The West Central Area Knight Track and field teams got their season started March 29 with a trip to Concordia for its Cobber Indoor Invitational.  First year coach Dave Schleicher and staff only took 9-12 graders with a couple of 7th and 8th graders to round out the squad.  

The team was led by its distance kids, but they all had some good marks to start off the season.

Next up was the Invitational meet in Morris.  The knights fought thru some cold damp conditions to again post some great marks.  Girls 3200m was dominated by Ella Vankempen and Teagan Nelson placing 1-2. Girls 4x800 had a strong showing as well placing 2nd. Morgan Woodle had a strong showing in the long jump with a mark of 14-feet-4-inches.  Brynn Fernholz jumped 4’7.50” for 3rd in High jump

Boys were led by Bennet Grove and his first place in the 400m with a time of 55.19. Kyle Schill and Jack VanKempen placed 3-4 in the boys 800m with Jack also placing 5t in the 1600m. Jacob Bright had a good run in the 3200m placing 3rd with a time of 10:43.08. The boys 4x800 team also placed 6th overall.  Rounding out the scoring was Devin Stone in the shot, 4th place and the disc 5th place.

Overall the mens and womens squads both placed 6th.

Next up was a trip to Long Prairie for the Thunder relays April 23.
Kaylyn Ulrich placed 5th in the 100m with a time of 14.21, Elizabeth Rustan placed 3rd in the 400m with a time of 67.56, Teagan Nelson placed 2nd in the girls 800m (2:39.58) and 3rd in the 1600 (5:49.25), Ella VanKempen placed 3rd in the 3200m (13:29.60), the girls 4x100 relay ran a solid third place race, Taylah Schroeder placed 2nd in the shot (28-07.50) and 3rd in the discus (79-8) and Brynn Fernolz had another solid showing in the jumps placing 3rd in High Jump (4’8), 5th in Long Jump (13’10) and 2nd in the triple jump (31’9).

The boys were led by Jacob Bright in the 1600m placing 2nd (4:53) and Alex Sawasser was 7th.  Jack VanKempen and Kyle Schill again placed 3rd and 5th, respectively, in the 3200m. The 4x800 relay placed 2nd with a time of 9:00.18 and Devin Stone placed 4th in the discus (104’11).

Gage and Ryder Staples competing in their first meet of their careers had a strong showing in the High jump where Gage placed 7th (5’4) and Ryder was 8th (4’11) also finishing in the 10th and 19th spots, respectively, for long jump. Gage Staples finished 2nd with a tremendous leap of 36’7 in his very first triple jump competition.  Ryder also had a great jump of 33’1.

The team traveled to Breckenridge April 25 for the KT Smith Invitational.

In the girls 800 Teagan Nelson was eighth (2:43.59) and Ella VanKempen (2:43.90) was ninth.  Kaylyn Uhlrich and Kaitlyn Hanson finished tenth and eleventh in the 100, Teagan Nelson was fifth and Ella VanKempen eleventh in the 1600, the girls 4x100 was 6th (58.23), the 4x200 took 6th place (2:05.45), Taylah Schroeder was 8th in the shot (29.05) and 8th in the discus (78-11), Brynn Fernolz finished 6th in the high jump (4’6) and second in the triple jump (31-07.25), and Kaylyn Uhlrich was 6th in the long jump (13-08).

In the boys competition, Bennett Grove was 5th in the 400 (56.68), Jack Vankempen was 6th, Kyle Schill 7th and Jacob Bright 8th in the 800, Bright 6th, Schill 8th and VanKempen 9th in the 1600, Stone placed 9th in shot put (37-01) and Gage Staples took third (37-09.50) in triple jump and 13th in long jump (16-05).