Staff writer
On a beautiful warm Thursday afternoon, Wheat State League teams converged on Goessel for their annual track meet.
Goessel won the girls’ division with several record-setting performances.
Stephany Meyer won the triple jump with a league record leap of 33 feet, 7½ inches. After scratching twice in long jump, she soared 16-5.25 for another win and meet record.
Brittney Hiebert took first in the 400-meters with a meet record time of 61.38 seconds, and followed that up with a record-setting victory in the 800, clocking 2:34.69. She also placed third in javelin.
Abby Hannon finished first in pole vault at 6-9, outdueling teammate Shelbi Stultz, who cleared 6-0 and placed second. The pair were the only entrants in the event.
Olivia Duerksen finished third in both long and high jumps. Sarah Wagner placed fourth in high jump and Edel Miller earned fourth in triple jump. Savanna Wuest used her final throws in the shot put to capture fourth place.
Julia Nightengale took third place in the 1600, and Maddy Meier picked up a point with a sixth place finish in the same event.
Senior Aleena Cook competed for the first time this season after being sidelined by injury. She finished fourth in the 100 meter dash and anchored the 4x100 relay. With teammates Hannon, Duerksen and Meagan Guerroro the relay team took third place.
Saskia Clostermeyer and Stultz finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 100-meter hurdles. The 4x800 relay, consisting of Clostermeyer, Meier, Miller, and Wagner finished third.
Meyer took third in the 400, and Clostermeyer finished second in 300-hurdles in a photo finish. Lauren Rymill earned fifth place in the 800.
As the shadows grew longer, Nightengale ran eight laps to finish in second place in the 3200 meter race 14:14.11. The Goessel 4x400 relay team added points in the last event of the day with a third place finish and a season best time of 4:29.27. This relay consisted of Duerksen, Meyer, Rymill and Hiebert.
Goessel scored 147 points, with Solomon a distant second and Wakefield third.
The boys fared well, capturing third place overall.
Josh Schmidt earned a third place medal in long jump with a leap 18 inches further than he has jumped all season long. Drew Lindeman finished sixth. They also teamed up in the triple jump, with Lindeman placing fourth and Schmidt sixth.
Jordan Griffith heaved the javelin going eight feet further than his previous best to nab fifth, while Chase Flaming made it into finals in shot put and took sixth.
Zach Wiens won the 110-hurdles in 15.89 seconds and finished second in the 300.
Zach Zogleman placed fifth in the 800.
All three relay teams earned points. Goessel’s 4x100 relay team of Flaming, Wiens, Zogleman and Schmidt finished in first place with a time of 47.57 seconds. The 4x800 relay team of Nathan Impson, Freddy Scheffe, Marvin Swatek, and Griffin earned third place, as did the 4x400 team of Scheffe, Wiens, Zogleman and Schmidt.
The Goessel boys finished with 57 points, trailing Wakefield and Solomon, but finishing ahead of White City and Centre.
The Bluebirds will compete in a regional meet Friday at Burden.