Lady Jackets track team honored

CHESTER - Coach Jenny Cartwright and her 2018 Chester High School coaching staff honored the 2018 CHS Lady Jackets Track and Field team during the school's annual Banquet and End-of-the-Year Awards Night.

The event was held in conjunction with the YellowJacket Boys banquet and awards presentations. Parents, athletes, guests and media were on hand to help the Lady Jackets celebrate another good year of competition.

Cartwright took center stage to highlight her 2018 squad and their accomplishments, then presented the annual individual awards and announced the top-5 major award winners for the Lady Jackets.

Cartwright began by thanking everyone for attending what turned out to be the biggest, best-attended banquet and awards night in recent history.

"Opposing teams love coming to our meets," she said. "We are always well-organized and well run. I really appreciate everything that many people do for us to earn that praise and thanks from other teams' coaches and athletes."

Cartwright mentioned specific individuals who went above and beyond to make the Chester meets such a success. For example, Laura Howie has organized and managed the concession stand for several seasons, and the Chester meets have not only the usual candy, pop corn, soda and other "junk food", but the Chester ladies serve hot food, nachos, hot dogs, sloppy joes, as well as fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, and other healthy items.

Cartwright also bragged on how well-run the finish line is at CHS meets. Mary Stallman and stadium announcer, Jacob Wingerter were among the timers, recorders, results-runners, and officials recognized for their work.

Finally, Cartwright recognized the many parents who volunteer, transport their athletes to and from practices and meets, and otherwise raise their children to be quality athletes both on-and-off the track. She also thanked her assistant coaches including Curt Gilpin, Jim West, and Stan Myers. Cartwright further thanked Coach Ben Hunter and Steve Spears for their support and added guidance.

"Almost every time we go to a meet, other coaches and meet administrators praise our girls for being very polite, well-mannered, and very sportsmanlike," she said. " It always makes me feel exceptionally good to receive such complements from coaches, restaurant owners where we eat, bus drivers and school administrators where we compete."

Cartwright then summarized the 2018 season starting with the Indoor Season which featured three meets; Marion, Southern Illinois University and Principia. Maddie Hoffman, Katie Hoffman, Taylor Dunning, Abby Myers, Josie Kattenbraker, Lauren Soellner, Juliette Abernathy, Ashtyn Jany, Avery Runge, and Taylor Dunning competed in the Indoor Program.

Josie Kattenbraker qualified to compete at the Indoor State meet for high jump while Abby Myers competed in the pole vault. Indoor season began in December and ended in February. Both Abby and Josie made it to the top-12 and top-16 athletes in their respective events.

The Outdoor Season began in March with 20 Lady Jacket athletes including six seniors, no juniors, four sophomores and 10 freshmen. Coach Cartwright said, "It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us in 2018, but our girls worked hard, stayed focused and had a great season. It was a very young team and the weather and several injuries worked against us, but w3 still had a great year", said Cartwright.

The Lady Jackets won five meets this year including the Rocky Bridges Relays, Keith Hall Invitational at Trenton-Wesclin, Buzz Bradley Meet at Sparta, and the Randolph-Monroe Bi-County Meet. The Lady Jackets also won the Black Diamond Conference Meet again this year for the 8th year in-a- row. During the BDC meet Chester earned the most All-Conference honors in history with 27 total.

In addition to all of these winning meets, the Lady Jackets also placed 3rd at the very competitive Nashville Invitational meet and they finished 3rd at the 2018 IHSA Class 1A Sectional meet.

At the Sectional Meet CHS had a lot of 3rd Place finishes including Josie Kattenbraker in the 100 and 300 hurdles; Katie Hoffman in the high jump; Jessica Kattenbraker in the 400-meter dash; and the 4 X 800-meter relay which included Taylor Dunning, Avery Runge, Emma Bauer, and Jessica Kattenbraker.

Out of the Sectional Chester had two individuals and one relay qualify to advance to the 2018 IHSA Class 1A State Meet. Abby Myers qualified in the pole vault; Katie Hoffman qualified in the high jump and the 4 X 400-meter relay team of Emma Bauer, Josie Kattenbraker, Ashtyn Jany, and Jessica Kattenbraker.

At the State Meet Chester's 4 X 400 relay team achieved a personal-best time for the season and finished 16th in the state of Illinois in Class 1A. Katie Hoffman advanced to the State finals and achieved a personal-best height of 5'-1" in the high jump. Abby Myers achieved a personal-best height of 10'-00" in the pole vault which tied the school record.

Cartwright said, "Abby and Katie did not finish as well as they had hoped for. Abby finished 12th in the State and Katie finished 19th. I am very proud of both of them. They both had a great run at it!"

The following 10 freshmen earned the awards listed: Kaleigh Masterson, Avery Miers and Shelby Roth earned their freshman numerals; Peyton Clendenin and Melody Colonel had already earned their numerals and a letter in other sports; Alayna Meyer, Juliette Abernathy, and Emma Bauer earned their freshman numerals and a letter; and Lauren Soellner and Josie Kattenbraker earned a pin for their letters.

The four sophomores earned their sophomore patches and a pin for their letters including Ashtyn Jany, Avery Runge, Taylor Hennrich, and Lyz Mitchell.

Senior team members earned pins for their letters including Jessica Kattenbraker, Taylor Dunning, Abby Myers, Maddie Hoffman, Katie Hoffman and Tayler Howie.

Finally, Cartwright presented the 27 All-Conference Certificates to those Lady Jackets who earned them, including:

Katie Hoffman (long jump, 1st, 15-09.00)

Maddie Hoffman (shot put, 2nd 34-06.00)

Abby Myers (pole vault, 1st, 9-00.00) and (4 X 100 relay, 1st, 11:14.60)

Jessica Kattenbraker (400-meter dash, 1st, 1:03.93) and (4 X 400 relay, 1st, 4:33.10)

Taylor Dunning (800 run, 1st, 2:36.02); (1600 run, 1st, 6:12.92); and (4 X 800 relay, 1st, 11:14.60)

Josie Kattenbraker (300 hurdles, 1st, 51.70); (100 hurdles, 2nd, 18.20); (4 X 400 relay, 1st, 4:33.10); and (4 X 800 relay, 1st, 11:14.60)

Elyzabeth Mitchell (300 hurdles, 2nd, 54.62)

Avery Runge (4 X 800 relay, 1st, 11:14.60)

Lauren Soellner (4 X 200 relay, 2nd, 1:58.13)

Emma Bauer (4 X 800 relay, 1st, 11:14.60) and (4 X 400 relay, 1st, 4:33.10)

Ashtyn Jany (200-meter dash, 2nd, 28.26); (100-meter dash, 1st, 13.72); (4 X 100 relay, 1st, 11:14.60); and (4 X 200 relay, 2nd, 1:58.13)

Tayler Howie (4 X 100 relay, 1st, 11:14.60); (4 X 200 relay, 2nd, 1:58.13); and (4 X 400 relay, 1st, 4:33.10)

Taylor Hennrich (4 X 100 relay, 1st, 11:14.60) and (4 X 200 relay, 2nd, 1:58.13)

This is a record number of 27 All-Conference honorees

To close out the 2018 Track and Field awards, Coach Jenny Cartwright presented the major awards. Coach Cartwright has two awards for track events, MVP and Most Improved; two awards for field events, MVP and Most Improved; and a Relay Queen Award.

The 2018 Relay Queen was Ashtyn Jany. For track events, the Most Improved Award was earned by Emma Bauer. The Most Valuable Player Award for Track was Jessica Kattenbraker. The Most Improved Field Athlete was Tayler Howie. The Most Valuable Player Award for Field Events was Abby Myers.

Coach Cartwright thanked everyone for coming to the banquet and praised the girls for a great year. She noted that the team would miss the six seniors very much next year, but stated that the strong nucleus that remains should be very successful down the road. Small gifts were presented to the seniors and the athletes presented the coaches with tokens of appreciation.