Rain threatened to cancel the Ron Maxson relays, but the Comets and their fans wouldn’t be denied a fun night of high school track and field.
It was a tough night on the track for the Comets, placing sixth in the six-school event. Lisbon dominated the field with a 188 team point performance — more than doubling Durant’s second place total of 86.
Tipton and West Branch tied for third with 78 team points while Wilton just beat out West Liberty with 67 team points, compared to the Comets’ 66.
There were still some noteworthy performances to be had for the home team.
The Comet hurdlers continue to dominate with junior Ryker Dengler who won the 400-meter hurdles in 57.90 seconds — 2.9 seconds faster the next-best competitor.
Senior Jayce McHugh scored a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (16.73 seconds), and the two teamed up to help the Comets win the shuttle hurdle relay (1:03.84).
Two other relays scored top spots during Thursday’s meet: the 4x200 relay team took first in 1:33.54 and the 4x100 relay crew placed second in 46.22 seconds.
Another second-place effort came in the high jump when freshman Miles McConnaha cleared the five-foot bar and tied for second place.
In the long jump, freshman Enrique Michel was able to snag fourth place with a leap of 16-11.00.
On the distance side, freshman Jonathan Juarez also got a fourth-place finish. He did so in the 3200-meter run in a hair under 12 minutes (11:59.66).
Sophomore sprinter Owen Daufeldt scored for the Comets in the 200-meter dash (24.33 seconds — fifth place) as well as the 100-meter dash (11.89 seconds — sixth place).
Finally, in the shot put, junior Bryson Garcia took eighth place with a throw of 38-04.00.
Girls go to Golden Hawk Invite
While the Mid-Prairie girls would not be denied a title on their senior night, the Comets performed well by taking fifth place at last Thursday’s Golden Hawk Invite.
The home team scored a whopping 207 points, dwarfing second-place Pekin’s 103 and third-place Fairfield’s 96.
While the Comets didn’t have any event winners, they got close in a couple areas.
In the long jump, freshman Sully Hall placed second with a jump of 16-03.75. This was over two and a half feet better than third place and less than a foot from first.
West Liberty had success in the hurdles, starting with the 4x100 team taking third in 1:14.96.
Freshman Liv Garcia placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:18.68) with sophomore Jayleen Kivi taking eighth (1:26.38) in the same event.
Senior Laney Esmoil came through in the 100-meter hurdles with a sixth-place effort in 18.37 seconds.
In addition to the hurdles, every single running relay team the Comets fielded on Thursday scored points. The distance medley was the best of the bunch, placing fourth in 5:08.50.
The 4x100 meter relay (56.50 seconds) and the 4x200 relay (2:02.60) both placed fifth. The sprint medley took seventh place (2:15.98) and the 4x400 took eighth place (5:06.71).
On the individual side, sophomore Mallory Wulf stood out in the field with a fifth-place throw in the discus (92-09).
Back on the track, Hall and sophomore Kiley Collins went back-to-back in the 100-meter dash in sixth and seventh place with times of 14.71 seconds and 14.79 seconds respectively.
Lastly, freshman Addison Guerra took seventh place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 6:09.87.