PREP TRACK AND FIELD: WHS boys, Fulda girls win Fulda invite

SLAYTON — Seniors Danny Rodriguez, Mitch Weg and Mubarik Musa each won two individual events Tuesday to lead the Worthington boys to a convincing team victory in the Fulda Invitational track and field meet held at the Murray County Central track, while Fulda senior foreign-exchange student Sylvia Zanini’s triple victory in the shot put, discus and high hurdles helped the hosting Fulda Raiders edge MCC for the girls’ team title.

MCC’s Tanner Nepp (shot put and discus) was also a two-event winner in the boys’ meet, while Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Jada Carr and Adrian’s Austyn Thier were both dual first-place finishers in the girls’ competition.

A total of nine teams participated in the annual meet, with many fine early-season performances recorded, as the weather conditions improved (winds lessened) as the day progressed.

Worthington, which won 11 of the 18 boys’ events, racked up a meet-high 167 points to win by 53 points over second-place MCC (114).

Fulda edged Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin, 91-90, for third place in the boys’ standings, while Tracy-Milroy-Balaton was fifth (71), followed by Hills-Beaver Creek (56), Southwest Christian/Edgerton (48), R-T-R (28) and Adrian (27).

Fulda scored 113 points to finish at the top of the girls’ team standings, while MCC was a close second with 108 points.

Adrian was third with 88 points, followed by H-BC (83), ML/B-O (77), T-M-B (67), Worthington (62), SWC/E (59) and R-T-R (43).

Trojan boys win three relays

While Worthington won eight individual events, the Trojans also claimed victory in three relays, which was a pleasing fact to co-head coach Ken Henkels.

“Overall, this was probably our best team performance of the season,” exclaimed Henkels. “I was really happy with our three relay wins and it was nice having both Rodriguez and Weg participate and win a pair of events each.”

Henkels was also beaming about sophomore Will Dudley’s impressive victory in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 13 feet, winning the event by 18 inches.

“Will had a super day,” declared Henkels. “We just about made 13-6, which is really getting up there.”

Weg won both the high jump (5-10) and the triple jump (40-8), while Rodriquez sprinted to wins in both the 100 (11.61) and 200 (23.06).

Musa finished first in both the 1,600 (4:32.69) and 3,200 (10:35.15), while junior Jon Vorwald earned victory in the grueling 400-meter dash, clocked at 55.01.

The Trojans opened the meet by winning the 4x800 relay, as the quartet of Gordy Moore, Ian Stewart, Oliver Wolyniec and Nathan Landwehr covered the eight laps in 9:18.34, winning by more than 22 seconds.

Rodriquez, Jessie Guerra, Dudley and Ethan Spittle also won convincingly in the 4x200 relay, clocked at 1:35.16.

Worthington finished the meet with a narrow victory over a fine T-M-B in the 4x400 relay, as the foursome of Vorwald, Guerra, Dudley and Spittle (3:37.43) finished just of the Panthers’ team of Marco Perez, Allen Erbes, Brett Swenhaugen and Asa Nelson (3:37.90).

Nepp tossed the discus 144-5 and heaved the shot 46-1, while Fulda’s Max Dibble (132-6 and 40-7) placed second in both events.

Fulda junior Nate Getting won the 800-meter run (2:08.76), MCC junior Max Whitehead won the 110-meter high hurdles (17.94), SWC/E junior Austin LaFollette was the winner of the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (42.30) and ML/B-O sophomore Jose Gonzales won the long jump (19-5) by a foot.

The H-BC quartet of Dalton Bass, Jordan Larson, Dirk Thone and Tate Bork won the 4x100 relay with a time of 46.37.

Second-place individual finishes for Worthington were scored by Guerra in the long jump (18-4.5) and eighth-grader Ammanuel Fissiha in the 3,200 (11:15.85).

In addition to anchoring a pair of relay victories, Spittle placed third in both the 800 (2:10.43) and long jump (18-0).

Zanini dominates three events, AHS wins two relays

Zanini, who has competed in her home country of Italy, had a fine volleyball campaign for Fulda last fall. But, track and field is her favorite sport and she showed that Tuesday.

After winning the 100-meter high hurdles in convincing fashion with a time of 16.87, she won the both the shot put (38-5) and discus (132-0) by even wider margins. To complete a fabulous all-around day, Zanini placed second in the 300-meter low hurdles (50.11) to lead the Raiders to the team victory.

“Sylvia had a great day, no doubt about it,” summed up Fulda throwing coach Brad Holinka. “She is an exceptional track and field athlete.”

Carr won both the 200-meter dash (27.64) and the triple jump (32-2), while Thier finished first in both the 800 (2:27.76) and 1,600 (5:28.50) before anchoring Adrian’s victory in the 4x400 relay (4:20.43).

Running the quarters for the Dragons before Thier were Nicole Slater, Jordin Kopplow and Christina Loonan.

Adrian also won the 4x800 relay with the team of Slater, Morgan Sauer, Karly Kramer and Kopplow, clocking a time of 10:25.16.

H-BC won the 4x100 as the foursome of Natalie Leuthold, Paige Leuthold, Haley Van Wyhe and Siera Wilgenburg were timed at 54.48.

The ML/B-O quartet of Mikayla Falk, Lydia Hildebrandt, Brianna Soutthivong and Carly Fast won the 4x200 with a time of 1:55.43.

Falk also finished first in the 100 (13.82), just nipping Fulda’s Brooke Wenzel (13.83), while Siera Wilgenburg won the 400 (1:02.50) and Fulda’s Tiffany Gehl (12:38.35) won a close race over Adrian’s Megan Sauer (12:39.55) in the 3,200-meter run.

SWC/E’s Hannah Van Dyke won the 300 hurdles (48.46), MCC’s Hannah Schmidt won the long jump (14-10.5), Fulda’s Micaela Paulzine finished first in the pole vault (8-0) and Worthington’s Tara Svalland cleared the bar at 4-10 to win the high jump.

Hildebrandt, a freshman for ML/B-O, placed third in three individual events —- the 100 (13.96), the 400 (1:04.61) and the pole vault (7-6).

Worthington senior Megan Juber finished second in the 1,600 (5:34.87), freshman Carsen Wetzel placed fourth in the high jump (4-8), junior Whitney Coriolan finished fourth in the 100 highs (18.71) and senior Lexy Teerink was fifth in the discus (88-1) as the the next highest individual scorers for the Trojans.

A pair of WHS relay teams finished fifth as the foursome of Olivia Ebbers, Alicia Darling, Emma Gerber and Stephanie Jaycox ran the 4x800 (11:32.99) and the quartet of Coriolan, Juber, Meredith Moore and Ebbers raced the 4x400 (4:37.60).

Worthington’s next meet is at St. James April 24.

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