After two high placing meets over the last week, the track and field team is running to the home stretch.

The track and field team competed in two meets at Nelson County and the Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL) and will have a home meet this week.  

The team participated in the Harry Greschel Invitational at CAL on March 18. Then, three days later, they competed at the Nelson Co. Icebreakers which were some very good times for the team. The next track meet will be on March 28 at Bullitt East.

At the Harry Greschel Invitational, many members of the track and field team were able to earn a spot in the top ten. In the girls 800-meter dash, senior Lauren Masden placed second out of 35 with a time of 2:30.18. Senior Connor Green placed third out of 27 in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 52.77. Junior Julia Poole placed fifth out of 28 in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 5:52.30. Sophomore Lindsey Spencer placed ninth out of 13 with a time of 13:55.12 in the girls 3200-meter run.

Freshman Meredith Bass placed eighth out of 25 in the girls 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.17. Bass also competed in the girls 300-meter hurdles and placed seventh out of 22 with a time of 55.64. Junior Taylor Willis placed sixth out of 20 in the girls high jump. Freshman Emily McDonald placed third out of 28 in the girls long jump.

A group in the girls 4×200-meter dash placed tenth out of 19 with a time of 2:01.40. This group consisted of senior Brianna Poole, sophomores Allie Rae Thompson and Emmy Ralph and freshman Sarah Ezell. In the girls 4×100-meter dash, freshman Emily Ezell, McDonald, Thompson and Ralph placed fourth out of 16 with a time of 54.95.

A group of Masden, Julia Poole, Brianna Poole and senior Claire Feldhaus placed fourth out of ten in the girls 4×400-meter dash with a time of 4:33.60. In the boys 4×400-meter dash, Green, eighth grader Josh Perdue, sophomore Josh Wetzel and junior AJ Moss placed ninth out of ten with a time 3:55.51. In the girls 4×800-meter run, Feldhaus, Masden, Julia Poole and Spencer placed third out of 14 with a time of 10:34.48.

There were many first place winning events at the Nelson Co. Icebreakers. Julia Poole placed first out of 18 in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.74. Also placing first of 19, Masden ran the girls 1600 meter run with a time of 5:42.04.

Many of the relays placed first as well. The girls 4×100-meter dash placed first out of eight groups with a time of 54.64. This group consisted of Ralph, Thompson, McDonald and Emily Ezell. The girls 4×400-meter dash also placed first out of seven with a time of 4:24.04. This group included seniors Brianna Poole, Masden, Feldhaus and Julia Poole. The girls 4×800-meter run also placed first out of five with a time of 10:25.54. These runners consisted of Feldhaus, Masden, Julia Poole and Spencer.

Members of the track meet were able to set personal bests at this meet. McDonald set her personal best in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.74 placing her seventh out of 26. Freshman Paul Beckmann also set his personal best in the boys 100-meter dash with a time of 12.84 which placed him 11 out of 20.

Willis got her new personal best by placing 8 out of 15 with a time of 29.14 in the girls 200-meter dash. Three runners set their personal bests in the 400-meter dash at this race. Brianna Poole set her best time in the girls 400-meter dash managing to get a short 1:04.84 placing her fourth out of 17. Junior AJ Moss set his personal best in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 53.14 placing him second out of 12. Perdue was also able to get his personal best for the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 58.74 placing him sixth out of 12.

Julia Poole also set her personal best in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.74 as stated earlier. Spencer also set her personal best in the girls 800-meter run as she got a time of 2:49.24 with a place of seventh out of 18. Junior Meredith Thornsberry got her personal best in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 3:16.54 placing her 14 out of 18. Sophomore Tyler Ford was able to set his personal best in the boys 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.04 placing him seventh out of 23.

Thornsberry was also able to set another personal best in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 6:59.54 placing her 14 out of 19. Sophomore Cole Davenport set his personal best for the boys 1600-meter run with a time of 5:33.64.

Bass was able to set her personal best for two events. In the girls 100-meter hurdles, Bass was able to set a personal best of 18.34 placing her second out of three. She set another personal best in the girls 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.34 placing her second out of four.

As for season bests, this was a great meet for many of the relays. The girls 4×100-meter dash group of Ralph, Thompson, Ezell and McDonald set the season best time of 54.64 as stated above. The girls 4×200-meter dash group of Emily Ezell, Sarah Ezell, Ralph and Thompson set the time of 1:55.94 placing second out of eight.

“It (setting season bests) felt good because three of us are new at running track, it’s our first year and to have already been winning and setting season-best times is awesome… I think we have big things ahead of us and I hope we continue to work and get better,” said Thompson.

Another group was able to set a season best for the girls 4×400-meter run. As stated above, the group of Brianna Poole, Julia Poole, Feldhaus and Masden set the time of 4:24.04. In the boys 4×400-meter dash, Moss, Beckmann, Perdue and freshman Ethan Boyer set a new season record of 3:54.14 placing them third out of six. The group who raced the girls 4×800-meter race set a new season time of 10:25.54 as stated above.

“Last night was a good showing for our teams.  The weather turned out great and we had some very nice performances,” said Lenny Raley, the track and field coach.
The track around the football field was recently remodeled, so now that the team has a place to host events, they are having their first home meet of the season. “After not having adequate facilities for quite a while, it is good to be able to compete on our home track,” said Raley. The team will be competing against Bullitt Central, North Bullitt, Fern Creek and Moore in the Bullitt East All Comers on March 28 at Bullitt East.