The Lewis Cass boys’ and girls’ track teams competed this past Saturday, April 13, at the Big Orange meet at Hamilton Heights High School. The meet consists of Hamilton Heights, Western, Northwestern, Tipton, Eastern, Western Boone, Guerin Catholic, Lebanon, Maconaquah, and Lewis Cass. The girls’ team finished this weekend placing seventh out of ten teams. The boys’ team finished placing fourth out of ten teams.
The track teams trained at the beginning of the season for this meet. Big Orange is the first competitive meet of the year with some very tough competition. Girls’ coach Megan Mannering said, “The girls’ team competed well for our first highly competitive meet of the season. After lots of fun, it was nice to have a sunny meet.”
Boys’ team medaling in Big Orange include: Kolten Young in the 400m, Kale Skiles in the 3200m, in the 4×400 relay Ben Jay, L.J. Hillis, Colton Copeland, and Kolten Young. L.J. Hillis has come on strong this season helping the team greatly with this season being his first year of track. Ben Jay has also helped the team out tremendously. Being a Freshman Ben has a major role in scoring team points. Head coach Matthew Benner said this about the boys’ team, “The boys did an amazing job at the Big Orange. Our young team was expected to finish 7th and we finished 4th in a very competitive invitational. I think that there were many outstanding performances for our team. Our hurdlers scored in both hurdle races which led to several points. Ben Jay had solid performances in his individual distance races. The turning point for us in this meet was when Kale Skiles finished 2nd in a highly competitive 2 mile and then the 1600 relay team of Ben Jay, Colton Copeland, L.J. Hillis and Kolten Young finished it out with a strong 3rd place. Overall, I was proud of all of the hard work by all of our boys.”
Out of the girls’ team, there were some strong-performing athletes. Coach Megan Mannering said, “Aftin Griffin was 4th in the 100, third in the 200, runner up in the 400, and anchored the runner-up 4×4. Anna Hedrick set a personal best in the long jump and was 6th, 4th in the 200, was on the scoring 4×1, and led off the 2nd place 4×4. Faith Helvie stepped up big running the 4×1 and securing a spot in the 4×4 relay. Other scorers were Jaylan York and Larissa Rominger in the hurdles, Mylie Sipe in the discus, and Gracie Spicer in the 3200. Relay scorers included Cadence Wrightsman (4×1), Kennedy Thorpe (4×8), Bianca Panmei (4×8), Lexi Alford (4×8), Rielle Musgrave (4×8), and Brystalin Gillem (4×4).” These athletes will help the team win meets in the future.
The boys’ team faced some really difficult competition and the team overcame adversity to place fourth in the meet. The boys’ young team has been competing very well this season. The team has a very bright future ahead of them.
Next, the teams will be competing this weekend at the Eastern Relays on Saturday, April 20. Come support your Lewis Cass Kings and see some great performances.