With the Spring season finally announcing itself with consecutive sunny days the Gallia Academy Track and Field team took full advantage by showing strong in Parkersburg, WV this past weekend. With solid and consistent performances throughout the meet the girls team finished in a first place tie, matching Buchtel and host Parkersburg with 122 pts apiece.
The Blue Angels future looked to be in good hands as Freshman Kara Jackson took top honors in the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.38 seconds, shaving a full second off her personal best and closed on a new school record. She followed that feat up with a solid performance in the 200 meter dash placing second, a mere .14 seconds behind Buchtel's Christy Campbell. She was joined on the 200 meter podium by Gallian freshman Alexis Geiger who took third place. Geiger also placed 3rd in the 100 meter with a time of 12.35 after posting the best time during the preliminaries for the event. Blue Angel Tonia Logan also placed in the top ten with a time of 13.66.
In the distance competitions the Angels faired equally as well with Lauren Adkins winning the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:32.19. Lee Ann Townsend and Carol Fahmy finished fifth and sixth respectively in the event. Adkins followed that up with a victory in the 3200 Meter run, outdistancing her closest competitor by over 45 seconds with Townsend taking 3rd and Fahmy 4th.
The team competition had the Angels taking top honors in the 4X100 meter relays, 3rd in the 4X200 meter relays and 2nd in the 4X800 Meter relays. Geiger proved as adept at jumping as she is fast, winning the girls Long Jump posting a distance of 17'3.5".
In the field events freshman Allie Troester placed 2nd in the girls Discus Throw while Danielle Sanders finished in 4th.
On the boys side the Blue Devils placed 6th in the weekend event, highlighted by senior standout Alex Abel placing in the 400 meter dash with a personal best time of 52:48 seconds, good for a silver medal. A third place finish in the 4X100 meter relay rounded out the boys scoring.
Gallia Academy next competes at Marietta on April 28th.