It was a successful night for both the boys and girls track teams of Atlantic on Monday night at the Bruce Henderson Invitational. The Atlantic Boys took first place with a score of 132, while the girls took second with a score of 104. For combined team scores, the Trojans took first place overall with a score of 236. Lila Wiederstein, Jayci Reed had great nights as well to help the girls finish 2nd. The boys were helped by a strong showing from Ethan McNeal and a phenomenal 4×400 relay race to cap off the night.
For the Trojan Boys, it was Ethan McNeal who really led the way in the individual events. He finished first in both the long jump and the 100m dash. His 10.80 100m dash was a season best and was big in the boys’ victory on Wednesday. The other first place individual finisher for Atlantic was Mason Betts who put together a great 1600m win with a time of 4:47.35. It was also a great night for the relay teams as well. The 4×110 Shuttle Hurdle team won by three seconds over Abe Lincoln with a run of 1:01.86. To finish off the night, it was pure domination at the 4x400m relay. Anchored by two freshmen, they won by a large margin of 7 seconds with a time of 3:37.42.
Following his season best performance, Ethan McNeal talks about what it meant to him to be improving at this point of the season:
Sophomore Landon Hagen was the first leg of a dominant 4×400 relay victory on Monday night:
With a win on senior night, Head Coach Abby Becker was proud of how everyone stepped up and was able to be successful on their home track:
On the Girls side, their second-place finish was helped in large part by the efforts of Lila Wiederstein and Jayci Reed. Lila Wiederstein took first in both the long jump and 100m dash with a time of 12.21. In the 110m hurdles, Jayci Reed took first with a 15.61. Reed and Wiederstein were the only individuals to place first in an event, but Braeleigh Hass finished in third in the 100m dash behind Wiederstein. Atlantic Girls’ other first place finish was in the 4x100m shuttle hurdle relay anchored by Jayci Reed. With an overall score of 104, it was a successful senior night at Atlantic High School for the girls.
Jayci Reed was great in both the 4x100m shuttle hurdle and the 110m Hurdles. She spoke after her win in the 110m about her confidence at this point in the season:
She was also glad about how she started this race:
Head Coach Matt Mullenix knows that this group is dialed in with the conference and state qualifying meets just around the corner:
The Trojans will take their first and second place victories into the Hawkeye Ten Conference Championship meet that will take place at the GCSD Athletics Complex on Thursday, May 7th. State Qualifying Meets take place on May 14th.
