Senior jumper Braydan Chmiel helped lead the Warrenton boys track team at Saturday’s Wentzville Holt Invitational, tying a personal best en route to winning the high jump.

Chmiel posted a final height of 5-foot-11, beating East St. Louis’ Edgar Jones on the final jump.

Chmiel was the only Warrenton athlete to win an event Saturday, and the Warriors finished ninth overall with 37 points.

Columbia Rockbridge won the boys event with 147 points.

“I was expecting some tough competition,” Chmiel said. “So it was definitely nice to get first.”

Last year at this time, Chmiel was clearing between 5-4 and 5-6 on a regular basis.

But after deciding to focus on his form this season, he is seeing the results.

“It felt great to get that high this early in the season,” he said. “I feel a lot more comfortable with my form. I’ve been working on my speed on the curve, and that’s helped me out quite a bit.”

Chmiel said his first goal this season is to reach at least 6 feet, although 6-2 is in the back of his mind, as well.

“And I think that is possible,” he said. “As long as I keep working on my speed, have a nice day and get some good luck. I’m working out a bunch, so hopefully I can reach that.”

Warrenton Head Coach Steve McDowell said he wasn’t surprised by Chmiel’s impressive outing this early in the season, and he wasn’t discouraged by his team’s last-place finish, either.

“We knew it was going to be a tough competition going into it, and that’s what we wanted those kids to see,” McDowell said. “During the track season, we start to see the same teams, so it was nice for them to see some different teams, and some really good teams on top of that.”

Jacob Crump finished third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.47 seconds, which was the second-best individual finish on the Warrenton boys’ side.

He also ran a 17.57 in the 110 hurdles, good enough for a fifth-place finish.

“Crump had another outstanding performance in the 300 and 110 hurdles,” McDowell said.

Nathan Nordwald joined Chmiel and Crump in the top-five with a fifth-place finish in the 1,600, finishing in 4:57.26.

With programs like Cahokia, East St. Louis and Rock Bridge on hand, McDowell said he wasn’t looking too hard at the leaderboard, but rather his athletes’ individual performances.

“I tell these kids to go out and compete, no matter who you’re matched up against,” he said. “And some of our kids responded well to that. All in all, I thought it was a good performance by our kids all day.”

The Warriors will look to defend their Crusader Invitational title Friday afternoon at St. Dominic.

“Friday is going to be a nice meet for us,” McDowell said. “We pulled out a close win in that event last year, and we look forward to some good things this week.”