A marathon in itself, the nine-team track & field meet in Janesville on April 11 lasted over five hours in cold and wind, but the Mankato Loyola/Cleveland girls earned a respectable third place.
The Crusader boys team took seventh place.
In Lake Crystal four days later, the girls were fourth of six teams while the boys were third.
JWP meet
On the girls side, JWP won their event with 135 points. LCWM-Nicollet was second with 123.5, 21.5 more than the Crusaders had. MVL was fourth with 80 points. Maple River was fifth with 74.5 points. WEM was sixth with 64.5. Rounding out the field, St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran was seventh with 53 points, Mt. Lake Area/Comfrey was eighth with 41, and M/T/GHEC/ML was ninth with 20.
The Maple River boys were first with 136.5 points. MVL took second with 120. JWP was third with 93.5. LCWM-Nicollet was fourth with 79, Mt. Lake Area/Comfrey was fifth with 67, a dozen more points than the Crusader’s. WEM was sixth with 62, M/T/GHEC/ML was eighth with 49, and St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran was ninth with 36.
The Crusader girls were strong in the longer relays.
Ahead of the second-place team by almost 22 seconds, the quartet of team of Lily Phillips, Charlotte Meyer, Izzy Endres and Savannah Meyer finished the 4x800 in 10:54.38. In front of the second-place team by over 13 seconds with a time of 4:32.43, the team of Maddie Huiras, Savannah Meyer, Maddie Cooney and Ava Hahn won the 4x400.
Almost 25 seconds in front, Charlotte Meyer won told in the 1600 with a 5:41 PR finish. Crossing the finish stripe in 2:40.04, her sister Savannah won the 800.
With a 14.94 finish, Mylie Krenik was 12th in the 100. The winning time among the 32 runners was 13.46.
Just 0.52 seconds behind the winner, Hahn took silver in the 200 with a PR time of 28.15 seconds. With a 32.71 finish, Krenik was 16th in that race.
With a 208:85 finish, the quartet of Hahn, Krenik, Cooney and Gabby Bemmels was fifth in the 4x200. The winning time was 1:57.47.
Hahn’s leap of 4-6 was good for third sixth place in the high jump. The winner cleared 4-10.
Over 39 seconds out front of the second-place team, the boys 4x800 team of Nathan Strobel, Sam Vetter, Kyle Zimmerman and Soren Kelly finished in 8:59.95.
Completing the 1600 in 5:12.10, Strobel was third in the 1600. Kelly was third and Vetter was fourth. TJ Waldron finished in 5:15.07 for eighth place among the 24 runners. The best time was a blistering 4:43.79.
Waldron was 14th in the 400 with a 1:01.25 finish. He was a little over five seconds behind the winner.
Elijah Mons (no. 8 above) finished the 800 in 2:32.29 for 14th place among the 26 runners. The winning time was 2:05.23. Mons also competed in the triple jump. He covered 29-04.
LCWM meet
For the girls, Jackson County Central won the meet with 163 points. LCWM/Nicollet was second with 116.33 points. River Valley was third with 116 points, and the Crusaders totaled 75 points. GFW had 55.33 points, and M/T/GHEC/ML was sixth with 23.33 points.
For the boys, LCWM took first with 138 points. GFW was second with 117, 30 more than Loyola/Cleveland. JCC was fourth with 81.5, M/T/GHEC/ML was fifth with 68, and River Valley was sixth with 60.5 points.
With a 2:31.62 finish, Savannah Meyer was ahead of 22 other runners to win the 800. Less than a second behind the winner, Charlotte Meyer took second in the 1600 with a 5:45.19.
Trimming off just under six seconds from their last race, the 4x800 team of Phillips, Charlotte Meyer, Izzy Endres and Savannah Meyer won the 4x800 with a 10:48.43 finish, almost 27 seconds faster than the second-place team.
The 4x100 team of Hahn, Krenik, Cooney and Bemmels completed the 4x100 in 56.10 for third place of eight teams. The foursome of Huiras, Bemmels, Cooney and Savannah Meyer earned bronze in the 4x400 with a 4:40.60 finish.
Crossing the finish line in 13.77 seconds, Hahn came in fifth in the 100. The winning time was 12.79. Hahn was also third in the 200 with a 27.40. The winning time was 26.17. Crossing the finish line in 32.21 seconds, Mylie Krenik was 23rd in the 200.
Hahn cleared 4-3 for seventh place in the high jump. Six others also jumped 4-3. The winning leap was 4-11.
Huiras won the 300-m hurdles and took second in the 100-m hurdles.
In the boys meet, Mons was 13th in the 1600 with a 5:58.69. The best time was 4:54.20. Waldron was fourth in the 3200 with a 11:47.47. The best time, by Kelly, was 10:41.33.
Zimmerman, Kelly, Strobel and Vetter teamed up to win the 4x800 relay with an 8:48.08 finish. The 4x400 team of Triton Moore, Chase Kijenski, Strobel and Sam Vetter crossed the finish line in 3:54.50 for third place.
The Crusaders return to the track tomorrow (Monday) when they travel to Blooming Prairie.
Ava Hahn was second in the 200.
Mylie Krenik in the 200.