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The Wildcats participated in two meets last week. In the four-team North Branch Quadrangular held last Tuesday, April 13, the boys came in second place and the girls finished third. In Friday's St. Francis Invitational, the girls finished ninth out of ten teams and the boys came in eighth place out of nine teams.

Boys

The boys once again received strong performances from Riley Myers and Cory Lushanko at the North Branch meet. The versatile Myers won the high jump with a jump of 5'6", placed third in the discus and came in fourth place in the 110 meter hurdles. Lushanko won the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.99 seconds. The Wildcats 4 x 800 relay team won again to continue their string of strong performances. "We started out big," said Wildcat head coach Bruce Manske, "by winning the four-by-eight. Lushanko is a strong looking runner. We're looking forward to his continued development in the 100 and to being our leader in the four-by-one. And Riley is pretty darn good all the way around. He's keying on the high jump and discus right now. His third event is the 110 meter hurdles. He's been a pretty consistent four-event athlete four us, and we're hoping he can help out in the four-by-one and the four-by-two relays."

Other Wildcats with high finishes included Andy Magnuson, third in the 1600 meter run; Liam Coulter, second in the 3200 meter run; Trevor Thurnbeck, third in the long jump; Jordan Wacholz, second in the triple jump; and Alex Vitalis, second in the pole vault.

With a lot of athletes missing due to family activities, the Wildcats were shorthanded at last Friday's St. Francis Invitational. Riley Myers once again came through for the Wildcats, finishing second with a jump of 6'0". Andy Magnuson finished fourth in the 3200 meter run and Josh Wilson finished fifth in the pole vault. Eli Trochman scored in three events for the Wildcats: as part of the 4 x 100 relay, as part of the 4 x 200 relay and in the 200 meter dash (sixth).

Girls

The girls also got off to a good start at the North Branch meet by winning the 4 x 800 relay, but didn't have any individual first-place finishers on the day. Zoe Hanson, second in the 300 meter hurdles and second in the triple jump, picked up eight of the Wildcats' 42.5 points on the day. Other high finishers included Chelsea Johnson and Kelsey Ryan, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 1600 meter run;; Kaylee Ryan, third in the 800 meter run; Mary Cross, second in the 3200 meter run; and Kourtney Critelli, third in the discus.

At the St. Francis Invitational, the girls were also missing a number of athletes. Their top two individual finishers for the day were Jenna Zais, who finished sixth in the 100 meter dash, and Zoe Hanson, who came in sixth in the triple jump.

Upcoming Meets

Today at 4:00 p.m., the boys and girls will participate in the Cambridge-Isanti Invitational. Next Monday, April 26 the boys will be in the St. Louis Park Invitational. The girls will follow on Tuesday, also at St. Louis Park. The start time both days is 4:00 p.m. Manske said "We will be doing a lot of work on relays in preparation for these meets, to see if we can get some consistency The team is starting to round into shape. We pretty much know who our top three people are in each event."

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