The track and field team is breaking the halfway point.

The team only has ten meets left in the season and regionals is coming up fast.

The team competed in their second home track meet on April 19 and scored very well. Then, they went to the University of Louisville to compete in the Eastern Relays. Senior Lauren Masden was able to break a Bullitt East track and field record at the Male Invitational featured in last week’s recap.

At the second Bullitt East All Comers, the team scored very high and the girls team placed first overall out of nine. “It went very well. The other coaches were pleased with how the meet was ran. Our girls dominated as a team which was great to see. The guys did a good job as well. We will plan on making this meet a better meet next year,” said Lenny Raley, coach of the track and field team.

In the girls long jump, freshman Mekaiya Cannon placed third out of 18 and following right after, freshman Emily McDonald placed fourth out of 18. And in the girls triple jump, Cannon placed second out of five.

In the girls 100-meter dash, freshman Emily McDonald placed fifth out of 28 with a time of 14.08. Freshman Emily Ezell placed tenth out of 28 in the girls 100-meter dash with a time of 14.34. Freshman Valerie Lanci also competed in the girls 100-meter dash and placed 12 out of 28 with a time of 14.75.

Freshman Meredith Bass placed fifth out of 12 with a time of 19.53 in the girls 100-meter hurdles. Eighth grader Lillie Feldhaus also competed in the girls 100-meter hurdles and placed sixth out of 12 with a time of 20.33 for her second meet on the team.

Five Bullitt East girls ran in the girls 200-meter dash, including senior Brianna Poole who placed second out of 23 with a time of 27.86. Sophomore Emmy Ralph placed third out of 23 with a time of 28.22. McDonald followed close behind placing fourth out of 23 with a time of 28.26. Masden then placed sixth out of 23 with a time of 28.88. Lanci placed eighth out of 23 with a time of 29.81.

In the boys 200-meter dash, junior AJ Moss placed second out of 20 with a time of 23.69. Senior Connor Green placed sixth out of 20 in the boys 200-meter dash with a time of 24.53.

Also competing in the girls 300-meter hurdles, Bass placed fifth out of 11 with a time of 52.71.

Senior Claire Feldhaus placed second out of 18 in the girls 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.47. Following after, Brianna Poole placed third out of 18 with a time of 1:03.53. Ralph ran in the girls 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.23 placing her fourth out of 18. Lanci placed ninth out of 18 with a time of 1:11.43 in the girls 400-meter dash.

Green placed first out of 15 in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 51.83. Moss placed second out of 15 with a time of 52.40 in the boys 400-meter dash.

In the girls 800-meter run, Masden placed first out of 15 with a time of 2:25.02. Junior Julia Poole then placed second out of 15 in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:38.17. Junior Sean Woods placed tenth out of 22 with a time of 2:23.78 in the boys 800-meter run.

Julia Poole placed second out of 16 in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 6:01.19. Following in the girls 1600-meter run, sophomore Lindsey Spencer placed sixth out of 16 with a time of 6:29.17. Junior Cori Etherton placed seventh out of 16 in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 6:30.85. In the boys 1600-meter run, sophomore Josh Wetzel placed second out of 23 with a time of 4:50.96.

In the girls 3200-meter run, Spencer placed second out of nine with a time of 13:48.41. Sophomore Abigail Clarkson placed fourth out of nine in the girls 3200-meter run with a time of 15:39.18. Junior Meredith Thornsberry placed fifth out of nine in the girls 3200-meter run with a time of 15:53.05. Competing in the boys 3200-meter run, Wetzel placed second out of 15 with a time of 11:25.21.

McDonald, Ralph, freshman Emily Ezell and sophomore Allie Rae Thompson competed together in the girls 4×100-meter relay and placed third out of six with a time of 53.86.

In the girls 4×200-meter relay, Brianna Poole, Claire Feldhaus, Ezell and freshman Sarah Ezell placed first out of five with a time of 1:54.68.  

Three groups competed in the girls 4×400-meter relay. The first group included junior Taylor Willis, Brianna Poole, Claire Feldhaus and Masden and they placed first out of nine with a time of 4:21.34. Another group placed third out of 9 with a time of 4:25.00. This group included Julia Poole, Ralph, Thompson and Emily Ezell. The last group to run included Bass, Sarah Ezell, Cannon and freshman Ryley Ortega and placed fourth out of nine with a time of 4:41.61.

In the boys 4×400-meter relay, Green, Moss, Wetzel and Woods placed second out of six with a time of 3:41.90.

In the girls 4×800-meter relay, Julia Poole, Spencer, Thompson and Sarah Ezell placed first out of three with a time of 10:59.57.

Three days after the home meet, the team competed in the Eastern Relays. They competed in seven events and scored high in the majority of those events. Willis tied for fifth in the girls high jump.

Masden competed in the girls 800-meter run and placed eighth out of 23 with a time of 2:23.20.

The group of Thompson, Ralph, McDonald and Emily Ezell placed 12 out of 26 with a time of 54.32 in the girls 4×100-meter relay.

Brianna Poole, sophomore Ralph, and Emily Ezell and McDonald tied for 13 out of 38 with a time of 1:53.70 in the girls 4×200-meter relay.

In the girls 4×400-meter relay, Masden, Willis, Brianna Poole, and Ralph placed seventh out of 17 with a time of 4:21.30.

In the girls 4×800-meter run, Julia Poole, Spencer, Thompson and Sarah Ezell placed sixth out of 23 with a time of 10:41.67.

Masden set the past record which was 5:31 and she passed that record up by more than five seconds. At the Male Invitational on April 15, Masden set the new record for the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 5:25.85. “It feels awesome to set the record for Bullitt East. It’s sort of like a tangible way to see all of the hard work put in so far… I am hoping for everyone to keep improving their times and for as many people as possible to qualify for state,” said Masden. Masden is going to continue to run track during college at Bellarmine University.
The season has hit its halfway point and regionals are coming up fast. “We have three weeks to get ready for our region meet. We have spots available on relays that we will determine through hard effort practices and meet results. The goal always is to have as many persons or relays as possible to qualify for the state meet. The top two from each of the seven regions automatically qualify and then the next ten best region performances will also qualify for State,” said Raley. The next meet will be the Cardinal Classic on April 25 at Nelson County High School.