Underneath a clear sky and beautiful spring weather the Bruce Henderson Invitational was an astounding success for the Atlantic Trojan Tack and Field team. A packed full stadium was treated to tight races and numerous personal and school records, and the honoring of the Atlantic seniors on what was their last home meet. In addition to the success of the the meet itself, the Trojans performed exceptionally well. While the Girls finished in second, the Boys won the meet outright in an impressive display.

The boys had a night to remember. In addition to winning three events, the Trojans had six other top three finishes and six other top 5 finishes. There were also 36 individual personal records broken. These included Ethan McNeal’s second place finish in the 400m,  Gavin McLaren’s second place effort in the shot put, and Mason Betts 4:52.97 time in the 1600m, just to name a few. Another PR that was broken was Xavier Darrow’s 160-02 Discuss throw that earned first. Darrow spoke of a shared feeling about how being at home boosted his resolve.

One of the most exciting parts of the night came near the end in the boys 4x100m relay when Zander Killion , Jarrett Hansen, Tye Houser and Ethan McNeal broke the previous school record set last year. In and impressive 43.64 the Trojans won with ease as Hansen shared what it meant to break a record he was a part of last season.

On the girls side, the Trojans were nearly as impressive. Atlantic finished with three event wins, along with three other top three finishes, 3 top five finishes and 14 broken personal records on their way to a strong second place finish. Gianna Mixon and Claire Comes broke multiple PR’s. Anoter athlete who had a great was Lila Wiederstein. In addition to winning the long jump, she also broke a pr in her hotly contested win in the 200m dash as she shared her thoughts on her performance.

Senior Morgan Botos also had a strong showing particularly as a part of Atlantic’s 4x200m team that finished second. She shares a feeling repeated amongst both the boys and the girls of added confidence heading into important meets in the days and Weeks to come.

In addition to the success of the upperclassmen head coach Matt Mullenix liked how some of his younger athletes responded.

With conference district and state meets fast approaching, Mullenix said that some ideas had ben strengthend but that their is still room for improvement.

Both the Boys and the Girls teams will be back in action on Thursday at Creston as a part of the Hawkeye Ten Track and Field Championships.