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Sunday, April 13, 2003
Women of Troy triumph on new track
Balance helps West beat Mt. Pleasant by 19
By Ryan Suchomel
Iowa City Press-Citizen
West High showed off its new track, a new team and a new attitude Saturday, winning the ninth annual Women of Troy Relays
by 19 points over Mount Pleasant.
"We had two goals today," said West coach Mike Parker. "One of them was the team title, and we thought we needed to have a
great day to get that.
"We achieved victory today because we met our second goal - have a lot of phenomenal performances."
The Women of Troy won only four events, but won the meet with balance.
"This year we're pretty even," said freshman Claire Hall. "This spring everybody is doing well ... the hurdlers are great
... the 400 runners are doing awesome ... everyone is doing well."
Hall ran the first leg of the winning 4x400 team for West High, followed by Steph Mount, Lindsey Windauer - who also won the
open 400 - and Lynn Dobyns. Their time of 4 minutes, 4.62 seconds should qualify them for the Drake Relays April 24-26 in
Des Moines.
"We're all trying for (personal records) almost every time," said Hall. "We all push each other. (The 4x400 team) is trying
to get under four minutes."
Hall has been a pleasant surprise early on for the Women of Troy; so has Amanda Judisch.
The junior won the open 200 in 26.68 and also ran legs on the shuttle hurdle and 4x100 - both of which finished second to
Mount Pleasant.
"She's among a couple new girls - not new to us - that'll play a big part of the team achieving its goals," Parker said.
Judisch mainly ran the 400 last year, but is all over the track this season, running short sprints and clearing hurdles. In
fact, Saturday was just her second time running hurdles in a meet.
"This year, I'm everywhere," Judisch said. "Next thing, I'm going to try the shot put."
Over the last few years, the Women of Troy have been known primarily for their distance runners, and that group didn't disappoint
Saturday. Robdu Adam won the 3,000 and Shirley Stern was second. Janet Dobyns and Julia Frudden finished 2-3 in the 1,500.
But West had 12 top-three showings in sprint and field events Saturday. All of it was achieved at the new track at West High,
put in last summer to expand the facility from six lanes to eight.
"Our home meet means a lot to us," Parker said. "Thursday (at Cedar Rapids Jefferson) we focused on Drake, today we put a
lineup together with a chance to win."
West, which finished second at state last season, beat Mount Pleasant, which finished fourth in Des Moines. West had 154 points
Saturday to Mount Pleasant's 135. Parker said it was a good sign, especially since the Women of Troy are building toward the
end of May.
"We're not getting away from our program," Parker said. "We'll run tired sometimes.
"But the workouts we did in February, they're the flowers that will blossom in May."
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