There are dynasties, and then there is the Switzerland County High School girls varsity track program.
For the seventh straight year, the Lady Pacers earned the championship of the ORVC Conference Track Meet on Tuesday night.
The Lady Pacers easily outdistanced their competitors, finishing with a team score of 115; while Jac-Cen-Del was second with a score of 89. South Ripley was third (73); Southwestern was fourth (69); Rising Sun was fifth (47); then Milan (47) and Shawe Memorial (24).
Switzerland County was led by some outstanding efforts, including freshman Raylinn Kappes, who earned the championship in both the 100-meter dash in a time of :12.93 and the 200-meter dash in a time of :27.62. She was also a part of the conference winning 400-meter relay team along with Jayden Thomas, Sydney Thomas, and Aleiah Thomas, who ran a time of :53.80.
Aleiah Thomas doubled up her ORVC titles with a win in the high jump with a height of 5’0”; and she finished second in the long jump.
Lady Pacer senior Leah Anders wrapped one of the best running careers in the area with a win in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:31.75; and she also finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run and was a part of the 3,200-meter relay team along with Keirstan Oeffinger, Kiley Flanders, and Alisha Detmer that finished second overall.
Switzerland County’s other conference championship came in the 1,600-meter relay, where the team of Abby Niswander, Lillian Northcutt, Willow Lieland, and Ally Furnish ran a time of 4:26.84.
Second place points were earned by Furnish in the 300-meter hurdles; while earning third places in the conference meet was Alisha Detmer in the high jump.
Finishing fourth in Tuesday’s conference meet was Niswander in the 400-meter dash; Matty Anderson in the 1,600-meter run; and Kora Ferguson in the shot put; and picking up fifth place points for Switzerland County was Furnish in the 200-meter dash and Jayden Thomas in the 100-meter hurdles.
Sixth places were earned by Oeffinger in the 1,600-meter run; Alisha Detmer in the 3,200-meter run; Allison Detmer in the 100-meter hurdles; and Lieland in the 300-meter hurdles and the long jump; while Lieland was also seventh in the 100-meter dash and Northcutt was eighth in the 400-meter dash.
Ferguson was ninth in the discus; and Hannah Hayes was ninth in the shot put and 10th in the discus.
*
In the boys conference meet, Switzerland County’s Zach Howlett dominated the strength events again — just as he has the entire season.
The senior won both the shot put (with a distance of 44’5”) and the discus (135’6”) to cap an incredible season. He was the only conference champion for the Pacers on Tuesday night.
As a team, Switzerland County finished third with 61 points. Southwestern won the conference with 145 points; followed by Jac-Cen-Del with 80. After the Pacers, Milan was fourth with 57; Rising Sun had 55; South Ripley had 52; and Shawe Memorial finished with 15.
The 400-meter relay team of Myles Covington, Scott Blair, Austin Bosaw, and JW Goldsberry finished second overall; while earning third place points was Goldsberry in the 200-meter dash; and Cory Taulbee in both the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.
Finishing in fourth place was the 1,600-meter relay team of Bosaw, Blair, Covington and Goldsberry; Brian Watson was fourth in the high jump; Goldsberry was fifth in the 100-meter dash; Hicks was fifth in the 800-meter run; and Dathan Brown was fifth in the discus.
The 3,200-meter relay team of Day, Coby Manbeck, Zach Romans, and Hicks was sixth overall; Covington was seventh in the 100-meter dash; and the 200-meter dash; Blair was eighth in the long jump; Alec Boggs finished ninth in the shot put; Day was ninth in the 400-meter dash; Zach Nead was 11th in the long jump; Romans was 12th in the 800-meter run; and Adrian Armstrong competed in the high jump but did not place.