East girls finish third at conference relays

Consistent and improved performances are what Brookfield East girls track and field coach Lisa Foss focused on as the Spartans finished third in the Greater Metro Conference Relays at Brookfield Central May 1.

Menomonee Falls won the event with 102 points, followed by Brookfield Central (99) and the Spartans with 71 points.

"We are definitely happy with our overall performance and finishing third," Foss said. "I told the girls before we got off the bus that we have the ability to win this conference meet, but it just didn't happen for us that day.

"We are glad to remain consistent in our performance, however. I truly feel that the continuous improvement on our team will keep us in this competitive position at the conference meet in a few weeks and moving into the regional and sectional."

The conference record-setting 300-meter hurdles relay took first behind Alisha Harper (47.80 seconds), Nina Dismukes (49.40) and Jenna Hatab (51.22) and 100 high hurdle shuffle was third (55.49) behind Dismukes, Kelsey Linsmeier and Hatab.

"My hurdle crew continues to strengthen," Foss said. "I was very happy with our performance. It was unfortunate to finish third in the hurdles after Kelsey Linsmeier fell, but what is more important to note is she looked amazing up until that point and she finished the race. For a girl who has ran less than a handful of 100 high hurdles races, that is an accomplishment.

"In my eyes, my girls won that race and Kelsey demonstrated strength and perseverance by finishing the race after her fall. My 300 low hurdles relay should also be honored as they went first, second and fifth in the race and created a new GMC relay record."

The 6,400 relay took second (23:44.06) behind Briana Mathison, Julia Barnes, Natalie Gehred and Jessie Austin and the 3,200 relay of Kathleen Browne, Mathison, Barnes and Christine Pelto took third (10:33.40) as did the distance medley of Elyse Linsmeier, Pelto, Browne and Maddie Timm (13:23.92).

The triple jump relay of Alisha Harper (33-feet, 11½ inches), Katie Schwarz (32-2½) and Lauren Engelhart (32-¾) took second and the long jump behind Alisha Harper (15-2¾), Katie Krugel (14-3½) and Linsmeier (13-8) took third, as did the 1,600 relay of Allyx Kvasnicka, Timm, Hatab and Molly Niemi (4:15.97).

"The distance crew continues to show strength and the horizontal jumpers also performed well," Foss said. "We took second in the triple jump and third in the long jump and our mile relay crew ran our fastest time of the season. I was very happy with the competitiveness of each girl on that relay team.

The high jump relay of Khadiya Hollingsworth, Emma Lucas and Jasmine Watson took fifth; the 400 relay finished sixth (54.67) behind Niemi, Engelhart, Schwarz and Harper, as did the 800 sprint medley (1:58.12) of Victoria Felker, Engelhart, Niemi and Kvasnicka and the 800 relay (1:54.38) behind Schwarz, Shelby Jacob, Jasmine Watson and Felker.

Two field event teams also finished sixth - the pole vault relay sixth of Maggie O'Neill (8-6), Mai Linh Schuh (8-0) and Haley Carter (7-0) and the shot put relay Therese Gaines (30-8¾), Amanda Hodgson (25-0) and Lucas (24-11). The discus throw took eighth behind Gaines (69-8), Hodgson (63-0) and Jo Patterson (60-3).