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Coach Jack Burns embarks 15th year as Girls’ Track coach

Published

12 years ago

March 13, 2013

BenGil Staff

Download the girls’ track schedule here!

Coach Jack Burns instructs the girls’ track team as they train.

Coach Jack Burns will reach his 15th year as head coach for the girls’ track team this season. Burns started coaching in 1999 and has developed many young athletes into strong sectional winners and even state medal winners. Burns said this year’s team will be very balanced and poised well to be a top contender in most meets, especially conference and county meets.

Burns and the girls’ track team had a very successful season last year. For the first time in high school girls’ track history, the team was Sectional Champions. Eight athletes were invited in twelve events to the Honor Roll Meet and six girls went in seven events at the State Meet. Tateum Rosentreter placed 8th at State in the 300 meter low hurdles with a time of 46.74 while the 4 x 800 relay of Rosentreter, Goldasich, Burns and Ross placed 15th and broke the school record for a fourth time in the season with a time of 10:04.11.

The team has both County and Conference titles to defend this year. However, the girls’ track team will be in a different conference this season. “It is going to be much tougher in the larger SCC than last years Prairie State,” Burns said of the new conference. He went on to add numerous schools will be contenders. Many of who will show case some outstanding athletes.

“Our key graduation loss from last year is Loni Manalia,” Burns said. Manalia’s contribution to the track team was “tremendous” the last four years. Last year, she scored 331 points for the team. She always placed in the top three in the high and low hurdles. “She was one of our best high jumpers, and always ran in one or two sprint relays.”

Key returning players for this year’s team who scored over 180 points last season are the following:

Junior Tateum Rosentreter is the team’s number one hurdler and key sprinter in many relays, she scored 404 points last year. Rosentreter was a Sectional, Conference and County Champion in the 300 low hurdles plus a County and Conference Champ in the high hurdles. Rosentreter was part of the Conference Champion 4 x 400 relay team and State Qualifier in the high hurdles, 4 x 800 and 4 x 400 relay.

Senior Alexis Burns will be the team’s top pole vaulter while anchoring the distance relays and running the 800 or 400 meter run. Burns scored 341 points last year. “Alexis is one of our more versatile athletes who can hurdle and long jump when needed,” Burns added. She was Conference Pole Vault and 800 meter run Champion and a state qualifier in the pole vault. Last season, she broke her own school record with a vault of 9’6” while also qualifying for state in the 4 x 800, 4 x 400 and 4 x 200 relay.

Senior Allison Goldasich is the team’s premier sprinter and anchor on the sprint relays, scoring a high 249 points last year. She placed in the top three in the 100 and 200 meter dash in County and Conference while anchoring the Conference Champion 4 x 100 relay. Goldasich was also a state qualifier in the 4 x 800, 4 x 400 and 4 x 200 relay.

Junior Kayli Morris is the track team’s primary triple and high jumper with her supplement talent in the 200 meter dash and sprint relays. She scored 250 points last year and was the County Champion in the high jump. Morris placed second in the triple jump in the County and Conference meets while qualifying for state in the 4 x 200 relay.

Junior Tyler Ross is the key distance runner scoring 228 points last year. Ross placed second in the 1600 meter run at County and second in the 3200 meter run in Conference. She was also a state qualifier on the high school record holding 4 x 800 meter relay team.

Senior Haylie Kirkwood takes care of her business in the shot put and discus scoring a tremendous 186 points last season. She placed first in the discus and second in the shot in Conference while also playing a key role filling in on the sprint relays.

Other returning senior athletes who will contribute are Deanna Landreth, who triple jumps and placed third in the shot in Conference, and Kaily Frensko, who is a key long distance runner. Frensko placed fourth in the 3200 meter run conference.

“As for newcomer contributions, I am very excited at the potential and enthusiasm of the new athletes who have gone out,” Burns explained. The newcomers will add depth to the team and help us meet our team goals. Some of the new members have a strong base as cross country runners or distance running in general. Newcomers to this year’s girls’ track team are: Jessie Disselhorst, Molly Gray, Ellen Gray, Bette Hammann and Erika Schmidt.

Nine freshman athletes will also be supporting a jersey for the girls’ track team, all of which who participated in the junior high track program. Lynsey Gibson and Regan Goldasich will bring their strengths to shot and discus while Abby Eccles will compliment Alexis Burns in pole vault. Sara Ruyle and Bette Hammann will be spending majority of their time in sprints. Other new athletes who can contribute are Tori Gilleland, Kelcie Woodring, Mia Willis, Rosie and Nakita McMillan, Abbi Pollard, Shelsie Timmermeier, Jenna Boaz and Amanda Ballinger.

To get a copy of this year’s girls’ track schedule, click here.

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Featured

Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

Published

9 years ago

October 16, 2015

BenGil Staff

Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

Published

9 years ago

August 1, 2015

BenGil Staff

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13^th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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