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St. Louis Park Invitational

In a theme that seems to have been repeated several times this season, the Wildcat boys and girls track teams both finished in the middle of the pack at last week's Spring Lake Park Invitational. But it's a good theme, bettering the last place finishes of last season. The girls finished sixth out of eight teams, with sophomore Zoe Hanson winning the triple jump to pick up the girls' only individual first place finish of the day. The boys came in fifth out of seven teams and only had one first-place finisher, as well: junior Alex Vitalis in the pole vault.

Girls

Hanson's jump of 32'9.25" was over a foot longer than that of her closest opponent as she dominated the field in the triple jump. Hanson also finished sixth in both the 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles. A couple of sophomores also did well in distance running. Kaylee Ryan finished second and was an honor roll qualifier in the 3200 meter run, and Mary Cross finished third in the 1600 meter run. Another sophomore, Christina Zvonar, tied for fourth in the high jump. And speedy freshman Jenna Zais came in third place in the 100 meter dash. The highest finishing relay team for the Wildcats was the four by 800 bunch, who ended up in third place.

Boys

Vitalis vaulted 12'6" to tie the meet record and become an honor roll qualifier. Senior Riley Myers beat the old meet record in the high jump by two inches, jumping 5'10" and claiming second place. Senior Brad Johnson did double duty in the 100 meter hurdles and 300 meter hurdles, finishing third and fifth, respectively. Sophomore Trevor Thurnbeck's long jump 20'3" beat the old meet record and earned him a third place finish. And eighth grader Andy Magnuson once again gave us a vision of the future, finishing a half second out of fourth place in the 3200 meter run.

Comments and Schedule

"The St. Louis Park meet was awesome'" said Wildcat head coach Bruce Manske. "We had great weather, the meet was well-organized and we had some team success. Our relay teams are starting to come together. We are realizing that relays score points for the team and build teamwork and team leaders. We need a bit of work on handoffs and starts."

Tomorrow, the Wildcats will host the eight-team Chisago Lakes Invitational starting at 3:30 pm. at Chisago Lakes High School. Next Tuesday, May 11, they will get up bright and early to head to Grand Rapids for the True Team Section Tournament, which starts at 10:00 a.m.

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