BATTLE CREEK – Blue Devil track & field competitors looked to improve their marks and times heading into districts with one final tune-up meet Thursday.
Wayne High joined six other varsity teams during the Battle Creek Invite.
Head coach Dale Hochstein said, “nice weather, good competition and good effort led to a third-place finish on both the girls and boys side of the Battle Creek Invitational…with athletes setting 38 improvement marks on the season.”
The Blue Devil girls (59 points) and boys (73 points) both placed third in the team standings.
Columbus Scotus won the girls division with 165 points, followed by Battle Creek in runner-up with 144 points, WHS took third (59), ahead of Hartington Cedar Catholic who placed fourth (57) and West Holt rounded out the top five teams with 47 points. Norfolk High (sixth – 41), Battle Creek JV (seventh – 8) and Madison (eighth – 4) closed out scoring.
Wayne High was led by Brooklyn Kruse who won the shot put (39’ 7 ½”) and placed runner-up in the discus (115’ 7”) while Laura Haseman finished runner-up in the 800-meter run (2:34).
Two relay teams also placed runner-up. They included the 4×400 team (Kiara Krusemark, Haase, Haseman and Powicki) in a time of 4:28 and the 4×800 team (Haase, Haseman, Rubie Klausen and Andi Belt) in 11:00.
Kierah Haase took fourth in the 800-meter run (2:41), Faith Powicki finished fourth in the 1600-meter run (6:02), Frantzdie Barner placed fifth in the 200-meter dash (28.00) while Katy Jones took fifth in the 400-meter dash (1:09) and tied for fourth in the high jump (4’ 9”).
Raegan Maas placed sixth in the 3200-meter run (15:13), Virginia Kniesche took sixth in the pole vault (7’), Courtney Brink finished sixth in the shot put (31’ 10 ¼”) and Sierra Mutchler tied for sixth in the long jump (13’ 4”).
The 4×100 team (Barner, Klausen, Delaney Kruse and Kniesche) took sixth (55.9).
Battle Creek Invitational Results 5-6-21
Battle Creek won the boys division with 193 points, followed by HCC in runner-up with 125 points, WHS took third (73), Columbus Scotus placed fourth (57) and West Holt rounded out the top five teams with 40 points. Norfolk High (sixth – 23), Battle Creek JV (seventh – 10) and Madison (eighth – 6) closed out scoring.
Blue Devil leaders were Layne Evans who finished runner-up in the 100-meter dash (11.38) and third in the 300-meter hurdles (42.8) while Jesus Zavala placed runner-up in the 1600-meter run (4:53) and sixth in the 800-meter run (2:13).
Eli Barner and Reece Wilson-Jaqua both tied for third in the pole vault (11’). Barner also took fifth in the triple jump (36’ 11”).
Wayne took 3-4-5 in the 400-meter dash from Sedjro Agoumba (third – 52.3), Yair Alcantara (fourth – 56.6) and Koby Nelson (fifth – 57.7).
Alex Phelps placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (43.88), Treyton Blecke tied for fourth in the high jump (5’ 9”), Alcantara also took fifth in the 110-meter hurdles (18.4), Ethan Wibben finished fifth in the 3200-meter run (11:44) and Mason Ley tied for sixth in the pole vault (9’ 6:”).
Relay results saw the 4×100 team (individuals not listed) placed third in a time of 45.4, the 4×400 team (Evans, Phelps, Agoumba and Wilson-Jaqua) took third in a time of 3:37 and the 4×800 team (Zavala, Parker Kesting, Sean Aschoff and Wibben) finished fifth in a time of 9:16.
The Wayne High girls and boys track & field team will next participate in the B-4 Districts on Thursday, May 13 hosted by Boone Central in Albion. Field events will begin at 11 a.m. with running events to follow at 2 p.m.