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Rising To The Occasion

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

Central High's Kady McCandless competes in the 100-meter hurdles during Thursday's Kiwanis Invitational in Brooksville.

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: March 26, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - At the beginning of the season, three Hernando County female athletes returned as state qualifiers from 2008.

So it came as no surprise that Nature Coast junior Danielle Doucet and Central sophomores Tikiera Relaford and Mikayla Bogulski came away with first-place ribbons Thursday night.

With all four county teams coming together for the Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando High's Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium, those three each delivered as expected.

Doucet won the 400, Bogulski the 800 and Relaford the high jump. Also, Hernando senior Ryane Ledington took first in the 100 and 200.

Wesley Chapel won the meet with 160.5, with Nature Coast in second (93.5), Central fifth (62.5), Springstead seventh (52) and Hernando eighth (47.5).

Trying new things

For Doucet, the county's reining Player of the Year, this meet was about some experimentation.

Sure, she captured her third straight Kiwanis championship in the 400 with a time of 58.99. But she also competed in the 800 for only the second time, finishing third (2:26.98).

She also was on the winning 4x400 relay with Brittany Aemisegger, Toni Agricola and Kim Francisco (4:14.87).

"I'm just trying something new," Doucet said. "It's (the 800) a lot different, a lot more endurance.

"I did good in the 400. I'm just trying to get a higher placing in states."

Relaford edged out Springstead's Sasha Spalding in the high jump, 5'2"-5'0". She earned a state medal in that event as a freshman last year.

"I did good. But I could have done better," Relaford said. "I wanted a PR (personal record) today but there's always districts and stuff."

Bogulski's 2:21.26 topped Springstead's Jackie White (2:22.71) and finished seven seconds ahead of last year's first-place 2:28 at this event.

"I feel I ran pretty good," Bogulski said. "I'm farther ahead of schedule than last year. I'm feeling good about districts.

"It was good. I like running against Jackie. She pushes me a lot. Competition is good."

Ledington doesn't have a state appearance on her resume, but the recent signee of Brevard College in North Carolina shined on her home track. She posted a 12.80 in the 100 and 26.42 in the 200.

"I put in a lot of hard work and dedication," Ledington said. "We get here at six in the morning for weightlifting and we practice after school from 3-5.

"I wanted to win because I had a lot of people coming. I didn't want to disappoint anybody and I didn't want to disappoint myself."

Kiwanis Invitational Girls Team Standings
1. Wesley Chapel (WC) 160.5, 2. Nature Coast (NCT) 93.5, 3. Land O' Lakes (LOL) 80, 4. Wiregrass Ranch (WGR) 78, 5. Central (CEN) 62.5, 6. South Sumter (SS) 60, 7. Springstead (SPG) 52, 8. Hernando (HER) 47.5, 9. Pasco (PAS) 26
Kiwanis Invitational Girls Individual Results: Top 8 individuals score team points (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1), top 5 relays (10-8-6-5-4)
LJ - 1. Vaughns (WC) 15'8", 2. Amarchand (NCT) 15'7", 3. Tuomey (SPG) 15'5", 13. McCandless (CEN) 14'7".
4x800 – 1. Grey, Tomei, Ibison, Sturman (WGR) 10:02, 2. Spalding, Tuomey, White, Genrich (SPG) 10:15, 3. Central 10:36, 6. Aemisegger, Wood, J. Turney, K. Turney (NCT) 11:04.
SP - 1. Merritt (SS) 32'7", 4. Marks (SPG) 30'1", 5. Baylor (HER) 29'11", 6. Peterson (NCT) 28'10", 20. Stephens (CEN) 19'6".
100 HH - 1. Houston (WC) 16.26, 5. Degraff, Pierson (NCT) 17.69, 7. McCandless (CEN) 17.72, 8. Draper (NCT) 17.78, 17. Ladoucer (SPG) 21.09.
HJ - 1. Relaford (CEN) 5'2", 2. Spalding (SPG) 5'0", 3. Amarchand (NCT) 4'10", 4. Blount (HER) 4'8", 7. Kuhn (SPG) 4'8", 8. Sokolowski (SPG) 4'8".
PV - 1. Bickham (WC) 7'6", 2. Brockhoff (NCT) 6'6", 3. Amarchand (NCT) 6'6", 5. Withington (CEN), Medler (NCT) 6'0", 7. Bradley (CEN) 6'0".
100m - 1. Ledington (HER) 12.80, 6. Thomas (HER) 13.40, 9. Morales (NCT) 13.57, 10. Redmond (SPG) 13.59, 11. Chesteen (CEN) 13.61.
4x100 - 1. Wesley Chapel 50.49, 2. Ledington, Thomas, Jenkins, Burgan (HER) 50.57, 3. Morales, Francisco, Gilbert, Roberts (NCT) 51.18, 6. Central 53.22, 7. Springstead 54.13.
1600m - 1. Furst (WC) 5:34, 4. Northup (CEN) 5:48, 6. Orrell (CEN) 6:02, 7. Rennie (CEN) 6:11, 9. Aemisegger (NCT) 6:16.
TJ - 1. Cannon (WC) 34'2 1/2", 5. Pierson (NCT) 31'1 1/2", 6. Sokolowski (SPG) 30'2 1/4", 7. Medler (NCT) 29'11".
DIS - 1. Woodard (LOL) 108'4", 4. Sharpe (HER) 95'4", 6. Diaz (NCT) 87'11", 8. Dones (SPG) 86'0".
400m - 1. Doucet (NCT) 58.99, 3. Francisco (NCT) 1:00.73, 6. Tuomey (SPG) 1:01.64, 8. Genrich (SPG) 1:03.82.
800 - 1. Bogulski (CEN) 2:21.76, 2. White (SPG) 2:22.71, 3. Doucet (NCT) 2:26.98, 17. Stackpoole (HER) 2:56.
200 - 1. Ledington (HER) 26.42, 4. Relaford (CEN) 27.35, 8. Thomas (HER) 28.00.
300 IH – 1. Dean (WC) 49.19, 7. McCandless (CEN) 52.72.
3200 - 1. Grey (WGR) 11:52, 7. Northup (CEN) 13:00, 8. Wood (NCT) 13:17.
4x400 - 1. Doucet, Aemisegger, Agricola, Francisco (NCT) 4:14.87, 3. Central 4:15.80, 4. Tuomey, White, Spalding, Genrich (SPG) 4:18.20, 7. Wagner, Ordonez, Cuevas, Holcomb (HER) 4:36.32.

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at 352-544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

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