When you win a track sectional by half a point like Chesterton did Tuesday, it’s hard to single out an individual performance.

Then again, when someone does what Anna Raffin did, it’s hard to ignore. Make that impossible.

The Trojans senior had a hand in 38 points, winning the 100- and 400-meter dashes, finishing second in the 200, and anchoring the 1,600 relay to a victory.

And her heroics was barely enough to keep the title with Chesterton, which nipped rival Valparaiso, 148.5-148.

“We didn’t vote for an MVP, but I think I know who it would be,” Trojans coach Steve Kearney said, offering to let Raffin keep the trophy overnight. “She hasn’t run those four events this year at the same time. We’ve been building her up to it. It’s the first time she’s run six races and in this heat, it starts to get to you, and where she won was at the end. I should’ve probably tried her in the 800.”

Raffin overcame Portage’s Jade McKnight in the 100, timing 13.17. In the 400, she outran Valpo’s Anna Walls in the final straighaway to prevail in 59.84.

“The 400 and four-by-four are the two races I’m really training for, but it was all about the team today,” Raffin said. “We’ve always been close with Valpo and we really wanted to win the sectional. We were just trying to get as many points as we could. It was tough. I knew I was going to be kind of tired, but it’s nothing I haven’t trained for. I’ve done it before. I just had to keep it a race at a time. Honestly, all my races, it was my finish. My starts weren’t really good.”

Raffin capped her performance by pulling away from Wheeler’s anchor on the final leg of the 1,600 relay, teaming with Kristen Homme, Jordyn Kincy and Tia Peters to clock in at 4:10.91.

“Man, she looked good in the 100,” Kearney said. “The 100 will make her stronger for the 400 and hopefully get her a better seed at state and help the four-by-four. She’s just an unbelievable example for the rest of the team. She’s driven by perfection.”

Thanks to big efforts across the board, Raffin’s performance didn’t come in a runner-up team finish. Katie Urycki (long jump, 16-6 1/4) and Emily Kozak (pole vault, 11-0) also took firsts. In addition to the 1,600 relay, Homme was part of the winning 3,200 relay (9:52.03) with Josie Tolin, Tori Schroeder and Rosie Biehl, and picked up points in the 1,600 (third) and 800 (fifth).

"I had us losing,” said Kearney, who scored out the meet in advance. “Valpo scored 14 more than I figured, but we scored 19 1/2 more. We needed some extra points. The No. 2s understood. They competed well. A few of them dropped places here and there, but I told them if everybody just comes out to do what they can do, somebody will occasionally pop a little farther.”

Kearney noted throwers Sara Filipek and Shelby Gwizdalski, who went 3-4 in the discus, miler Kassidy Scott (sixth), shot putter Hannah Van Drie (third), who had a personal best of over two feet, hurdlers Bella Santana and Bridget Brendza, and high jumper Geena Tumidalsky, who tied for eighth, good for what proved to be a pivotal half a point.

“Geena was injured, but she wanted to jump,” Kearney said. “Bella had a big breakthrough. Bridget had a season best by .75. We didn’t expect Hannah to get third. We didn’t expect Kassidy to get sixth in the mile in a quality field. Anna wasn’t expected to get first in the 100. We outscored Valpo 8-1 in the shot, but it’s hard to say the shot putters won the meet because everybody who scored a point mattered. The person who finished eighth counted as much as the person who finished first.”

1. Chesterton 148.5, 2. Valparaiso 148, 3. Portage 102, 4. LaPorte 62.5, 5. South Central 48, 6. New Prairie 40, 7. Wheeler 31, 8. Michigan City 26, 9. Westville 14, 10. Washington Township 2.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Josie Tolin, Tori Schroeder, Rosie Biehl, Kristen Homme) 9:52.03, 2. Valparaiso 10:05.26, 3. Wheeler 10:16.78, 4. Portage 10:25.67, 5. Michigan City 11:17.02, 6. LaPorte 11:20.06.

100 HURDLES -- 1. Kassidy Swenson (V) 15.61, 2. Taylor Johnson (SC) 16.57, 3. Shakeia Boyd (P) 16.62, 4. Madison Kurtz (P) 16.81, 5. Tori Novak (LP) 16.91, 6. Gabrielle Brown (V) 17.16.

100 -- 1. Anna Raffin (C) 13.17, 2. Jade McKnight (P) 13.31, 3. Jenice O’Neal (LP) 13.41, 4. Rylee Nunemaker (SC) 13.42, 5. Gabrielle Vinyard (V) 13.47, 6. Victoria Ostrander (P) 13.66.

1,600 -- 1. Katelyn DeVries (V) 5:08.23, 2. Elena Lancioni (LP) 5:10.34, 3. Kristen Homme (C) 5:12.9, 4. Kyleigh Werner (SC) 5:19.47, 5. Mary McBride (NP) 5:20.67, 6. Kassidy Scott (C) 5:36.49.

400 RELAY -- 1. Portage (Boyd, Jalena Millsap, Ostrander, McKnight) 50.45, 2. Valparaiso 50.92, 3. Chesterton 52.05, 4. LaPorte 52.12, 5. Michigan City 54.69, 6. Wheeler 54.87.

400 -- 1. Raffin (C) 59.84, 2. Anna Walls (V) 1:00.97, 3. Savannah Little (SC) 1:01.4, 4. Haley Lovison (Wh) 1:01.42, 5. Jordyn Kincy (C) 1:01.87, 6. Karlie Thorn (V) 1:04.67.

300 HURDLES -- 1. Swenson (V) 46.07, 2. Allison Vogler (NP) 47.94, 3. Boyd (P) 48.87, 4. Kurtz (P) 16.81, 5. Bella Santana (C) 50.38, 6. Hannah Pixley (V) 50.52.

800 -- 1. Kelsey Tyler (NP) 2:20.42, 2. Lauren Bigger (V) 2:20.6, 3. Kelly O’Shea (Wh) 2:25.34, 4. Schroeder (C) 2:29.39, 5. Homme (C) 2:30.66, 6. Werner (SC) 2:34.38.

200 -- 1. Jenice O’Neal (LP) 27.45, 2. Raffin (C) 27.56, 3. Briance Daniel (MC) 27.95, 4. Emily Catlin (V) 28.03, 5. Chloe Williams (V) 28.2, 6. Tia Peters (C) 28.31.

3,200 -- 1. Lancioni (LP) 11:35.41, 2. Allison Mundell (V) 11:48.61, 3. Mary McBride (NP) 11:52.63, 4. DeVries (V) 12:09.35, 5. Melanie Buckmaster (C) 12:11.25, 6. Meagan Cassidy (P) 12:21.62.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Homme, Kincy, Peters, Raffin) 4:10.91, 2. Wheeler 4:13.24, 3. Valparaiso 4:13.48, 4. Portage 4:15.06, 5. New Prairie 4:28.88, 6. Michigan City 4:30.98.

DISCUS -- 1. Jessie Nyiro (V) 116-9, 2. Ashley Sosbe (P) 116-5, 3. Sara Filipek (C) 102-0, 4. Shelby Gwizdalski (C) 99-9, 5. Cecily Anderson (MC) 98-9, 6. Mariah Franz (V) 94-0.

HIGH JUMP -- 1. Sydney Payne (SC) 5-2, 2. Katie Haggerty (C) 5-1, 3. Haley Whipps (V) 5-0, 4. Ashley McClintock (We) 4-10, 5. Tayla Kobitz (V) 4-10, 6. (tie) Mackenzie Barcelli (P) and Whitney Neess (LP) 4-10.

POLE VAULT -- 1. Emily Kozak (C) 11-0, 2. Steffanie Long (V) 10-6, 3. Whipps (V) 10-6, 4. Katie Engel (P) 10-0, 5. Alexis Malay (C) 10-0, 6. Kurtz (P) 9-0.

LONG JUMP -- 1. Katie Urycki (C) 16-6 1/4, 2. McKnight (P) 16-6, 3. Kelsie Zawada (LP) 16-1 1/2, 4. Taylor Johnson (SC) 15-10, 5. Thorn (V) 15-9 1/2, 6. Kaitlyn Loehmer (C) 15-6 1/2.

SHOT PUT -- 1. Tara Kostelnik (P) 37-9, 2. Savanna Jackson (We) 37-2, 3. Hannah Van Drie (C) 34-1, 4. Sosbe (P) 33-11 1/4, 5. Anderson (MC) 32-11 1/2, 6. Rose Filipas (SC) 32-3.

Posted 5/16/2012