On Friday, May 12 the WKHS Mariner Track team traveled to Denfeld to compete in the Annual Matt Kero Invitational. The meet featured teams from across the northland, as well as a very strong Hastings team from the south. The weather was overcast, cool and dry–perfect race conditions for the longer races, but challenging for field events and shorter sprints. Despite the weather, the Mariners had a successful last regular season meet before heading into the race to State.
On the girls’ side, Junior Tonja Thomas placed 2nd in the 100m behind former THHS teammate Delaney Nelson, as well as an 8th place finish in the 200m. Sophomore Sophia Blanck set the meet record in the 800m with a time of 2:19.09, beating out THHS Grace Swanson for the win. 8th grader Sierra Geatz ran a personal best in the 1600m, coming in at 5:41.70, which was fast enough for 5th place overall. Freshman Valerie Melander ran a season best 1:06.87 in the 400m. Val, along with Sophia, Sierra, and Stella LaPointe, placed 9th in the 4x400m relay.
The boys had an outstanding meet with many personal records set. Junior Cash Williams placed 10th and 11th in the 100m and 200m respectively. His 200m time of 24.66 was a personal best. Sophomore Ayden Althaus, in his first year competing in track, placed 8th in the 400m with a time of 56.48.
Freshman Nick Swartz had an incredible race in the 1600m, dropping 9 seconds off his previous time to run a personal best of 5:05.73.
The featured race at the Matt Kero Invitational is the 1600m, in honor of Denfeld student and track team member Matt Kero, who died unexpectedly back in 2011.
8th grader Dain Thompson had a PR in the shot with a throw of 27’09”.
The Mariners will compete in the Section 7A North Sub-Section on Thursday, May 25 at Mesabi East.
