---

The Wildcat girls track team pulled off their initial first place finish of the season, thrashing their opponents in last Thursday's triangular at Robbinsdale Cooper. The score was Chisago Lakes 98.5, Cooper 64.5 and Columbia Heights 11.0. The boys, meanwhile, followed up last week's win with a good second place showing. The first and third place teams were separated by just five points. The score was Cooper 64.5, Chisago Lakes 62.5 and Columbia Heights 59.5.

GIRLS

The girls were the queens of the relay and nearly swept all four events. The winning teams were: 4 x 800 - junior Chelsea Johnson, sophomores Mary Cross, Kelsey Ryan and Kelsey Sorensen; 4 x 100 - senior Lauren Althaus, eighth-grader Victoria Seiberlich and sophomores Araya Gamble and Megan Karwand; 4 x 400 - freshman Rebekah Meyer, sophomore Cassie Schultz, Cross and Johnson. The 4 x 200 team likely would have won if it hadn't been disqualified. The Wildcats were that close to as sweep.

The Wildcats also had a number of individual first place finishes on the day: Johnson, in the mile; Cross, In the 800; junior Christina Zvonar, in the high jump; Meyer, in the long jump; and sophomore Zoe Hanson in the 300 hurdles. Between individual and relay events, Johnson and Cross each had three first place finishes on the day.

BOYS

The boys' performance was highlighted by a win in the 4 x 200, by the team of sophomore Eli Trochman, juniors Cory Lushanko and Nathan Gilman and freshman Eric Brown. Versatile senior Riley Myers had a great day jumping and throwing, finishing first in the high jump and the discus. And junior Alex Vitalis finished first in the pole vault. The Wildcats had truckload of second place individual finishes, which helped to vault them into second place overall.

"The girls rocked!" said Wildcat head coach Bruce Manske. "They are fairly deep and well-rounded in the sprints, middle distances and long distances. The guys were solid and oh so close to winning it. They were missing a few due to injuries and vacation, but they once again showed a lot of promise. We had a lot of fun. It was a sunny day and it was our first outdoor meet, so there was a lot of excitement for our team."

---