May 27, 2004
by Jeff Toquinto
Editor of The Bridgeport News

For the fifth straight year, Bridgeport's girls track team scored more than 28 points at the Class AA state track and field championships. This year, the Indians totaled 36 points to finish sixth at the meet held last Friday and Saturday at Charleston's Laidley Field.
The win comes on the heels of two impressive state tournament appearances In 2002, the Indians scored 56 points to finish as the runner-up, while last year's squad had 50 points to earn a fourth-place finish.
"I knew it would be a fight for second through sixth place," said BHS coach Jim Dawson. "It came down to who was better that day."
A big reason for the strong showing rested on the feet of sophomore Lauren Gilbert. Gilbert placed in all four of her events, including three individual ones.
Gilbert's top finish came in the 400 meter dash. She posted a time of 59.84 seconds to finish third and break her own school record of 1 minute, .63 seconds set last year. She came in fourth in the 200 meters (26.62 seconds) and fifth in the 100 meters (13.65 seconds), while taking part in the sixth-place finishing 4x400 meter relay team.
"I would have liked to do better, but the heat and coming back late in the season, I was content with medaling in all four events," said Gilbert.
Dawson was also pleased with Gilbert's effort.
"Lauren comes to perform every day," said Dawson. "Her 400 time that was under a minute was a big performance for her."
Like their male counterparts, Bridgeport's girls team were unable to win any individual events. The team did have a pair of second place finishes.
On day one of the meet, senior Emilee Stout came up just short in her bid to defend the Class AA title in the pole vault competition. Stout was second in the pole vault as she cleared 10 feet, but came up short against her foe from Winfield that she's battled for three years.
"It was the same amount of pressure I have had all three years against her," said Stout. "It was a little more pressure being a senior and wanting my second title."
BHS's Logan Bryant also fared well in the pole vault. Her mark of 8 feet was good enough for fourth place.
"Anytime a team has a talented athlete and a strong leader like Emilee, other athletes will feed off of it," said Dawson. "Logan worked with someone as talented as Emilee all year and it's paying off, and I think it will pay off for (Logan) the next two years."
The other second place came from Jenna Fogg. Fogg took second place in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, which was two inches off of the winning mark.
"I haven't been able to break five feet all year," said Fogg. "I got it at the states so I was happy."
Dawson was also happy with the jump. He called the leap the most pleasant surprise of the day.
"She put a lot of pressure on the other jumpers by clearing five feet early," said Dawson. "The others choked. She handled the pressure as a freshman and showed a lot of maturity."
The Indians fared well in their relay events, placing in all three events in which they participated. The 4x200 team of Kayla Lynch, Sarah Abbate, Sarah Marsh and Stout came in third with a time of 1 minute, 55.21 seconds.
The shuttles team of Marie Conley, Becky Williams, Stout and Abbate came in fifth with a time of 1 minute, 9.89 seconds, while the 4x400 was sixth. As mentioned earlier, Gilbert was joined by Lora Gallagher, Kate Merinar and Fogg to post a time of 4 minutes, 24.38 seconds.
The final points came from Abbate. One year after finishing fourth in Charleston, Abbate came in sixth with a time of 16.45 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles.