May 27, 1999

Echelberry's latest throw lands him in state meet

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

LEXINGTON -- He's back.

Many people were asking what was wrong with Cory Echelberry after the last two weeks.

Even though his effort might not have met the standards of some after winning the Great Lakes League title with a throw of 168 feet and taking first at the district with 177-2.

But, all that concern may have been laid to rest after he unleashed a throw of 195-5 at the Division II Regional Track and Field Championships at Lexington High School Wednesday.

It was just seven feet shy of the state record throw of 202-4 set earlier this month.

He was the lone area winner at the regional meet and the only boy to qualify for the state meet at the University of Dayton Welcome Stadium next week.

Upper Sandusky was the only other area school to come up with a state qualifier ... the Rams qualifying two individuals and a relay on the first day of the two-day meet which will resume at 5 p.m. Friday with the rest of the field events. The remaining running events will commence at 6 p.m.

The Rams got a runner-up finish from the quartet of Kathy Werre, Emily Herring, Jessica Falk and Danielle Gottfried in the 4 x 800 relay with 9:37.45, freshman Meghan Horn was third in the shot put with a toss of 37-9 1/2 and Herring, a junior, was also fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-4.

There were seven events held on Wednesday with the top four finishers advancing to the state meet.

"I think he (Echelberry) was more focused for this meet," said Fostoria head coach Trent Pessell. "He has been shaky lately, but he had perfect form today."

Echelberry started the day with a throw of 169-5 before letting go with what proved to be the winning throw of the meet. He fouled on his final attempt during the prelims, but was the leader by 40 feet heading into the finals.

"The wind was favorable for me and I was pointing to this meet," said Echelberry. "As long as I can throw in the 180 to 190-foot range, I feel comfortable, but I know there are some guys capable of throwing in the 170s and this group of throwers today was a tough field."

Echelberry continued his consistency in the finals with throws of 189-1 and 187-5 with a foul sandwiched between.

"I wasn't getting my throws as high as I should have. I've stopped lifting weights and everything felt right today," added Echelberry.

Father Brad points to his son attending camp before his sophomore year as the key factor in what has become a successful career which landed Cory a track scholarship at Bowling Green State University.

"Before his sophomore year, he went to the John Powell Camp at Denison College. He added 20 feet to his total and has worked on what he learned at the camp ever since and it's made him a good thrower. He (Powell) is a former world record-holder in the discus," said Brad Echelberry.

Cory will also compete in the shot put on Friday, hoping to bounce back from a second-place finish at the district last week.

"Cory can be very hard on himself and he's got to be self-motivated. We worked on some things in the shot put after he was second last week. He just wasn't satisfied and he is really trying for a double at state," said Pessell.

Only Ontario junior John Stewart, who had a winning toss of 54-8 1/4 at the Bucyrus District last week, had a better effort than Echelberry's 54-7 1/2 last week. Echelberry has a season-best of 58-6.

Upper Sandusky was just shy of its season-best of 9:36.3 in the 4 x 800 relay which came in a winning effort at the Bucyrus District last week.

"They were one second slower than they were last week and they looked a little sluggish today," said Upper Sandusky girls coach Jim Clifford. "All the splits were just a little below what we expected, but the girls had a 12-second drop from the NOL to the district and I'm confident they are capable of putting it all together next week."

Edison, which was second to the Rams last week, with 9:38.53, took first at the regional with 9:36.15.

Horn came roaring out of the gate in the prelims with throw of 36-2 3/4, 37-9 1/2 and 33-6 3/4. She also had a toss of 36-11 on her last attempt in the finals.

"I wanted to hit 38 today, but I'm satisfied with third place which gets me to state and a day out of school," said Horn. "I put a lot of pressure on myself. I don't do a lot of lifting like some of the girls do. For a long time, I was throwing around 36, then I hit 37, got the school record at 38 and broke it again with the 38-8. I haven't hit 38 since, but I'm glad to get another chance next week."

Becky Caskey of Orrville won the shot put with 39-8 and Betsy Dues of Coldwater took second with 37-11 1/4.

Herring started off well, but missed on her first two attempts at 5-4 and 5-5 before clearing each. She followed with three straight misses at 5-6, but still gained the fourth and final spot for state.

Natalie Gentry of Sandusky Perkins won the high jump at 5-6 with Elise Miller of Margaretta second at 5-5 and Adrienne Davie of Perkins third at 5-5.

"We did about what I expected us to do today," said Clifford. "We'll accept second in the 4 x 800 and know that we can do better next week. Herring wasn't far off her best (5-7) and the same for Horn (38-8) and the main thing is to keep going because you never know what will happen at state."

The Rams also qualified several individuals and a pair of relays to Friday's finals.

The day was capped off when the team of Werre, Herring, Falk and Gottfried posted the fastest qualifying time in the 4 x 400 relay with 4:06. Last week, they took first at the district with a season-best of 4:02.9.

Huron was second behind the Rams in qualifying with 4:07, followed by Akron Hoban at 4:07.1 and Smithville at 4:07.7.

Becky Glick qualified in three events. She was fourth in her heat of the 100 with 13.1 and fourth in her heat of the 200 with 26.8. She also teamed with Mindy Glick, Jessica Brodman and Chasity Montgomery for the seventh-fastest time in the 4 x 200 relay with 1:49.3. Hoban was the fastest with 1:44.5

Gottfried also qualified in two other events. She was second in her heat of the 400 with 1:00.3 and third in her heat of the 200 with 27.0.

The Rams also had two other girls fail to qualify for the finals as Brodman was fifth in her heat of the 100 with 13.2 and Montgomery was seventh in her heat of the 300 low hurdles with 49.1.

In individual events, only the top four finishers from each of the two heats advance to the finals. With the relays, it's the eight fastest times from the two heats. If the relay formula had applied to the individual events, Brodman would have advanced to the finals in the 100. Even though she was fifth in her heat, she was faster than the fourth-place finisher in the other heat.

"I'm really happy for both our 200 girls, because I thought it was going to be tough to get both out. This was a really good day and winning the regional title is not out of the question for us. We're going to score some points on Friday," said Clifford.

Last year, Edison won the regional title with 44 points while Upper Sandusky and Hoban tied for second with 40.

One other area boy failed to qualify for Friday's finals as Lakota senior Jimmie Ganues was seventh in his heat of the 100 in 11.5.