By TR HARLAN

Katie McColly made it a perfect 4-for-4 and Allyson Harvey made a preseason decision a good one.

Both picked up individual titles in the Duneland Athletic Conference Girls Track Meet on Tuesday night at Chesterton High School as the host Trojans finished fourth overall with 83 points.

Lake Central took team honors (127 points), while Merrillville (99 1¦2) and Crown Point (92) finished second and third.

“Lake Central really brought it today,” Chesterton coach Steve Kearney said. “You have to give them kudos, they were great everywhere. We scored 12 more points than we were supposed to and that’s 12 hard-fought points that we really earned.

“We were picked fifth, finished fourth and were in contact with second.”

McColly capped her DAC career with her fourth consecutive long jump title by soaring 18’1/4” to shatter her own conference record (17-10).

“That’s the way to be a four-time champ, by setting the conference record,” Kearney said. “I don’t remember it happening in our conference before and to do it in this era where the competition is so good is incredible.

“In this day and age to win it four times in a row is something else.”

McColly also finished sixth overall in the 100 and was the anchor in the second place finishing 4x100.

“I think that (4x100) team can get even better,” Kearney said. “Merrillville better be looking over its shoulder at us. We’ve beat every team in the conference. Those girls are just getting into a groove and gaining confidence.”

Harvey struggled through the preseason with whether or not she even wanted to run track her senior year, but the final decision resulted in the 800 title.

The senior sat comfortably in third place behind a pair of Lake Central runners through a lap and a half and then closed the deal with a tremendous kick in the final 150 meters and held on for the win.

“Allyson ran her race strategy to a ‘T’,” Kearney said. “And she had to adjust it because it wasn’t the kids in front of her that we thought it would be.”

The Trojans had other standout performances en route to their fourth place finish.

“I think we came out event-for-event and did an awfully good job,” Kearney said. “The kids that knew their important race were the trials and performed in it. We had a couple of kids that just missed the finals.”

Sophomores Marissa Crafton and Brianne Guardiola also turned in great performances on Tuesday night.

Crafton finished third in the long jump (17-4 1¦2) and was fifth overall in the 200 (26.99).

“Marissa really stands out,” Kearney said. “She went from 10th to fifth in the 200. She hit the State standard in the long jump. What a great day she had.”

Guardiola finished third in the 100 (16.48) and 300 Hurdles (48.39).

“Brianne is such a vicious competitor,” Kearney said. “She was right in there in both hurdle races. I think she ran her best time of the season in both and she’s right on the edge of some really good things.”

The other standout performance for the Trojans came in the shot put where junior Maria Schuster finished seventh overall (34-2).

“Maria had a two and a half foot PR in the shot put to finish seventh,” Kearney said. “She was seeded 12th, to that’s a really nice performance.”

Team Scores

1. Lake Central, 127; 2. Merrillville, 99 1¦2; 3. Crown Point, 92; 4. Chesterton, 83; 5. Valparaiso, 76; 6. Michigan City, 66; 7. LaPorte, 40 1¦2; 8. Portage, 40.

Individual Results

MVP’s – Rebecca Neville (Track), Merrillville; Meghan Kessler (Field), Crown Point.

100 – 1. Cristan Washington (M), 12.69; 2. Denisha Mitchell (L), 12.88; 3. Shanese McGregor (MC), 12.91; 4. Paige Huck (V), 12.99; 5. Tiera Simpson (M), 13.08; 6. Katie McColly (C), 13.16; 7. Ashley Farley (P), 13.23; 8. Jessica Morgan (LC), 13.26.

200 – 1. Tiera Simpson (M), 26.24; 2. Shanese McGregor (MC), 26.29; 3. Shannen Reynolds (LC), 26.46; 4. Cristan Washington (M), 26.68; 5. Marissa Crafton (C), 26.99; 6. Leah Rashin (CP), 27.86; 7. Paige Huck (V), 27.88; 8. Jessica Morgan (LC), 27.90.

400 – 1. Leah Rashin (CP), 59.16; 2. Kim Walker (V), 1:00.52; 3. Taishe Abrams (M), 1:01.06; 4. Katie Behrendt (C), 1:02.06; 5. Paige Kadish (C), 1:02.84; 6. Arien Taylor (M), 1:03.49; 7. Maddy Jerome (LC), 1:03.71; 8. Claudia Kalin (V), 1:05.01.

800 – 1. Allyson Harvey (C), 2:23.50; 2. Kaley Jensen (LC), 2:23.55; 3. Dominique Dvojacki (CP), 2:25.36; 4. Mary Kate Mellen (MC), 2:25.40; 5. Nicole Komasinski (LP. 2:25.89; 6. Anna Kacius (LC), 2:26.26; 7. Tina Guidarelli (C), 2:27.64; 8. Sammy Vercellino (CP), 2:28.54.

1,600 – 1. Mary Kate Mellen (MC), 5:13.26; 2. Megan Plenus (LC), 5:14.21; 3. Laicee Pierce (CP), 5:18.28; 4. Lisa Samplawski (P), 5:18.88; 5. Katie Sommer (V), 5:19.40; 6. Becca Kuehn (L), 5:21.32; 7. Rachel Zajac (LC), 5:24.70; 8. Jessica Stanfill (V), 5:30.47.

3,200 – 1. Dana Payonk (LC), 11:29.53; 2. Becca Kuehn (L), 11:42.94; 3. Jacki Henderson (LC), 12:00.06; 4. Taylor Halko (P), 12:05.65; 5. Christina DelTurco (P), 12:13.14; 6. Morgan Kleinaman (CP), 12:14.86; 7. Emma Weisman (V), 12:16.39; 8. Milana Socha (C), 12:18.14.

100 HUR – 1. Rebecca Neville (M), 15.18; 2. Stephanie Fisher (V), 16.47; 3. Brianne Guardiola (C), 16.48; 4. Taylor Rose (V), 16.70; 5. Mary Kate Siuba (LC), 17.18; 6. Kristina Hemmerling (LC), 17.42; 7. Hailey Plummer (CP), 17.68; 8. Sarah Novak (L), 18.15.

300 HUR – 1. Stpehanie Fisher (V), 47.59; 2. Kristina Hemmerling (LC), 47.69; 3. Brianne Guardiola (C), 48.39; 4. Kelsey Giordana (LC), 49.98; 5. Taylor Rose (V), 50.20; 6. Samone Kinsey (M), 50.40; 7. Kirstyn Nallenweg (C), 50.53; 8. Autumn Murray (P), 51.06.

4x100 – 1. Merrillville, 48.59 (DAC RECORD); 2. Chesterton (Bailey Huddleston, Mallory Przybylinski, Megan Erminger, Katie McColly), 49.90; 3. Portage, 50.40; 4. Lake Central, 50.81; 5. Michigan City, 51.01; 6. Valparaiso, 51.16; 7. LaPorte, 52.83; 8. Crown Point, 52.88.

4x400 – 1. Crown Point, 4:04.55; 2. Lake Central, 4:07.64; 3. Michigan City, 4:08.86; 4. Merrillville, 4:13.61; 5. Valparaiso, 4:14.83; 6. Chesterton (Paige Kadish, Marissa Crafton, Mallory Przybylinski, Shauna Foor), 4:19.38; 7. Portage, 4:21.45; 8. LaPorte, 4:50.58.

4x800 – 1. Lake Central, 9:31.68; 2. Crown Point, 9:39.58; 3. Chesterton (Kelsey Phillips, Tina Guidarelli, Jamie Norgaard, Allyson Harvey), 9:55.37; 4. Merrillville, 10:06.88; 5. Valparaiso, 10:14.30; 6. Michigan City, 10:31.47; 7. Portage, 10:43.25; 8. LaPorte, 11:02.43.

HJ – 1. Stacy Qualizza (CP), 5-5; 2. Savanna Hauter (LC), 5-4; 3. Rebecca Neville (M), 5-3; 4. Britney Tuskan (LC), 5-2; 5. Zarah Cecich (CP), 5-2; 6. Rachel Crawford (C), 5-1; 7. Chrissy Watts (C), 5-1; 8. (tie) Ashley Jamerson (M) and Denisha Mitchell (L), 5-0.

PV – 1. Abbey Sutton (V), 11-0; 2. Gianna Mirabelli (LC), 10-10; 3. Ericka Markiewicz (LC), 10-6; 4. Maddie Miskulin (V), 10-0; 5. Courtney Brinkman (MC), 9-6; 6. Alexis Villareal (CP), 9-6; 7. Courti Fryer (L), 9-0; 8. Dominque Dvojacki (CP), 9-0.

LJ – 1. Katie McColly (C), 18-0 1¦4 (DAC RECORD); 2. Rebecca Neville (M), 17-8 1¦2; 3. Marissa Crafton (C), 17-4 1¦2; 4. Jessica Morgan (LC), 16-10 1¦2; 5. Tiffany Palagyi (P), 16-4 1¦4; 6. Leah Rashin (CP), 16-4 1¦4; 7. Denisha Mitchell (L), 16-3 3¦4; 8. Liandra Cash (MC), 16-2 1¦2.

SP – 1. Meghan Kessler (CP), 45-1; 2. Tori Bliss (P), 41-7; 3. Stephanie Wilson (MC), 35-0; 4. Eva Foley (M), 34-10; 5. Alana Rivera (MC), 34-5; 6. Liz Martin (M), 34-2; 7. Maria Schuster (C), 34-2; 8. Michelle Wacnik (CP), 33-4.

DIS – 1. Meghan Kessler (CP), 133-8; 2. Brittany Coburn (L), 118-1; 3. Takesha Dockery (M), 106-4; 4. Latesha Mitchell (MC), 101-2; 5. Daralyn Richard (MC), 101-1; 6. Katie Hanyzewaki (LC), 100-5; 7. Liz Vraniskoski (LC), 100-0; 8. Tori Bliss (P), 97-3.

Posted 5/7/2008