April 29, 2011 - April 30, 2011 @ University of Louisville in Louisville, KY
Hosted by Eastern
D’Monami Gardner (Withrow, OH) is a headliner in the girls’ throws and with good reason. Gardner, who was 4th at last year’s Ohio D1 state champs in the shot, already claimed the shot put title at the University of Kentucky’s indoor invite and then traveled to the Florida Relays where she garnered another shot put title. Gardner’s season best throw in the shot put (45-2) has her ranked 16th in the country and has her well out in front of the next best competitor lined up this weekend (her teammate Diamond Commodore at 37-11). The discus looks to be much more competitive with Gardner battling against three other ladies who have reached past 115 feet: Jeffersonville, Indiana’s Tierney Mull and two of Kentucky’s very best in Apollo’s Casey Peach and Fern Creek’s Alexandra Grant.
Oldham County’s Isaac Bowlingand Male’s Reddrick Blakemore headline the boys’ throws and both can expect a strong challenge from Floyd Central’s Codie Hamsley in the discus. Bowling, who competed in Ohio’s D3 state championships last year for Fremont St. Joseph, has been a big surprise to the state of Kentucky this year, leading the state in both shot put (56-5) and discus (172-5) thus far. Blakemore started hot in the shot put indoors, hitting a PR of 54-3.5 en route to a second place finish at the UK Indoor Invite and has followed outdoors with a new PR in the discus hitting 165-9.5 at the St. X Brother Borgia meet last weekend. Apollo’s Hunter Bivin and LaSalle (OH) standout Jesse Back will look to challenge in the shot put as both enter with performances over 50 feet this year. In the discus, Hamsley leads the entries, with his 170-10, but Bowling has been 172 and Blakemore had his best throw yet this past weekend, so expect fireworks from this group early and often.
Both of the girls’ horizontal jumps appear to have clear leaders on paper with McAuley’s Taylor Bove and Oldham County’s Evann Dickerson’s entries standing out in front of the competition right now. Bove is an interesting one as she is a very solid discus thrower and high jumper to go along with her long jump talent, but she has been particularly sharp lately in the long jump, reaching over 17 feet twice in the past three weeks. Dickerson has not been as sharp in the triple jump as she has not been able to reach her standing PR so far this year, but her long jump has improved and that lends confidence to her ability to step up this weekend. In the long jump, Brooklyn Kinnard (Jeffersonville), Janaiqua Horne (North Hardin), and Kayla Lovett (Withrow) look to be the next best contenders, while Dickerson’s teammate Madison Theiss, John Hardin’s Halie Holloway, and Sayre’s Bea Cameron are the leading contenders in the triple.
Male’s Mike Pattersonis the man to watch in the boys’ horizontal jumps as he enters as the leader in both events. Patterson has been strong in the triple jump outdoors, after posting his lifetime best at the Mason-Dixon Games indoors (47-0.5), but his long jump has not quite been on the same level has he has not reached over 20-9 yet this season. Patterson’s teammate Ronjae Morris and Central’s Kevon Dunbar have both been over 21 feet this year, but it is Barren County’s Taylor Austin that comes in with the best mark of the season in the long jump. Look for a good battle from these four as well as Simon Kenton’s Sage Powell and Jeffersonville’s Jeremy Martin. The triple may very well be Patterson’s for the taking as Powell is the second closest entrant and sits almost two feet back from Patterson’s best leap outdoors.
Withrow’s Skyler Willisenters as the leader in the girls high jump, having cleared 5-8 this year at the Florida Relays which is good enough to tie for 9th best in the nation. She will be going against two of Kentucky’s top four leapers this season as Eastern’s Alexys Nash and Trimble County’s Kelsie Courtney have both cleared 5-4 this season. Expect both the Kentucky ladies to make good attempts at 5-6 if the weather is good as both have likely not faced quite this caliber of competition this year, but if Willis is on, she will be very tough to beat.
A couple of 6-7 high jumpers headline the boys’ event as Brett Wehmiller of New Albany (IN) and Warren Central’s Donovan Halsel enter as the favorites on paper. While Wehmiller hit his 6-7 in early March, Halsel skied to his this past weekend at the Volunteer Outdoor Track Classic. The group of Mike Thompson (South Oldham), Chris Way (Male), and Tyler Bray (Lloyd Memorial) are looking to take the spotlight as each enters having cleared 6-6 this outdoor season and may just need a strong group of competitors to bring their best out of them. Expect a very impressive battle this weekend as this group looks to continue their dominance of the skies.
Megan Zimlich of Louisville Ballardhas been a very strong pole vaulter and has dominated the Kentucky scene over the past year. She has reached over 11 feet multiple times indoors this year, but has only been able to clear 10-0 once outdoors, though we can be sure the weather has been a factor in that statistic. Zimlich will be facing off against Floyd Central freshman Rachel Kavgacoff who has also reached 10-0 this outdoor season, though she has a personal best of 10-5. Expect Zimlich to get healthy, though, if there is good weather and a chance for her to showcase her Arkansas-bound talents.
Andrew Silber of LaSalleis the leading entry in the boys’ pole vault and he has been very strong this spring so far. He has reached over 14-0 on three different occasions already this outdoor season and that is something none of the other entrants for the weekend can say. Silber’s teammate, Tyler Vidourek, and St. Xavier (KY) vaulter Brad Zoulke are the only other entrants who have reached over 13-6 this year, with Darien Tatgenhorst of Jeffersonville just behind having cleared 13-0. With a good forecast and strong competition, expect the field to have a strong day and for the group of three challengers to get creative with their attempts to challenge Silber for the title this weekend.