CHS honors Yellow Jacket track and field athletes
<p class="p1">Chester High School's track and field coaches hosted its banquet and awards night on June 29.
<p class="p1">Chester girls head coach Jennifer Stumpe thanked all of the parents for their dedication to the program and for supporting the athletes throughout the season.
<p class="p1">Thanks were also given to assistant coach Curt Gilpin as well as coaches Jim West and Stan Myer for their efforts in helping train and manage the girls throughout the winter and spring seasons.
<p class="p1">Stumpe also noted that Chester has a good reputation for well-run and managed meets and that the timers and other volunteers make that possible.
<p class="p1">"We have a real family here and the girls stand by each other, cheer for each other and treat each other like sisters," Stumpe said. "The family atmosphere really helps everyone to achieve more and feel welcomed and wanted."
<p class="p1">In her summary of the 2016 season, Stumpe noted that the girls won the freshman/sophomore Black Diamond Conference meet and became conference champions for the fifth time in six seasons.
<p class="p1">The varsity Lady Yellow Jackets also won their conference meet for the sixth straight year. Chester placed second at the Rocky Bridges Relays, the IHSA Sparta Sectional meet and the Bi-County meet.
<p class="p1">In addition, the girls competed very well at the prestigious and competitive St. Genevieve Meet (4th); the Buzz Bradley Meet in Sparta (4th); the Freeburg Invitational (7th) and the Nashville Invitational (5th).
<p class="p1">Finally, Chester sent four individuals and the 1,600-meter relay team to the state meet at Eastern Illinois University.
<p class="p1">Abby Myers competed in the pole vault (26<sup>th</sup>); Taylor Dunning finished 20<sup>th</sup> in the 800-meter run (2:32.09); Jessica Kattenbraker finished 21<sup>st</sup> in the 400-meter dash (1:04.50); and Morgan Atchison finished sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (46.44).
<p class="p1">Finally, the Lady Yellow Jacket 1,600-meter relay team of Tayler Howie, Taylor Dunning, Jessica Kattenbraker and Kaylah Hasemeyer finished 24th of 30 squads with a time of 4:23.55.
<p class="p1">All-South athletes included Morgan Atchison and Taylor Dunning along with the 1,600-meter relay team.
<p class="p1">All-Conference athletes included Morgan Atchison, Abby Myers, Kamryn Wingerter, Taylor Dunning, Kaitlyn Hoffman, Brooke Frazer and Maddie Hoffman.
<p class="p1">Chester also grabbed All-Conference honors in each of the four relays - the 1,600-meter (Hasemeyer, Dunning, Howie and Kattenbraker), 3,200-meter (Dunning, Ashley Hennrich, Sarah Hecht and Kattenbraker), 400-meter (Hannah Bert, Abby Myers, Taylor Howie and Kaitlyn Hoffman) and 800-meter (Bert, Alli Kennon, Howie and Kaitlyn Hoffman).
<p class="p1">Morgan Atchison was named the MVP for track events, while Abby Myers was named the MVP for field events.
<p class="p1">Howie was named the Relay Queen. Kaylah Hasemeyer was named the Most Improved Track Athlete and Hannah Schweizer was named the Most Improved Field Athlete.
<p class="p1">Boys coach Ben Hunter summarized his first season at CHS by describing four key topics or events.
<p class="p1">First, he was very proud of his team for its second place finish at the Ste. Genevieve Meet. Next,
<p class="p1">Hunter noted his team's third place finish at the Black Diamond Conference meet and praised his young squad for the performances at the IHSA Nashville Sectional.
<p class="p1">Chester finished seventh out of 15 teams and qualified two individuals and the 800-meter relay team to advance to the state meet.
<p class="p1">CHS senior Lucas Doiron was the runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles with his time of 39.14, breaking the school record.
<p class="p1">Senior Tyler Redeker also qualified for state in the shot put with his throw of 46-11.25. He elected not to participate in the state meet due to his work schedule.
<p class="p1">The Yellow Jacket 800-meter relay team of Doiron, Chris Lang, Jacob Golding and Savion Smith also competed at state, finishing eighth with a time of 1:35.44 and did not advance to the finals.
<p class="p1">All-Conference recognition included Smith, Tyler Redeker and Lucas Doiron as individuals and both the 400 and 800-meter relays.
<p class="p1">Smith also earned All-Conference honors in the high jump and Redeker earned All-Conference honors for both shot put and discus.
<p class="p1">Demontae Martin earned All-Conference honors for the 100 yard dash, 200-yard dash and both the 400 and 800-meter events.
<p class="p1">Chester's 400-meter relay team including Smith, Martin, Jacob Golding and Joey Reid earned All-Conference honors, as did the 800-meter relay team of Smith, Martin, Golding and Doiron.
<p class="p1">The MVP for track events was Lucas Doiron. The MVP for field events was Savion Smith.
<p class="p1">The Most Improved Award was earned by Jacob Wingerter.