 11 heats of six runners for a total of 66 runners competing in this event.
Tiffani Marshall, a junior, competed in the 55-Meter Hurdles. In this event there were seven heats of six runners or 42 competitors. Marshall finished 17th out of 42 runners with her time of 10.3.
Jillian Yankey, Kristen Maes, Kristy Pulliam and Taylor Yankey competed in the 3200-Meter Relay. There were two sections of this event with ten teams competing in each section for a total of 20 relay teams. The Chester foursome finished 16th out of 20 teams with a time of 12:23.0.
Chester also entered a team in the 800-Meter Relay. In this event there were four sections with five teams in each section competing. A total of 20 teams were in the hunt for a first place victory. The Lady Yellow Jackets finished 10th out of 20 teams with their time of 1:58.29. Jordan Clendenin, Tiffani Marshall, Jade Jolly and Rachel Young competed on this squad.
Jillian Yankey competed in the 400-Meter Dash against 60 other girls. Yankey competed in the fourth section out of ten sections. There were six girls competing in each sectional race. Yankey finished with a time of 1:14.0.
Jenna Wingerter, Chelsea Schroeder and Danielle Smith competed in the 200-Meter Dash. There were 12 Sections of the 200-Meter Dash with six girls competing in each Section for a total of 72 competitors. Wingerter finished with a time of 31.25. Schroeder turned in a time of 31.49, while Smith recorded a time of 35.87.
Coach Stumpe stated after the long, but profitable meet, "I am very pleased with my girls tonight. We now have a great start to the spring season and I see a lot of promising efforts from these girls. We will definitely be ready for the spring competitions beginning in March.