Prep T&F: Weathering The Storm
The Harrisburg boys track and field team experienced some highs and lows at last week's Mascoutah Invitational and the meet was a new learning experience for the Bulldogs, including head coach Zach Cox.
Weather and wind were very tough to deal with, but that didn't stop Harrisburg from taking first place in the Blue Division (small school), garnering 162 points, beating out Salem (148), Freeburg (125), University City (98), Breese Central (96) and Madison (24).
I was under the impression the meet was scored all together in each event," Cox said. "In reality, each division was awarded first through eighth place in each event. That would have completely changed my lineup if I understood that from the get go. It's safe to say I tried to give this one away. I was trying to score quality points with our best events. All that being said, it shows we have a pretty nice group of athletes to still come away with some hardwear."
Harrisburg came away with eight first place finishes, including a pair from Kane Carrigan as he set a meet record in both the shot put and discus, all while, setting a PR in the shot put.
Carrigan had a heave of 54-feet-5 in the shot put, while throwing the discus 148-feet-10.
Branden Duffield took first in the triple jump and also set a PR, going 39-feet-11.5 and Michael Victoria set a PR in the 400 meters, finishing in a time of 51.46.
The 4x200 relay team of Aaron Stephens, Cody Rightnowar, Corbin Crim and Dustin Lane took first and the 4x400 relay team of Adarsh Manawa, Victoria, Stephens and Rightnowar finished first as well.
Rounding out the first place finishes were Austin Lowry and Derek Rivers, who both tied in the pole vault.
Jared Barger set a PR in the shot put, throwing 46-feet-10 for a second place finish, while the 4x800 meter relay team of Mitch Daniels, Manaway, River Jordan and Donny Hicks, along with Lane in the 100 and 200 meter dash all finished second.
Hunter Smith (high jump), Tylor Marler (110 high hurdlers), Cody Rightnowar (300 hurdles), Jordan (1600 meters) and Crim (200 meters) all finished third.
"For our performance, we had some highs and lows," Cox said. "The weather and especially the wind was a bear to deal with. We dropped a baton in the 4x100 relay which would have been a strong event for us and the kids were really exciting about it going in. That deflated us for a good part of the meet. We have to get all the little things right if we want to be able to compete with the big boys.
"Michael Victoria really got things going with a big PR in the 400 with 51.4. That's really good considering the conditions and he was dealing with a quad strain. The other individual I cannot say enough about is Kane Carrigan. He comes to practice everyday ready to work and he never complains and does everything I ask. That hard work and commitment is now paying off. He broke both throws meet records and his 54-feet-5 shot put rates him 3rd in the state now according to dyestat and that also places him 3rd all time in school history to my knowledge. I'm just happy for him because he deserves every bit of it."
At the Marion freshmen/sophomore meet Tuesday, Harrisburg placed fifth out of five teams with 42 points.
Rivers had a first place finish for the Bulldogs, going 11-feet- in the pole vault, while the 4x200 meter relay team of Chris Williams, Chandler Bowling, Hunter Smith and Jordan Bartok were first with a time of 1:40.7.
Smith grabbed a second place finish in the high jump, clearing 5-feet-6, while Smith finished third in the triple jump, going 33-feet. The 4x400 relay team of Smith, Williams, Bowling and Cole Ferrell were also third, crossing the line in 3:55. Ferrell picked up a third place finish, finishing with a time of 47.0 in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
Seth Thai had a PR in the 320 meter run with a time of 11:27 for a fourth place finish and Chris Williams had a time of 12.2 in the 100 meter dash.
Bartok (shot put, discus), Ferrell (110 high hurdles), and Hicks (800) all finished fifth.
"Today was a great opportunity for some of our young guys to come over and have a scored meet against some bigger schools," Cox said. "We finished about how I expected and we have a very thin sophomore class as we brought over only two. to go along with about 15 freshman. Next year I will like our chances to score more points at this meet. We won the 4x200 relay with four freshman today so there are some athletes there we can build our team around.
"With the amount of underclass events for track dwindling this is the last meet of the year for some of these young guys. They have done a great job the past couple months in coming to practice and working hard while getting to compete only a couple times. Hopefully they see how our varsity is doing and will keep that in perspective. I'll be looking forward to having them next year."