Royal Oak Shrine’s young track team seems to be improving meet by meet, if recent results are any indication.
The Knights produced 49 medal-winning performances at last Friday’s 15-team Webberville Invitational. Shrine’s boys placed first in their division with 68 points, and the girls finished as runner-up despite scoring 87.
“It was a solid day for us,” Head Coach Wright Wilson said. “We had season’s-bests all across the board and a lot of our team members came home with their first track medals.”
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Shrine had one boys’ relay, one girls’ relay, and one co-ed relay finish in first. For the girls, N’Tia Laird, Julia Liggett, Taylor Kilgore and Qianna Parham won the 4x100 relay in a meet-record time of 53.05 seconds. The boys’ 4x800 team of Matt Sutton, Ben Kendell, Matt Arce and Connor Lockman won in 8:47.6. The winning co-ed 4x400 – which earned points toward both squads’ totals – consisted of Matt Nadai, Kilgore, Lockman and Clare Romano.
Liggett finished first in the 100 (13.02) and second in the 200 (28.31). Lockman, whom coaches voted as “Boys’ Track Athlete of the Meet,” added a second in the 400 (53.01). Kendell (second, 10:17) and Sutton (fourth, 10:48) added points in the 3200 with career-bests. Romano had a pair of third-place finishes in both hurdle races (18.35 and 54.89).
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Three other Knight relays finished third: the boys’ 4x200 with John Lee, Nadai, Dan Tresnak, and Lockman (1:38.44); the girls’ 4x200 with Arielle Tolbert, Irene Peaslee, Tori Allen and Taylor Kilgore (1:57.88); and the co-ed 4x800 which included Dominic Cardelli, Erin Butler, Kyle Pawloski and Joanie Bowker (11:14.59).
“We had a fun time because everyone seemed to be encouraged by the good showing,” Wilson added. “Our dual meets had been hit-or-miss up to this point, but I think we now know that we’re a better team and we can be on target by the time the season’s championship meets roll around.”
Both Shrine teams stand at 3-3 in dual meets. The Knights travel to Ottawa Hills (Ohio) for the Green Bear Relays on May 4.
