Flying high at districts

She may not have set any personal records, but Notre Dame junior Katie Daniel had little trouble picking up a pair of wins in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles events Saturday in the Class 3 District 1 meet at the Abe Stuber Track Complex.

Daniel was one of six Notre Dame girls to qualify for the sectional meet Saturday in Perryville. She also was a member of the 400 relay team which qualified for sectionals.

"I didn't get personal records in either of my events, so I'm hoping to do that at sectionals," Daniel said.

Daniel won the 100 hurdles in 16.38 seconds and the 300 in 48.72. The nearest competitor in the 100 was four-tenths of a seconds back and she beat the second-place finisher in the 300 by over a second.

"You just have to work with who's competing against you," Daniel said.

Notre Dame's girls also picked up a district title in the 800 relay. Haley Bohnert, Hannah Glueck, Emily Bira and Amber Karnes ran on the 800 relay team.

Bira and Karnes also qualified for sectionals in the 200 and 400, respectively.

Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said he was happy with the way his girls performed and was pleased to see Daniel pick up a pair of strong wins.

"Katie Daniel ran superbly," he said. "I think she's going to do well at the state meet."

Notre Dame's girls finished fourth with 69.5 points. Ste. Genevieve won the district title with 134 points.

Perryville's girls qualified two runners for the sectional meet. Leslie Schilli finished third in the 1,600, and Brittney Castelberry finished fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Notre Dame's boys qualified four runners for the sectional meet, with Bryce Willen pulling down the Bulldogs' only district title. Willen used a jump of 13 feet in the pole vault to win.

"I think I can do hopefully a foot or two better," Willen said of his winning jump.

Another highlight for the Bulldogs' boys team was the performance of the 3,200 relay team. That unit had not lost coming in to the district meet, and that perfect record nearly remained in tact.

The team of Sam Montgomery, Jason Delgado, Ryan Roggow and Austin Critchlow ran an 8:04.48, finishing just behind Potosi's defending state champion team. Critchlow actually overtook Potosi's Kyle Davis at one point on the final lap, but Davis edged Critchlow on the final straightaway.

"That was one of the highlights with our 8:04. We had run an 8:14 so we cut nine seconds," Davis said of the 3,200 relay.

Notre Dame's boys finished seventh in the team standings with 46 points. Sikeston won the district with 119 points, its fourth straight district title.

Perryville had 12 sectional qualifiers in a third-place team finish. Kyle Dobbelare paced the Pirates with four sectional qualifying events, including a win in the 110 hurdles. Dobbelare placed third in both the long jump and 300 hurdles, and he was fourth in the triple jump.

"We had some good results," Perryville coach Lance Bell said. "Dobbelare did good again, with a win in the 110 hurdles and qualifying in four events."

Terry Wood was Perryville's other district winner, with a win in the 400.