Mississippi Athletic Conference girls track and field outlooks

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By Andrew Petersen | Friday, April 4, 2008 3:44 AM CDT | () comments

Mississippi Athletic Conference girls track

Outlook

Davenport North returns the bulk of its team, which won the conference meet by 26 points over Pleasant Valley. The Wildcats figure to have more premier athletes, but the balance of the Spartans will keep them in contention. A glut of other teams is right behind, namely Bettendorf. Even with all the talent on those teams, Davenport Central, North Scott, Clinton and Muscatine should field tough squads as well.

Athletes to watch

AG Bradford, Davenport North: It’s hard to argue that there’s a better athlete in the conference. She won the 100-meter hurdles and placed second in high jump at the state meet as a junior.

Kelsey Regan, Davenport North: The reigning MAC champion in the 1,500 and 3,000, she placed ninth in the 1,500 and eighth in 3,000 at the state meet as a sophomore.

Samantha Cameron, Bettendorf: The versatile junior is an instrumental part of two state medalist relay teams. She also took fourth in the 400 as well as high jump at state as a sophomore.

Jenna Higgins, North Scott: The speedy Lancer took fifth in the 100 at state her sophomore year. Already this season, she has clocked in at 12.65 seconds.

Alexis Mitchell, Davenport Central: Last year she did it all, taking third in long jump at state as a sophomore, eighth in the 400 hurdles and qualifying in a pair of relays.

Danielle Frere, Muscatine: The senior placed second in the shot put at last year’s state meet, and the only girl to best her was a senior. She threw more than 44 feet last year and already is nearing 47 feet this spring.

Susan Rodriguez, Pleasant Valley: As a sophomore, she was the MAC’s best hurdler not named AG. She finished runner-up in the 400 hurdles at state last year and was eighth in the 100.

Abbey Sawyer, Bettendorf: As a sophomore, she placed seventh in the 100 at state after clocking a 12.57 run earlier in the year. Between her, Higgins and Central’s Ebonie Butler, no MAC sprint will be easy.

Storylines

�n� At state last year, Bettendorf took fifth in the 800 relay and the 800 sprint medley and has all six girls who made up those teams back. With a host of talented individuals, the Bulldogs should be one of the premier MAC teams.

�n� Davenport North returns state medalists in five events and qualified plenty more. Between Bradford, Regan, Amber Harrington and plenty others, the Wildcats begin the season as the clear team to beat in the conference.

�n� Burlington may be young, but coach Maureen Heath expects good things in hurdles (Courtney Hart is a state medalist), jumps and sprints. The Grayhounds aren’t deep and have a small distance corps led by freshman cross country state qualifier Maddie Moyer but should send several girls to state.

�n� Rodriguez isn’t all Pleasant Valley boasts, with four state-qualifying relay units back. Senior Ace D’Auben throws a nice discus and should finish in the top 10 at state.

�n� Davenport Assumption brings back several big contributors. Katie Merritt stunned a lot of people with her second-place finish in the 100 hurdles at the Class 2A meet last spring as a junior. Now a senior, Amanda Brandt was third in the 800 and fifth in the 1,500 at state. Stephanie Quinn qualified in the 200 as a sophomore.

�n� Davenport Central has loads of state qualifiers back to help bring along the promising new talent. The long sprinters and mid-distance runners are strengths, but the inexperience is apparent in the short sprints, long distances and throwing areas.

�n� A young Davenport West team has every component of its two state-qualifying relays back, as well as junior 800 qualifier Emily Martz. Juniors Becca Willich and Courtney Locke finished in the top 20 of the state long jump as sophomores.

�n� Muscatine should sit in the middle of the conference pack. Frere is a state qualifier in the discus as well as shot, and junior Alissa Martin also qualified in shot. Senior Mandy Mills is the lone returner from the state-qualifying medley relay, and Steph Nagy placed ninth in the state high jump as a sophomore.

�n� Clinton’s strength was relays last year, qualifying for state in five of them. The River Queens will get points in hurdle events via senior Whitney Miller and junior Larissa Wilden. Wilden and Cortni Kooi are key relay legs and also man the high jump and long jump.

�n� North Scott qualified for state in only four events last year, but the young Lancers return a quality group, led by Higgins. They have a few solid relay units and a couple of nice jumpers, but a breakout season for the Lancers might still be a year off.