Strong finishes

By William Bowman
The Danville News

May 07, 2008 11:45 am

— DANVILLE -- Jeff Brandt's been coaching a long time in Danville and he's had three decades worth of teams come and go.
The 2008 girls track & field team has quickly turned into one of his favorites.
While not the most talented team he has ever fielded, Brandt isn't sure if he's ever had one try harder each and every meet and they were just rewarded Tuesday.
The Ironmen won their fourth meet in a row to close the season at Ironmen Stadium, routing Jersey Shore 104-46 as they wrapped up their best season since winning their last SVL-I title in 2005.
After starting 1-2, the Ironmen finished the season 5-2 after back-to-back 4-3 campaigns. While the Ironmen suffered tough losses to Selinsgrove and Milton, Brandt was more than happy with the way his team performed this season and is performing heading into the league and district meets the next two weekends.
"This team gives 100 percent in every meet, in every race," said Brandt. "I haven't had too many teams that have worked harder than this team. They have a lot of heart and that's what I like about them."
They also have plenty of balance, another trait the veteran coach likes.
In Tuesday's rout, sophomore Abbi Woll won three events, senior Caitlin Cavanaugh won two more and the Ironmen also picked up wins from five other athletes to rout the Bulldogs (2-8, 1-6).
The Ironmen outscored Shore 59-28 on the track and once again dominated the field, outscoring the Bulldogs 45-18 there.
"I thought we were maybe a 3-4, 2-5 team at the beginning of the year," said Brandt. "But they have worked hard from the first day of practice and the work has paid off."
If not for Jersey Shore's Missy Gotshall, the Ironmen could have scored more points. Gotshall won the 100 and both hurdle events, accounting for 18 of Jersey Shore's 46 points. Other than that, however, it was all Danville.
The Ironmen won two of three relays and five of seven individual events on the track. Cavanaugh ran away from the field in the 800 (2:31) and the mile (5:32) while freshman Ashley Daniels led a Danville sweep in the two-mile, winning in 12:56 with teammates Kate Bassett and Abbey Ruk following closely behind.
Senior Sarah Friday led a 1-2 DHS finish in the 400, winning in 1:06.3 while Woll and Laura Cook went 1-2 in the 200 with Woll winning in 27.3 seconds.
Woll also picked up a pair of throwing wins for Danville while three seniors, competing at home for the final time, also won.
Woll won the shot with a toss of 34-feet, 4 1/2-inches with teammates Sarah Taylor and Aimee Reinaker also scoring points. Woll also took the javelin with a throw of better than 100 feet, winning at 102-11.
In the discus, Taylor also broke the 100-foot mark with a heave of 100-feet, 7-inches.
In the jumps, seniors Adrienne Jantzi, Laura Umana and Lisa Yumen combined for 14 points with sophomore Erin Heintzelman grabbing a third.
Jantzi won the long jump with a leap of 14-5 1/2 with Yumen finishing second and Heintzelman third. Umana won the triple jump (32-11) with Yumen third.
"I'm really excited for the league and district meets because I don't think we've reached our peak yet," said Brandt.

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