Not unlike his team’s cross-county rival, Warrenton girls track Head Coach Steve Wurtzel is hoping for health as the Warriors make the final push to the postseason.

Warrenton pieced together a lineup and finished second at last week’s Wright City Wildcat Invitational.

“We missed (Morgan) Frye and (Brooke) Smith with injuries,” Wurtzel said. “Abbi Ebersohl suffered a calf injury at the end of the meet, too.”

Warrenton tallied 107.8 on the afternoon, ahead of third-place finisher and GAC North rival Orchard Farm (91.5).

“We outscored Orchard Farm, which was the biggest thing for us because we’re still worrying about how things translate to the conference meet,” Wurtzel added. “It was a good team effort, and I think that was the biggest thing for us. We had kids do things they wouldn’t normally due based on injuries, so it was nice to see everyone help out.”

Kayla Nelson hit a personal-best in the discus, finishing third with a toss of 95 feet, 2 3/4 inches.

“I’m really hoping to see Kayla push that 100-foot mark this year, which isn’t something I thought I’d say two years ago,” Wurtzel admitted. “I think (Breanna) Wielms can push it to 100 as well.”

Wielms finished seventh overall (90-5).

Nelson capped off her day with a win in the shot put, posting a distance of 36 1/2 and beating the closest competitor by nearly four feet.

Freshman Emma Lewis ran the fastest 1,600-meter race of her high school career and won with a time of 6 minutes, 6.87 seconds.

“Emma’s time in the mile just keeps dropping, and the nice thing with her is that she had the competition,” Wurtzel said. “And I’ve noticed that when she has the people to run with, she has the motivation. The mile has really become her race more than the 800, I think, because she’s in the 4X8, too. She ran a really smart race, and did exactly what we wanted her to do there.”

Another freshman, Grace Bostic, continued to impress in the hurdles.

She won the 300 hurdles in 51.51 and was second in the 100 hurdles in 18.06.

“She had two solid performances in the hurdles,” Wurtzel said. “She lost it right at the end because I think she looked over and got distracted. So as a freshman, I think she just needs to train herself to stay focused on what’s right ahead of her, and not about the people next to her. But she was solid despite the wind. I certainly wasn’t expecting any PRs in the sprint events.”

Sophomore Lexi Frederick set a personal-best in the triple jump after hitting 32-6 and finishing second in the event.

She also helped out in the 800 (third overall in 2:37.52) and  the 1,600 relay (second in 4:33.02).

“Lexi had a decent showing in the open 800,” Wurtzel said. “That was pretty similar to her 4X8 time, so that was good to see. It was just a great team effort Thursday.”

Bowling Green won the meet with 152 points.

“I’m still trying to figure out where Bowling Green came from, but I heard they took out the middle school meet, too,” Wurtzel said. “So they have some good things going on there.”

The Warriors return to the track Friday at Fort Zumwalt North.

“Getting healthy is the biggest thing for us right now,” he said. “Things are coming up quick.”