Ripon High School senior Lydia Schwertfeger had a field day Tuesday evening.
She broke her own school record in the pole vault by one inch with a height of 8 feet, 7 inches and won two other events during a home triangular at Ingalls Field.
Her performances helped the Tiger girls to a second-place showing. The boys’ team also finished second at the triangular.
Ripon head coach Chris Gatzke wasn’t surprised Schwertfeger broke the school record, explaining he could see her doing it again before the season is over.
He was impressed, however, with how fast she got up to speed.
“We haven’t really been able to be out and vaulting yet [due to the weather],” Gatzke said. “Based on what she did last spring and last summer, she’s been able to put that to use when she’s actually been able to compete and do well.”
Schwertfeger was just one of many Tiger athletes who enjoyed success at the triangular meet.
“Performance-wise, we placed in pretty much everything,” Gatzke said of the competition. “So that is a worthwhile thing there.”
Both the girls’ and the boys’ teams finished behind Freedom, with Waupaca placing third. The girls ended up one point behind the Irish for first place, while the boys were 43 points back.
“I was actually really surprised,” Gatzke said of the results. “I thought that would have been the other way around — that we would have been closer with the boys than we were with the girls. Having that [outcome] is really meaningful to the girls’ team because they have been further out from the top of the meets than our boys have in the previous two meets …”
From: http://riponpress.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=5583
