Sports
Obasih Back on Track for Brookfield Central
Lancer girls win Greater Metro Conference Relays in star senior's return from injury.
She's baaaack.
Brookfield Central track and field star Chidera Obasih made her debut Wednesday afternoon, which was bad news for the competition.
Obasih, a senior who came on the scene three years ago by winning two state titles as a freshman, missed the team’s first four meets with an injury but made her way back out on the track for the first time this year at the Greater Metro Conference Relays (see complete results at WisSports.net).
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The Lancers responded to having their star back in uniform by literally running away with the competition, scoring 114 points. Brookfield East finished second with a score of 78.
“When (Obasih) is out, we lose a good 40 points,” Brookfield Central coach Lorie Lewis said.
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“This was her first opportunity to compete and it looks like she hasn’t competed in a year, so you have to get your race legs back and stuff. As it turned out, it was a nice meet for her, just a relay meet to get out there and get things moving again.”
The rust was a little evident for Obasih as she posted lower marks and times than before, but she still managed to take first in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet, ½ inche – more than a foot shy of her personal best but still more than five inches better than second place.
Obasih’s individual distance helped lead to first-place finish for the Lancers' overall long jump relay team. It was the first of seven top spots claimed by Central in the 15-event competition on the day.
“Overall, the team was really exceptional, especially our sprint group,” Lewis said. “We didn’t expect the placings we got from our sprint relays.”
The distance teams, on the other hand, are strong, as Central won the 3,200 and 6,400 relays. But Lewis knew it was a pretty special day when not only did the Lancers win, they set three overall conference records.
“I think that’s pretty rare that you’re going to come into one meet and break three of the distance records,” she said.
Brookfield East and Sussex Hamilton posted positive results Wednesday.
The Spartans just squeaked by their neighbors to the west as they scored 78 points on the day, while the Chargers finished third with 77.
Despite not finishing atop the podium in any single event, Brookfield East coach Jeff Ferguson said he was pleased with his team’s results.
“This was about what we expected,” Ferguson said. “(Brookfield) Central has got a really good team. They obviously were the odds on favorites and they showed that they were. Even though we didn’t run our best – we looked like we were coming off spring break, let’s put it that way – second place finish in this conference is pretty good.”
Hamilton managed third place based by dominating the shorter-distance relays.
The Chargers finished first in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter relays, the final of which they posted a conference record time of 4:05.94.
Menomonee Falls had the best individual performances in the high jump (Alex Poole, 4 feet, 10.25 inches), triple jump (Becca Fuchs, 35 feet, 10.5 inches) and shot put (Poole, 31 feet, 9 inches) and finished fourth as a team.
Wauwatosa East won the 800 meter sprint medley relay and was sixth overall.