JEFFERSON — Capturing first place in seven individual events, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s boys and girls got a solid start to the 2014 outdoor track season Monday. Mother Nature cut the Greene County Early Bird meet short because of high winds and cold temperatures.
“This had to be one of the windiest meets that I’ve ever been at. So, for our girls to have competed the way that they did, I am very satisfied with our performances,” CMB girls’ head coach Jerry Meinerts said.
Raider boys’ head coach Neil Seales echoed those words.
“I felt like we performed well, given the conditions. The winds and cold made it about as inclement as possible as the meet went on, but I felt like our guys showed good toughness and focus and put forth good efforts. Even with the weather, it was good to get outside and compete,” Seales said.
For the Raider girls, Mackenzie Schmitz won the 100-meter dash in 13.54 seconds with Toni Spencer in fourth at 14.13. Spencer claimed the top spot in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 15 feet, 6 1/2 inches. Megan Ritter placed fourth in the event at 14’3”.
Payge Jurgens won the shot put with a throw of 34 feet. Bekah Pearson was sixth at 30’ 1/2” and Nichole Davies placed eighth at 29’6 1/2”.
“I thought our field events went really well. We placed two girls in the high jump, long jump and discus, with some really good performances as well,” Meinerts said. “Mackenzie and Toni ran some great times into a strong cross wind, and our 4x200 ran a great time. I can’t wait to see how those times improve in better conditions.”
Field events were a mainstay for the Raider boys. They won three of the four field events. Hunter Gunderson cleared the high jump bar at 5’10” to win with Jordan Coughenour in fourth at 5’6”.
Zach Samson won the shot put with a toss of 54’1 1/2”. Patrick Girard placed second at 48’10 1/2” and Clayton Weltha was ninth at 37 feet. Weltha was second in the discus with a throw of 137’7” and Samson was fourth at 124’1”.
Bryce Kemp was a double winner — one on the track and one in field events. Kemp claimed first in the long jump with a leap of 20’ 1/2” with Zach Huffaker in fourth at 18’5” and Brady Stover in sixth at 17 feet.
Kemp won the 110-meter high hurdle race in 15.67 seconds. Joey Nissen ran fourth in 17.81 seconds. Kemp placed second in the 100-meter dash in 11.79 seconds and Zach Schafer was ninth in 12.85. CMB’s boys took third in the 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay in 1:05.95.
The Raider girls’ Abbie Haupert took second in the discus event with a throw of 109’7”, Mikayla Eslinger was fourth at 92’1” and Davies was eighth at 78’11”. Maddy Poage and Bridget Hurley finished third and fourth in the high jump as both cleared the bar at 4’4”.
Back on the track, Heather Jessen ran second in the 3,000-meter race in 13:07.55 and Chasity Moody was fourth in 14:16.28. Chantel Maxwell was fifth in the 800-meter run in 3:04 and Sam Rogers was 10th in 3:31. Elizabeth Jones placed eighth in the 400-meter dash in 1:20.
In the 100-meter high hurdles, Sydney Ziesman placed sixth in 19.09 seconds and Taylor Ross was seventh in 21.63 seconds. Poage, Ritter, Hurley and Schmitz combined to take second in the 4x200-meter relay race in 1:56.50.
CMB girls’ 4x800-meter relay team of Jones, Veronica Condon, Stephanie Twohey and Maxwell placed third in 12:48.28. Haupert, Pearson, Kathleen Baldwin and Jessen posted a third-place time of 5:21.80 in the distance medley relay race.
The Raider boys placed four runners in the top 10 of the 1,600-meter race. Mark Deutsch ran second in 5:12.86 followed by Evan Bianchi in sixth at 5:33.13, Colin Thompson in ninth at 5:41.58 and Creighton Caple in 10th at 5:45.54. In the 3,200-meter run,
Deutsch was second in 11:02.3, Thompson place third in 11:36, Caple was 10th in 14:02 an Jacob Stratton was 12th in 14:18. The Raider boys’ 4x800-meter relay team was third in 9:41.40.
Coughenour took second in the 400-meter dash in 54.19 seconds and Gabe Schabillion was sixth in 1:00.37. CMB placed fifth in the 4x200-meter relay race in 1:46.03.
The Raider track teams go to Gilbert Tuesday.