Grace track set more program records at the Huntington Invite on Saturday. Photo provided

Lady Tigers Land Third At Penn Invite

In a quality grouping of teams, Hamilton Southeastern stood tallest as the winners of the Lady Kingsmen Invite Saturday at Freed Field.

Hamilton Southeastern scored 166 points, well ahead of Penn’s 98 and Warsaw’s 87 among the 12-team field.

Marin Hart had a huge day for the Tigers, winning both the 100 and 300 hurdles with times of 16.09 and 50.58, and also took third in the high jump clearing 5-0.

Warsaw added a title in the 4×100 relay, the team of Avery Fitzgerald, Lily Boston, Baylee Duncan and Kendra Love racing to a 51.96. Boston was runner-up in the 100 dash at 13.22.

Other field notes for Warsaw included a third from Josie Niebbia in pole vault at 9-6, a third from Erika Bugg in long jump at 16-2, and Abby Sanner taking third in shot put at 35-1 and fourth in discus at 100-4.

St. Joe Edges NorthWood At Goshen Relays

NorthWood had a pair of overall champions at Saturday’s Goshen Relays boys track showcase, but St. Joe took the team title.

The Indians scored 103 points to squeeze past the Panthers’ 98 at the top of the Class B table, deemed the ‘small school’ classification.

NorthWood’s results all were Class B standings.

Brevin Miller led the shot putters with a put of 46-6 and placed third in discus at 128-6. Jordan Burden also had a title, winning the mile run outright at 4:44.91, with teammate Brady Hunsberger clocking 4:45.62 to win his heat and place second overall. Also winning heats for the Panthers included its 4×100 relay at 47.49 and its 800 sprint medley at 1:47.36.

It’s 4×800 was second in its heat at 8:32.11 and its distance medley was third at 11:30.10. Noah Blosser added a 16.97 in the 110 hurdles.

Wawasee also competed in the Class B circuit and had three standout performances. The Warrior 800 sprint medley was second at 1:46.23, Camden Powell was fourth in the mile run at 4:52.11 and Quintin Spitzmacher sent his best discus effort 119-5 for sixth overall.

Whitko had a champion in Cameron Sapp, who led Class B discus throwers with a send of 132-6.

Valley, Triton Win Titles At North Miami Invite

The Triton girls and Tippecanoe Valley boys were team champions at Friday night’s North Miami Warrior Relays.

Amongst the action was a school record by Valley’s 4×100 relay team, which cruised to a 44.70. The relay team were Braden Shepherd, Jamasyn Virgil, Wade Jones and Rex Kirchenstien.

North Miami did not release meet stats as of Saturday evening.

Grace Continues To Set Program Standards

Grace’s record book revision for track and field continued over the weekend.

The Lancers set two school records to continue a strong outdoor season.

Bryan Hernandez-Rios competed individually at Indiana Tech on Friday and set a school record in the 5,000-meter run. He ran a time of 14:58.85, meeting an NAIA “B” standard.

The rest of the team competed at the Huntington Invitational. Logan Rufenacht had the highlight of the day by breaking a 39-year school record in the 3,000 steeplechase, doing so in his first-ever steeplechase race. He won the race with a time of 9:46.30, beating the previous record of 9:47.24 set by Ron Penrod in 1982.

Three other events were winners at Huntington. Michael Williams won the 400 with a personal-best time of 50.01 seconds, and Lyne Camara won the women’s 400 with the top time so far in the Crossroads League (57.74).

The men’s 4×400 relay team of Connor Kitson, Zach Johnson, Kye Barrett and Derek O’Connor also took top honor at 3:34.14.

Several other athletes posted season-best marks: Johnson in the 800, O’Connor in the 1,500, Barrett in the 400 hurdles, Neal Kathary in the discus, Zoe Huley in the 100, Sarah O’Day in the 200, Kaitlyn Mack and Emma Lingenfelter in the 800, Elizabeth Moore in the 1,500 and Kelsey Ruder in the javelin.

“We didn’t compete everyone this weekend, letting a few athletes rest, but once again produced some strong performances,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “The big meets of the season are ahead of us, and we feel that we will be ready to compete at a high level.”

The Lancers have the luxury of being home the next two weeks. Grace will host the Lancer Invitational on Friday, April 30. The Crossroads League Championships will also be at Grace on May 6-7.

Grace’s home meets are held at the Key Track and Field Complex, which was built in 2016.