Hamilton a dash, dash revolution

Posted: May 22, 2012

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Russ Pulvermacher

Hamilton's Jessica Rupnow runs the anchor leg of the 4x200-meter relay at the regional May 21.

Russ Pulvermacher

Hamilton's Jessica Rupnow runs the anchor leg of the 4x200-meter relay at the regional May 21.

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Blink, and you'll miss them. It's a phrase that applies to the Sussex Hamilton girls sprint relays and the longevity of the conference records they establish.

The Chargers held Greater Metro Conference outdoor meet records in the 4x100 and 4x200, set in 2010, but a showing in Brookfield on May 15 wiped those off the books and wrote them anew. The 4x400 record, set last year, may have fallen as well were it not for inclement weather that abbreviated the meet and cut out a small handful of events.

The Chargers took fifth in the girls team portion of the meet, and the boys took fourth.

Hamilton had already rewritten recently established records in the six-lap relay at conference indoor (set in 2010) and in both the 4x200 and 4x400 at the GMC Relays (set last year). Both new outdoor records were most recently set in 2010, with Toney Lock, Brooke Patterson, Ashley Holicek and Danielle Barbian running the 4x100 in 49.33 and the 4x200 unit of Holicek, Jess Rupnow, Ellen Buckley and Barbian running in 1:43.23.

With Lock, Rupnow, Holicek and Casey Allen on board in the 4x100, Hamilton ran 49.30 to set the new mark.

In the 4x200, Lock, Buckley, Holicek and Rupnow ran a blazing 1:41.85, well ahead of the old mark and establishing the state's new fastest time.

New year, same speed

"I didn't expect the 4x1, I'll be honest with you," girls coach Ben Nysse said. "The 4x2, I thought we'd do pretty well, since we had three girls back from last year. The only person we had to replace was Brooke, which granted, is a big one. Toney, this is her first year running for her the 200 and she's killing it on the first leg. The 4x1 is almost completely different. Toney has shifted from starting over to anchor. Casey Allen was probably our sixth 100-meter runner last year, and Jess Rupnow down the backstretch is an experiment that keeps on working. She's kind of tall for the 100 but she just opens it up about 50 meters in, and so far, nobody's been able to catch her."

Hamilton is a full two seconds faster than the next-best 4x200 team on the state honor roll and finds itself within shouting distance of the record set by Bradley Tech in 2008, 1:38.46.

Lock added second place in the open 100 meters with her time of 12.65 seconds, and Katie Pollari and Ashlyn Paulson delivered second and third in the 800 meters with respective times of 2:21.59 and 2:23.03. Nicole Zeman took second in the 300 hurdles (49.10) and fourth in the 100 hurdles, and Shannon Burke took second by clearing 11 feet in the pole vault.

Way they Drew it up

The boys finished with one first place, with Drew Patterson taking the long jump title in 20 feet 9 inches - one inch ahead of Brookfield East standout Kyle Rohde.

"He popped that off right after he finished fifth in the 200, and he didn't have a lot of down time and beat one of the best kids in our conference," boys coach Eric Murray said. "I'm not surprised because he's just a diverse kid, especially as a sophomore. I knew he had it in him."

Like the girls, the boys relied on depth more than top-flight finishes.

Chais Blackburn took second in the 300 hurdles, crossing in 42.37 seconds. The team's 4x200-meter relay unit also placed second.

Mike Spankowski placed fourth in the 100 hurdles, just ahead of teammates Joel Fotsch and Chais Blackburn. Several Chargers finished fifth, including Patterson in the 200, Brett Buehler in the 400, Aaron Zagorski in the pole vault, Tony Koepnick in the shot put and Kevin Zarske in the discus.