Malcolm hosts area teams at invite

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    The Malcolm girls won their home invitational April 7, edging Wilber-Clatonia by nine points.

    Led by several competitors who Head Coach Marty Hingst said were “very focused,” the Milford Eages set several individual personal bests at the Malcolm Invitational and went home with the runner-up boys’ team trophy and finished third in the girls’ race. The Clipper boys finished in fifth place

    Both Centennial teams finished sixth in the standings.

    “Despite the light drizzle and cold temps, Centennial has some good performances at the Malcolm Invite,” CHS Coach Rob Johansen said.

    Despite windy, cool conditions that hampered many of the events, Taylor Schildt was able to record two personal bests at the meet, winning the discus with a toss of 140-3, and the shot with a put of 45-2.

    Other double-winners for Milford were Ty Masco, who easily swept the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races, and Drake Burton, who won the long jump and pole vault competitions.

    Centennial’s Stephen Yamber set a season best in the triple jump at 42-4.75, which won the event. Johansen said Yamber has been battling shin splints, so he was limited to two jumps.

    In the boys’ hurdle competitions, Milford’s Alex Delgado won gold in the 300- meter hurdles and silver in the 100-meter hurdles, and teammate Zach Danekas cleared 5-8 with the fewest misses to win the high jump competition.

    Others Eagles earning team points were Cole Hartgerink, third in the pole vault; Jake Schweitzer, who placed sixth in the shotput; and the 4x800 meter relay team of Jacob Bitterman, Danekas, Trenton Gabehart and Hunter Jensen, which placed fifth.

    Although the only event the boys’ team won was the 4x800 relay, it still had three individuals win four medals each and one who won three medals. Head Coach Jack Tarr noted that the boys’ team was missing several key competitors due to injury or other commitments, so they did not score in some events that they usually did.

    Yamber also set a personal best in the long jump at 19-10.5 to finish fourth. Fellow Bronco Caden Eberspacher jumped 20-0.5 to earn second.

    “Caden sometimes struggles to hit the takeoff board, but today was right on the mark and had some really good landings,” Johansen said.

    Trevor Epke of Centennial earned his first solo medal of the year with a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash.

Girls’ results

    Amanda Engelbart, Adrianna Sims and Courtney Sandell were each multiple gold medal winners for the Malcolm girls, who had five win four medals each and one win three medals.

    Sims was the triple winner, taking top honors in the triple jump (34-5.5), 100-meter dash (13.6) and 4x100-meter relay (53.8)- and two double-gold winners, with Engelbart winnng the 1,600- (6:07.10) and 3,200-meter (13:17.80) runs, and Sandell, winning the pole vault (8-6)and teaming with Sims, Sarah Behlen and Kylie DeBaets on the winning 4x100 relay team

    Fueled by a gold medal in the girls’ high jump and silver medals in the long jump, discus and 100-meter dash, the Milford girls’ track team scored 69 points.

    Hingst said Maddie Reed performed well in clearing 5-0 to win the gold medal in the high jump against some pretty tough competition.

    “She showed some mental toughness on a day where the weather conditions weren’t that great,” he said.

    Winning silver medals for the Eagles were Hayley Bogue in the long jump and 100-meter dash, and Emily Burton in the discus. Bogue also placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and ran a leg on the 400-meter relay, which earned bronze.

    Hingst said Bogue has been “having a really nice year” in track this spring, placing in several meets.

    Other Eagles scoring points included Tyra Aschoff, who placed third in the triple jump and fifth in the 200-meter dash; Paytra TeBrink, who placed fifth in the triple jump and tied for fifth in the pole vault; Jensyn Meyer, fourth in the 800-meter run; Alex Kenney, fourth in the 1,600-meter run; Joey Freeman, sixth place in the 400; and Bailey Sweeney, who tied for sixth in the 300 hurdles.

    The final Milford girls team points came from the 4x100 meter relay team of Aschoff, Bogue, Raeleigh Pracheil and Paris TeBrink, which placed third; and the 4x800 meter relay team of Kenney, Savannah Bontrager, Morgan Baack and Meyer, which also placed third.

    For Centennial, Caroline Hahn led the way with a second-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 31-0.5. Cacey Vavra returned to action after missing two meets because of illness. She finished third in the high jump at 4-8. Teammate Hannah Tomes earned third in the pole vault, clearing 8-0.

    “Some of the field events struggled with the poor weather conditions,” Johansen said. “Pole vault and high jump marks were down for most kids. Getting that good foot planted for take-off can be a little iffy on wet days, so I’m sure some were reluctant to press too hard.”

    The Milford track teams were to host their own invitational April 14, at which Centennial was scheduled to compete.

    Malcolm was slated to compete at Yutan April 14.