Sunday, April 27, 1997

Lueders-Avoca's Strickland a double winner

By BILL HART

Senior Staff Writer

Matt Strickland of Lueders-Avoca will double his pleasure at the Class A state track meet in Austin on May 10.

He won the 400 (50.56) and 200 (21.7) at the Region II-A track meet Saturday at Elmer Gray Stadium, the only double winner of the day in the boys division.

Three field events were postponed until this afternoon because of the weather and Era holds a one-point lead over Rankin, 51-50, in the boys team race. Water Valley leads Miles, 60-54, in the girls division.

Scott Ricci of Cross Plains nosed out Rory Peacock of Woodson in the high hurdles, while Adrienne Kerbow of Baird won the girls 100 hurdles, Brandi Richey of Cross Plains captured the 300 hurdles and Krissi Jennings of Baird won the 200.

First and second place qualified for the state meet. Others making the trip to Austin are 300 hurdler Aaron Orsini of Strawn and the Robert Lee 1,600 relay in the boys division and Richey in the 100 hurdles and the Cross Plains 1,600 relay.

Strickland won the 400 despite a battle with asthma.

"It really bothered me the last 150 meters, I couldn't get any air," he said. "But I just had to finish, I'm a senior and I wanted to go back to the state meet. I was third last year and that gave me a lot of incentive to do better this year. I want to win this time."

He recovered to win the 200 with his best time of the year, fighting off Matthew Williams of Sterling City, who was timed in 22.1.

Ricci held off Peacock, who qualified for state last year, to win in 15.22. Peacock ran 15.35.

"I'm usually the last one to the first hurdle, but I got a faster start this time," Ricci said. "I had my steps down just right between the hurdles and I ran better at the end. I've worked harder this year and it paid off."

The girls 100 meters was a District 10-A battle all the way with Kerbow holding off Richey at the finish line. Kerbow was clocked in 16.20 to Richey's 16.26.

"I hit the next-to-last hurdle and it threw me off stride - and slowed me down," Kerbow said. "She had beaten me last week at regional qualifiers and that fired me up for this meet.

"I had the best qualifying time (Friday night) and that helped my confidence."

Perhaps the most surprised athlete going to state is Jennings, a junior who didn't start running the 200 until district two weeks ago.

"I had been running the 400, but I pulled a hamstring muscle at our meet (the last weekend in March) and the coaches moved me to the 200," she said. "Until district I hadn't run the 200 since junior high.

"But today is a dream come true because I had to do a lot of rehabilitating after the injury. I cut a full second off my time today, that's what surprised me the most."

Baird is fourth in team scoring with 40 points, followed by Cross Plains with 35.

BOYS

Team points - 1. Era 51; 2. Rankin 50; 3. Sterling City 46; 4. Robert Lee 31; 5. Sands 23; 6. (tie) Lueders-Avoca 20, Saint Jo 20; 8. Wink 17; 9. (tie) Baird 16, Graford 16, Muenster 16, Strawn 16; 13. (tie) Cross Plains 14, Woodson 14.

Triple jump - 1. Josh Richter, Sands, 45-1 1/2; 2. Brad Cox, Grady, 44-11 1/4; 3. Rory Peacock, Woodson, 43-11; 4. Aaron Orsini, Strawn, 42-10 3/4; 5. Preston Hartfield, Alvord, 41-11 1/2; 6. Keith Martin, Evant, 41-7.

400 relay - 1. Sterling City 44.44; 2. Era 44.60; 3. Rankin 44.72; 4. Baird 44.95; 5. Christoval 45.0; 6. Strawn 45.7.

800 - 1. Rusty Hamm, Menard, 2:03.71; 2. Bryan Miller, Muenster, 2:05.05; 3. Lane Rutland, Water Valley, 2:06.07; 4. Noah Dean, Rankin, 2:06.2; 5. Brandon Jones, Wink, 2:1.1; 6. Matt Watson, Tolar, 2:11.7.

110 hurdles - 1. Scott Ricci, Cross Plains, 15.22; 2. Rory Peacock, Woodson 15.35; 3. Michael Pentecost, Robert Lee, 15.54; 4. Brent Turnbough, Fort Davis, 15.59; 5. Scott Alaniz, Rankin, 15.75; 6. Jerrod Beall, Sands, 15.92.

100 - Matthew Williams, Sterling City, 11.18; Trey Clark, Irion County, 11.43; 3. Gabe Anguiano, Lometa, 11.45; 4. Shane Wilson, Rankin, 11.5; 5. Wade Woodford, Christoval, 11.5; 6. Jody Wilson, Era, 11.7.

400 - 1. Matt Strickland, Lueders-Avoca, 50.56; 2. Jesse Jones, Evant, 51.42; 3. Bradley Stevens, Era, 51.46; 4. Roger Leija, Sterling City, 52.31; 5. Matthew Millican, Robert Lee, 53.1; 6. Calvin Baker, Wink, 53.6.

300 hurdles - 1.Frankie Rodriguez, Rankin, 39.84; 2. Aaron Orsini, Strawn, 40.23; 3. Ricky Guardarrama, Rankin, 40.61; 4. Scott Ricci, Cross Plains, 40.62; 5. Bradley McDaniel, Sterling City, 40.62; 6. Randal Logan, Era, 42.5.

200 - 1. Matt Strickland, Lueder-Avoca, 21.7; 2. Matthew Williams, Sterling City, 22.1; 3. Jody Wilson, Era, 22.7; 4. Bobby Gray, Fort Davis, 22.7; 5. Shane Mallory, Strawn, 23.4; 6. Dustin Bookhout, Era, 23.4.

1,600 - 1. Ben Botello, Saint Jo, 4:44.11; 2. Freddie Maddox, Graford, 4:47.43; 3. Diego Parras, Sands, 4:49.03; 4. Lane Rutland, Water Valley, 4:52.74; 5. Corey Benes, Christoval, 4:56.1; 6. Jonathan Robles, Grady, 5:02.6.

1,600 relay - 1. Era 3:34.59; 2. Robert Lee 3:35.36; 3. Rankin 3:35.56; 4. Muenster 3:36.76; 5. Wink 3:39.98; 6. Sterling City 3:41.7.

GIRLS

Team points (after 12 events) - 1. Water Valley 60; 2. Miles 54; 3. Sterling City 44; 4. Baird 40; 5. Cross Plains 35; 6. Alvord 29; 7. Tie, Irion County 24, Wink 24; 9. Tie, Collinsville 20, Rankin 20; 11. Fort Davis 18; 12. Petrolia 16.

400 relay - 1. Miles 51.6; 2. Water Valley 52.2; 3. Baird 52.5; 4. Collinsville 52.8; 5. Rankin 53.0; 6. Sanderson 53.2.

800 - 1. Regina Lilly, Sterling City, 2:25.1; 2. Amy Pohl, Sterling City, 2:28.2; 3. O'Lita McWilliams. Fort Davis, 2:33.0; 4. LaFever, Lueders-Avoca 2:38.6; 5. Donna Gilbert, Brock, 2:40.0; 6. Hollie Zant, Sands, 2:41.5.

100 hurdles - 1. Adrienne Kerbow, Baird, 16.20; 2. Brandi Richey, Cross Plains, 16.26; 3. Tiffany Maxie, Garden City, 16.53; 4. Amber Counts, Water Valley, 16.9; 5. Christina Huertas, Grandfalls-Royalty, 17.2; 6. Jessica Dorsey, Slidell, 17.4.

100 - 1. Jeana Meyer, Eden, 13.03; 2. Lynn Moore, Miles, 13.12; 3. Cindy Cope, Petrolia, 13.22; 4. Valorie Rogers, Rankin, 13.25; 5. Maggie McGehee, Irion County, 13.36; 6. A'Brianna Collins, Santa Anna, 13.42.

800 relay - 1. Water Valley 1:50.63; 2.Alvord 1:51.91; 3. Miles 1:52.11; 4. Baird 1:53.23; 5. Fort Davis 1:54.0; 6. Muenster 1:54.2.

400 - 1. Jess Ann Fernandes, Wink, 62.43; 2. Regina Lilly, Sterling City, 63.79; 3. Valorie Rogers, Rankin, 64.69; 4. Marlena Guthery, Gorman, 65.51; 5. Teri Bates, Bellevue, 65.6; 6. Sonya Reagan, Gorman, 66.6.

300 hurdles - 1. Brandi Richey, Cross Plains, 47.89; 2. Allison Moore, Fort Davis, 48.26; 3. Liz Mendez, Rankin, 49.04; 4. Christi Hoelscher, Miles, 50.34; 5. Kim Hall, Bronte, 51.6; 6. Lanie Nivens, Alvord, 52.2.

200 - 1. Krissi Jennings, Baird, 26.56; 2. Danielle Wallace, Menard, 27.02; 3. Maggie McGehee, Irion County, 27.02; 4. Donna Gilbert, Brock, 27.97; 5. Kelly Ratliffe, Bellevue, 28.0; 6. Afton Stowers, Westbrook, 28.1.

1,600 - 1. Amy Pohl, Sterling City, 5:39.56; 2. Joy Bursen, Collinsville, 5:45.60; 3. Nory Pierce, Irion County, 5:47.14; 4. Angela Welsh, Grady, 5:55.36; 5. Tiffany Kujawski, Garden City, 5:56.4; 6. Nichols, Woodson, 6:03.1.

1,600 relay - 1. Water Valley 4:18.4; 2. Cross Plains 4:19.1; 3. Alvord 4:1.1; 4. Sterling City 4:22.3; 5. Wink 4:30.6; 6. Petrolia 4:34.2.