Lady Yellow Jackets win first meet of outdoor season

The Chester High School track and field program opened the outdoor season in great fashion on Thursday, with the girls finishing first out of seven participating schools at the Dr. Charles R. Young Memorial Track and Field Complex.

Chester finished with 172 points, while Christopher was runner-up with 164 points. Sparta (125), New Athens (50) and Gibault (14) rounded out the top five.

Shawnee and Steeleville did not have any team points.

"We had some good performances especially considering it was our first meet of the season," said Chester coach Jennifer Stumpe. "I was very impressed with our wins in the high jump, discus, shot put and triple jump.

"We also had some good performances in our running events."

The Lady Yellow Jackets earned eight first place finishes, six runner-up finishes, two third place finishes, seven fourth place finishes and two fifth place finishes.

CHS won four of the six field events. Maddie Hoffman won the discus with her toss of 97-0, while Hannah Schweizer was runner-up with a throw of 95-8.

Maddie Hoffman also won the shot put with a throw of 32-3. Schweizer was runner-up again with a toss of 29-7.

Ashtyn Jany placed fourth in the long jump (13-2.5), while Kaitlyn Hoffman tied two other girls in the high jump with a leap of 5-0.

Jessica Kattenbraker finished fourth in high jump (4-10).

Kaitlyn Hoffman was the winner in the triple jump with an effort of 31-5. Teammate Tayler Howie placed fourth with a jump of 24-7.5.

Finally, Abby Myers was the winner in the pole vault with her vault of 7-0. Teammate Elizabeth Mitchell finished fourth with a vault of 5-6.

The 3,200-meter relay team of Taylor Dunning, Addie Blechle, Jocelyn Landeros and Avery Runge finished second with a time of 11:48.4, as did the 400-meter relay team of Addie Blechle, Destiny Williams, Howie and Jany (55.9).

Senior hurdler Morgan Atchison won both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles with times of 16.0 and 47.8, respectively. Taylor Hennrich placed fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.4.

Dunning was the winner in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:41.0. Addie Blechle placed fourth with her 2:57.9 performance.

In the 800-meter relay, Howie, Williams, Hennrich and Jany finished third.

Kattenbraker was the runner-up in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.5, while Audrey Hopper took fourth (1:12.4).

Dunning was the winner of the 1,600-meter run with her time of 6:07.0. Runge placed fifth for CHS with her time of 6:41.7.

In the 200-meter dash, Hennrich finished fourth (31.0). To close out the meet, Howie, Hopper, Elizabeth Mitchell and Jany finished as runners-up in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 4:48.7.