BERNE — This past spring, the girls on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo track team overshadowed their male counterparts. But it might not be for much longer.

The Lady Bulldogs capped a successful season with a win at the Western Athletic Conference championship meet and a third-place finish at the Class CC meet.
"We had an undefeated league season and were league meet champs," said BKW Coach Bill Tindale. "We won the three invitationals that we were at and we finished third at the sectional meet. We were just five points out of second place."

BKW won the Cherry Valley, Middleburgh, and Maple Hill invitationals this spring.

The boys’ team did not share the same success as the girls’ team, but with a lot of young talented athletes, the boys’ glory days might not be far off.
"They had a solid season," Tindale said of the boys’ team. "They were overshadowed a bit by the girls’ success. But 75 percent of the team is freshman and sophomores. In the three invitationals, we finished in third place. And they all had at least 10 teams. I was very happy with them. All our big scorers are sophomores and freshmen. They will continue to get stronger."

Girls shine

Senior Sarah Hannay had a great season for the Lady Bulldogs, Tindale said. She threw the shot and discus and holds the school record in both events. Her best throw in the shot is 36 feet, 1 inch and her best in the discus is 104 feet, 5 inches. She tied for second at the sectional meet.

Hannay will continue to compete in track in college. She will attend Cedarville College in Ohio, starting in the fall.

Ada Lauterbach set the school record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Her best time was 7:37.1 in the event.

Lauterbach finished second at the State Qualifier meet.
"She was one spot from going to states," Tindale said.

Alyssa Wettereau went over eight feet in the pole vault and will continue to be a force in the event for the Lady Bulldogs and add to her school record.

BKW also had a lot of other athletes who contributed mightily to the team’s success.
"We had 10 or 12 girls that scored a lot of points this year," Tindale said. "Most of them are coming back next year."

Anna Kusler ran the hurdles as well as competed in the triple jump. She finished second in the triple jump at the sectional meet.

Kusler also ran on relay teams that finished in the top three at the big meets, Tindale said.

Sabrina Stoutt ran the 200-meter dash as well as the long and triple jumps at the league meet.

Ninth-grader Kristine Skinner placed in the hurdles at most of the major invitationals the Bulldogs competed in as well as sectionals.
"We knew she was going to be good," Tindale said. "But we didn’t know she would be this good this early in her career."

Faith Carney and Allison Bates competed in the throwing events and placed at the sectional meet.

Amber Pitcher ran the 400 meters and Michelle Raymond, a senior, ran the 800. Senior Cara Swain came out for track for the first time and competed on the relay teams.
"I thought we were the best team at sectionals," Tindale said. "We scored in almost every event. Greenwich [the section champion] is great at the distance events but I thought we were the better all-around team. But they don’t score the meet that way."

Hannay, Raymond, Swain, and captain Claire DellaRocco all will be graduating.

Most of the girls will be playing a sport in college. Besides Hannay at Cedarville College in Ohio, Raymond will be going to the State University of New York College at Oneonta where she will compete and Swain will play soccer at Pace University in Westchester County.

Boys are solid

Alan Diamond, Tyler Messick, and Mark Bryan were three of a small group of underclassmen who were major contributors to the Bulldogs this season.
"They did a great job," Tindale said. "But we have a young nucleus on this team."

Greg Hannay, Sarah’s younger brother, competed in the throwing events and was in the top three at several invitational meets this season, Tindale said. Hannay was also starting to compete in hurdles at the end of the season.
"He is becoming an all-around athlete," Tindale said.

Jared Finke was the Bulldogs’ best runner in the 800 meters, the 1,500, and the 3,200. Josh Glick set a school record in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 3 inches.
"He shared it before and broke it last year," Tindale said. "Now he keeps going higher and higher. He’s only a sophomore; he’s got two years to better that height."

After those big point producers, the scoring was spread out.
"We had guys on the team that were scoring points," Tindale said. "We had a bunch of different scorers. We didn’t have the big scorer that gave us a lot of consistent points."

The Bulldogs finished 10th at the sectional meet, near the middle of the pack.
"It’s a very competitive meet," Tindale said. "The difference between 10th and fourth is just a handful of points. Some teams are really loaded up to win. This year, we decided to have athletes compete in one or two events.

Next year, Tindale predicts, the Bulldogs can reach a higher ground.
"There is no reason why we can’t finish third in the section next year. It’s going to be a big year for the guys."