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In the final week before the Conference Meet, the Dodge-Point Track and Field Team continued tampering their strengths with some intense training and participation in the highly competitive "Sparky" Reynolds Invitational held on May 10th at Boscobel. The Invite hosted 22 schools and carried into the late hours of the evening. Despite soreness from a tough week, many Dodge-Point athletes had their personal best in their events.
Junior, Henry Keith, faced a hard night competing in both the 1600m and 3200m run. Though Keith is no stranger to the distance events, he has been competing mostly in the mid-distance events (800m and 400m) this season. Keith showed that he remains a force to be reckoned with in the long distance races, winning both the events with solid times of 4:39 and 10:05. Teammate, Will Aurit, tried his hand at the 3200m run as well and ran an astounding pace for only a freshman (10:13) and placed second for the team. Jeremiah Beasley also ran well for the distance crew, placing third in the 1600m run (4:43). Freshman, Cal Dampf had his fastest time in the 1600m run this season with a 5:10.
The Boy's Distance Crew once again displayed their depth of talent and ability to score points. Peyton Tranel and Dylan McGraw fought with Boscobel's Evan Belz in the 800m race. Like most 800m races it came down to the last 150m kick coming off the final turn. Tranel and McGraw fought to the end with Tranel coming in second (2:03.11) and McGraw, running his best open time (2:03.34) for a third place finish.
Kevin Eisenzimmer competed in the 200m dash instead of his usual 400m role. Eisenzimmer placed first in preliminaries (23.66) out of 44 sprinters. His legs could not find the hsame speed in the finals and he settled for fourth with a slightly slower time of 23.79. Jason Gleichauf had his fasted 110m hurdle time of 15.95, but the highly competitive meet placed him at third with all three top performers in the race crossing the line in a photo finish. Freshman, Owen McDonald had an excellent reaction out of the blocks in the 100m dash, setting his personal best record with a 12.23. Matthew Nordstrom was another athlete that had a good night with his best time of 25.6 in the 200m dash. Jacob Valeria scored six points for the team placing third in his high jump event (5'10).
The boy's 4x200m relay clocked their fastest time of the season. The relay team, consisting of Eisenzimmer, Valeria, McDonald, and Blaise Watters, placed third with a time of 1:35.2. Sprinters, Eisenzimmer and Watters joined forces with distance runners, Tranel, and Beasley to win the final event of the night the 4x400m relay (3:32) sealing the win for the boy's team overall by 23.5 points in the 22 team competition.
The girl's team also had some impressive performances at Boscobel. Senior, Lindsay Johnston, ran her best two mile time (12.41) of the season running strong throughout the eight lap 3200 event and placing third overall. Mariya Schmitz leaped her season best in the high jump (5'0), placing second out of 31 jumpers.
Blair Watters cut off a whopping two seconds off her open 400m dash time placing third overall (1:00.87). Allison Esch also took off time cutting two seconds in the 800m run to also place third. Esch and Watters took their talent to the 4x400m relay joining distance runners, Emily Cody and Sydney Judd to run and exceptional race that was a nail-bitter from start to finish. In the end, Esch edged out Boscobel's fourth runner with a lean at the finish line winning in a time of 4:19.50 and Boscobel coming in second with a 4:19.75.
The 4x100 relay placed 5th in the very competitive field, breaking the 54 second barrier with a time of 53.8. The 4x100 relay consisted of Ashlie Baumgartner, Cloe Rule, Tessa Bockhop and Watters. The Dodge-Point team season will culminate with the Conference Meet on May 14th and then on to Regional and Sectionals the following week on Monday and Thursday.
"Our athlete's have worked hard this year. They've trained hard and trained smart, and they all should feel confident coming into these final meets," said Head Co-Coach Matt McGraw. "It's been an exciting year and this group of kids has really come together as a team."