Women are runners up in Cottage Grove -Titans two-and-one-half points shy of first

Tyler Pell

Sophomore Amy Nelson runs past Southwestern Oregon's Maria Ciccarelli in the 100-meter hurdles during the Southern Region Championship last week. Nelson finished in ninth place, teammate Katie Sterling came in sixth place for the Titans. Photo by STACY DAVIS/The Torch

The Titans ended up just two-and-one-half points short of another Southern Region Championship, finishing in second place behind Mt. Hood Community College. And amazingly, the finish was even closer than it sounds.

After Leah Twombly, Tara Krempley and Katherine Barnhart finished first, second and third in 5,000-meter run, LCC trimmed Mt. Hood's lead to just a half of a point heading into the 4x400 relay, the final event of the day.

Unfortunately for LCC, Mt. Hood benefited from the services of the Sims sisters, Catherine and Crystal. The pair finished first and second in the women's individual scoring, and together had almost half of Mt. Hood's total points.

The Sims-led Mt. Hood relay team edged the Titans' relay team, and clinched the Southern Region crown, 220.5 to 218.

"It's one of the few times I've been at peace with second place, because the women didn't quit and they competed right to the end. Despite coming up just short, I'm proud of the women for battling," Head Coach Grady O'Connor said.

Rocksi Miller was third overall in the individual scoring and led the women's team with 33 points for the Titans.

Miller, who saw her season end early last year because of an Achilles injury incurred while throwing the javelin, exercised some demons with a first-place finish in the javelin. She also took first in the hammer throw and second in the shot put.

The Titans 1-2-3 finish in the 5,000 was only part of their long distance dominance.

Mikayla Bradbury won the 800 for LCC, followed by three teammates: Twombly, Angelyn Salyer and Anne Hagy for an impressive 1-2-3-4 finish.

The Titans also finished 2-3-4 in the 1,500 with Twombly leading the way.

"[The distance runners] really went to work; they took their lunch pale from the first event, steeplechase at 9:15 a.m. all the way to the 5k in the end. They kept us in the meet," O'Connor said. "Katherine Barnhart wasn't supposed to race in the 5k, she had the flu the day before, but she said, 'my team needs me,' put her spikes on and got us some points to get us back in the meet," O'Connor said.

Kim Wilson took first in the triple jump, Mary Vaughn took second in the pole vault and both LCC relay teams turned in second-place finishes.

Despite finishing in second place, O'Connor was quick to point the finger at himself for overlooking some of the teams' competition, and alluded that he could have put the team in a better position to win.

"As the coach I take full responsibility. There were several events I could have made better choices, and it would have changed the outcome. But, we have to give credit to Mt. Hood because they competed until the last baton exchange." He added, "We came up short, but we can still look ourselves in the mirror and feel very proud of our effort."

Southern Region Championships team scores

Women:
1. Mt Hood, 220.5
2. Lane, 218.0
3. Clark, 108.0
4. Clackamas 103.5
5. Southwestern Oregon, 99.0