Thursday, April 29, marked the evening of what was probably one of the best Middle School track meets amongst Louisville area schools in a long time. Twenty-one different schools and nearly four hundred athletes attended the first annual Derby Middle School Invitational at Ballard High School’s Pat Crawford Stadium, home of the multiple-State Champion Lady Bruins.

Prior to the start of the meet, it was clear that competition would be intense. The team lineup was impressive, basically a who’s who of area Middle School track. Our Lady of Lourdes, St Lawrence, St Margaret Mary, and St Raphael, four of the area’s strongest Catholic grade school programs were there. Anchorage Middle School, and some very talented private school programs like Kentucky Country Day, Walden, Collegiate and Christian Academy of Louisville made the trip, as did several of the area’s strongest public school programs like Conway Middle, Thomas Jefferson and Westport Middle School.

The evening began with the 55 meter hurdles and the crowd wasn’t disappointed. Kathryn Burch (Lourdes) was the class of the field on the girls side, easily winning the event by over a second in what meet announcer and Ballard super-coach Don Goodwin would describe all night long as another new meet record. In the boys race, competition was much closer. Byron Yates (St Lawrence) finished just ahead of teammate Nick House, Brad Wilkerson (St Margaret Mary) and Ben Price (Anchorage) to win.

Top athletes in the short sprints included Tiffany Rogers (Farnsley), who won the girls 100 meter dash and placed second in the 200 to Anchorage’s Katie Anderson, and Gary Cooper (Thomas Jefferson) who was a double-winner in both the boys 100 and 200. The sprint events were generally dominated by some of the area’s finest public school athletes. For example, four of the top six finishers in the girls 100 and three of the top six in the girls 200 were public schoolers. On the boys side, this strength was even more apparent. All six of the top finishers in the 100 and five of the top six in the boys 200 were public school kids. In the 400, Lourdes placed two girls in the top six, and Westport did the same in the boys race. Ashley Potts (Lourdes) was the girls winner and Aaron Ryan (St Lawrence) was the boys winner.

One traditional area of strength over the years for private middle school teams has been the distance races. For the most part, that strength was evident here as well. Joel Wellum (Portland Christian) completed an excellent double victory in the boys 800 and 1600, with John Sturgeon (Walden) and Nathan Stankiewicz (Conway) not far behind in both races. If an athlete of the meet award were given out, Wellum and sprinter Gary Cooper would have certainly been favorites. In the girls 1600, it was a close-fought battle between Elise Medley (St Raphael), Ellen Daly (Lourdes) and Kelly McRoberts of the Brown School. All three girls were neck and neck until the final stretch, where Medley pulled away for the win. McRoberts would go on to break the private school hold on distance event victories, however, with a strong win (and, of course, new meet record) in the girls 800.

Thomas Jefferson and Westport Middle Schools were clearly the class of the field in the boys relays, with TJ winning the 4 x 100 meter relay by several seconds and Westport doing the same in the boys 4 x 400 meter relay. On the girls side, it was Lourdes who came away with a resounding 16-second victory in the 4 x 400 meter relay, and a narrow second place finish to Conway Middle in the 4 x 100. Westport’s girls team also had a good night in the girl’s relays, taking third in the 4 x 100 and second in the 4 x 400.

Field event competition was strong as well, with some key performances from the event winners. For example, while Conway’s distance star Kiara Watts managed to win the girls long jump by several inches, it was St Lawrence’s Nick House winning by nearly a foot in the boys long jump. Not far behind him, in third, was teammate Byron Yates. In the girls shot put, Ashley Stanley (Farnsley) also outdistanced the field by over a foot, with Conway’s Brandon Newman nearly doing so as well in the boys shot. High jump competition was dominated by athletes from just a few schools. Walden’s girl high jumpers went 1-3 in that event, with Jessica Nally winning on fewer misses over Lourdes Kathryn Burch and teammate Katie Raley. In the boys high jump, Anchorage and North Oldham placed two athletes in the top six. Anchorage’s Ben Jackowitz and Patrick Kueber went 1-2, with North’s Jack Hilt and Michael Rowan finishing third and fifth respectively.

Team competition on the boys side was fairly high with Anchorage Middle emerging as the victor. Thomas Jefferson (second) and St Lawrence (third) weren’t far behind, however, with each falling within six points of first. The St Lawrence boys team was particularly impressive though, as they only came to the meet with four athletes. For girls, it was Our Lady of Lourdes who came away with a very strong win from their three first place finishes and two seconds. Conway Middle picked off the girls team runner-up spot, largely due to the efforts of Kiara Watts, just ahead of several schools who weren't far behind.

Overall, the evening appeared to be a big success. Many thanks to the large number of volunteer helpers from the schools that attended, and especially to the sturdy volunteers from Assumption High School, who rounded out the evening’s events by picking up trash. Expect a few changes in next year’s meet. Look for an area championship in the 100 meter dash and 1600 meter run, with trophies going to the top finishers of these events and winners being crowned Area Champion. At a minimum, medals and ribbons will continue to go out to the top six finishers in each of the other events. As next season draws closer, look for information at http://www.ahsdistance.org/derbymsinvite. Once again, congratulations to all the fine young athletes who attended this year’s meet. We hope to see you again next year.