The 16 team meet was a good chance for the young Wildcats to see what they made of.
After the stroke of midnight the final team scores were published and the Cats placed 2nd in a very competitive battle with Herrin High School. Herrin grabbed the top spot with 90 points and Cats’ point total of 87 points was 2nd.
The Cats piled up the points in the field events with Caleb Smith and Cole Johnson both having big throws. Smith’s 167’2 toss and Johnson’s 162′ 4 were good for 1st and 2nd, both top of the list in Wildcat track and field history behind Mike Minton. Both Smith and Johnson took the top spots in the shot with throws of 57’4 and 45’7.
Alek Bandy won the pole vault while Holden Richardson was 4th. Sean Thorton was 6th in the 100 dash and had a personal best time of 41 seconds in the 300 hurdles, good for a second in bang bang finish. Hunter Malan picked up a 5th in the 3200 and Robbie Shober a 7th in the 1600 in a PR time and Branson Pappas also had a PR in the mile. High jumper Reyegan Warren cleared 6′ in the high jump, good for 2nd place. Miking Ettress was 3rd in the long jump.
Angel Salgado had a personal best in the 400 meters in a time of 56.35 and
The relay teams had a good meet, the 4×100 team of Sam Greene, Jervace Mayes, Ettress, and Thorton was 4th in 45.22, the same group was 3rd in the 4×200 in season best time of 1:34.77. The 4×400 team of Salgado, Greene, Mayes, and Ettress were 6th in a season best time of 3:49.
Coach Mike Hargis told WJBD/WSIQ “there were a lot of great efforts, it was a long bus trip for us, but the guys had a sense of a business trip, with a job that needed to be done. Several stepped up to compete.”
