Published: May 15, 2008 12:01 pm            

Area athletes set for girls state track meet

For four years, Teutopolis High School senior Heather Pruemer has been throwing the shot put for the school's girls' track and field team.

For four years, she has gone to the sectional meet and qualified for the IHSA Class A state meet at Eastern Illinois University.

So why on earth did she look nervous at the Robinson Sectional last week?

"She was nervous at sectionals, and I think she was nervous because she was going for the school record," said T-town girls' track coach Connie Deters. "She knew she had what it took to make it to state, but she really wanted that school record, too. Now that she's got it, I'm excited to see what she can do at state."

Pruemer did break the T-town record, qualifying for Friday's state preliminaries at O'Brien Stadium in Charleston and winning the meet with a toss of 39 feet, 10 inches.

Now, the senior has the possibility of a state title on her mind.

"She's been there, she has the experience and she's a very competitive person," said Deters. "Heather has consistently been throwing over 40 feet in practice. She's not going to go up there and be afraid. She's not worried about anybody else; she knows she can compete with anybody else and isn't cocky or arrogant about it."

While Carlinville freshman Kelsey Card qualified with what Deters described as an "unbelievable" throw of 42-11, Pruemer's was the third-best qualifier after she advanced to Saturday for the first time in her career at last year's state meet and ended up taking sixth at 38-1 1/2.

Junior Make'l Westendorf is also heading to Charleston Friday for the high jump preliminaries while Chelsea Greuel, Amber Will, Jenna Funneman and Beth Kreke make up a 3200 meter relay team that surprised the field at Robinson and finished ahead of Effingham St. Anthony and Altamont to take second in 10 minutes, 16.5 seconds behind Neoga's 10:14.43.

"That was kind of a shocker," said Deters. "We hadn't beaten Neoga, Altamont or St. Anthony this year, but wanted to have a good race and see what happened. Everything fell into place and they took about 30 seconds off their time. That's pretty amazing for that kind of race."

The second-year T-town coach says her team is on the borderline of making Saturday's finals when comparing qualifying times, but also says at this point making the finals would be gravy on an already great accomplishment.

"We're ranked 14th and they take 12 to finals, but I don't base the season on whether they make finals or not," said Deters. "I just want them to finish with a great race. If they make it to finals with a great race, that's a perk. That's what I'm focusing on."

St. Anthony's 3200 relay qualified on time while Neoga's of course advanced as the meet winner; the race has been a competitive one in the area all year long.

"The 3200 team's times have really come down," said St. Anthony coach Mike Mitchell, whose group struggled to break 11 minutes early in the year but whittled it down to a 10:19.96 at sectionals.

The St. Anthony 3200 team, made up of sophomores Victoria Wolke, Taylor Oltman and Lauren Hoelscher along with freshman Anna Mitchell, got to the big Tuscola Invitational and suddenly and broke the school record with a 10:43 and then got to the NTC meet and ran a 10:33 before the 10:19 at sectionals.

"They've surprised me all year long," said the first-year Bulldogs coach, who is also sending an 800 relay of Michelle Jansen, Mitchell, Jaclyn Jansen and Kathyrn Koester.

"Both relays have times in the middle of the pack and will probably have to run the best race they've ever run to advance, but I think both relay teams will really respond well (at state); they have so far when they've been pushed."

Koester and J. Jansen join junior pole vaulter as St. Anthony's repeat offenders at state; J. Jansen has twice before qualified for the triple jump out of sectionals but has never made it to the finals while Koester, another senior, qualified in the long jump last year but also missed the finals.

VanSant made her first trip to Charleston last year, also missing Saturday's finals after clearing 8 feet, 6 inches on the first day.

Neoga will have its best representation in a long time at the state meet as it qualified in six events under Tim Mueller, who took over the program in 2003.

It was 1999 the last time Neoga sent more than one individual athlete to state; last year Jaimee Roy qualified in two events as a sophomore and ended up taking third in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump.

Roy is back in both events while fellow junior Whitney Haskett qualified in the 300 meter hurdles and high jump while freshman Ashley Deters will run the 800.

Deters is also a member of the 3200 relay team along with sophomore Taylor Walk, freshman Allison Mueller and junior Amanda Coen. Neoga's team has no seniors this year.

Other schools involved include Altamont, whose lone qualifier is sophomore Justine Seidel in the 3200 meter run.

After making it to the state cross country meet this fall, Seidel ran a 12:11.32 at sectionals to finish third and qualify on time.

Cowden-Herrick senior Tia Sarver is also heading to Charleston in the 200 while Stewardson-Strasburg senior Kristen Schutte is a discus qualifier along with Cumberland junior Lacey Eggers.

Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.