Daniel struggles but makes two finals

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Notre Dame senior Katie Daniel fought through some bad weather Friday to capture two berths in today's event finals at the Class 3 and 4 state track and field championships at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.

Daniel finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries and eighth in the 300 hurdles preliminaries to sew up two all-state medals when the Class 3 event finals take place today. While both of her times -- 15.99 in the 100 and 47.21 in the 300 -- were off her performances at last weekend's sectional meet, Daniel will be on the awards podium no matter how she finishes today.

"I'm sure she'll want to do more than just finish," Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said of Daniel.

In the 100 hurdles, defending state champion Toniece Williams of Ruskin was disqualified for a false starte. Orie Ibe of Ladue had the top time Friday with a 15.07.

By the time the 300 hurdles rolled around, a light drizzle had begun. With water spread across the track, Daniel seemed to get a great start, putting a big gap between her and the field over the first two-thirds of the race. Daniel slowed over the final two hurdles, though, just holding on to qualify with the slowest time.

"She kind of shot out like a cannon ball in the 300 hurdles," Davis said. "The main thing is that she's through to the finals."

In other individual events, sprinters Rachel Kahle of Jackson and Nicole Jackson of Central advanced to their respective Class 4 finals. Kahle finished the 100 with a 12.49 for the sixth-best preliminary time. Jackson has the third-best time in the 200 heading into today's finals with a 25.22.

The only other individual to wrap up a berth in the finals was Perryville's Matt Unterreiner. Unterreiner, a senior, finished in eighth in the Class 3 110 hurdle preliminaries in 15.57.

Central sophomore Allen Walker had a false start in the Class 4 100 and was disqualified. Perryville's Josh Hayden finished with the 12th-fastest time in the Class 3 110 hurdle preliminaries.

Jackson's girls 400 relay team was the highlight of Friday's relay competitors from the area. The Indians, who were shut out of event finals in three relay events last year at the state meet, finished with a time of 48.36 for the fifth-fastest preliminary time in Class 4. Jackson came into the meet with the eighth-fastest time of the 16 teams.

Jordan Cook, Kami Miinch, Rebecca Martin and Kahle ran on the team. Kahle passed a couple of runners on the final leg to help seal Jackson's berth in the finals.

"It's exciting," Cook said. "Seeing we were eighth and came in second in our heat, that's very good."

Added Miinch: "Last year we didn't do very well at all, and this year we placed."

While the Indians have dominated the area in the sprint relays over the past couple of years, they had not been able to crack 50 seconds until Friday.

"I'll tell you what, this is the first time that we've run below 50 seconds, and there have been a lot of really good teams up here," said Carl Gross, who coaches Jackson's relays.

Central's all-sophomore 400 relay team of Walker, Tyler Terry, Anwar Glenn and Hykeem Hammonds also qualified for today's Class 4 event finals, finishing with the seventh-best preliminary time with a 43.05. The Tigers just missed out in the 800 relay, finishing with the ninth-best time.

Perryville's 400 relay team qualified for today's event finals in Class 3 by finishing with a time of 43.90 for the sixth-best time. In the 1,600 relay, Perryville finished with the seventh-best time in 3:27.70.

Jackson finished ninth in the Class 4 girls 800 relay preliminaries, Central's girls were 11th in the Class 4 400 relay and 12th in the 800 relay, and Notre Dame's girls finished 13th in the Class 3 800 relay.

Besides the 400 relay and Kahle in the 100, Jackson will have Andy Glass (shot put), Martin (shot put) and Rachel Lowes (800) participating in events today.

"We have the fifth-best time going into the finals, plus Andy in the shot, Rachel in the 800 and Rebecca in the shot," Gross said. "For a change, we have a big Saturday."

Central has Nadia Cox in the triple jump, Brianna Egbuka in the shot put and the boys 400 relay competing today.

For Notre Dame, Bryce Willen will try to compete for a Class 3 state title in the pole vault, while Daniel will compete in both hurdle events.

"Bryce has a good chance of winning it," Davis said.

Perryville will have Kyle Cottner competing in the triple jump, Elizabeth Martin in the 800 and Unterreiner in the 110 hurdles.