The Warrenton track teams got a glimpse of different competition when they traveled down I-44 for the Lebanon Invitational Friday. The Warriors skipped another local meet for the chance to compete …
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The Warrenton track teams got a glimpse of different competition when they traveled down I-44 for the Lebanon Invitational Friday.
The Warriors skipped another local meet for the chance to compete against bigger programs from southwest Missouri.
“I liked seeing that competition, and the kids loved it too,” Warrenton girls Head Coach Steve Wurtzel said after his team’s seventh-place finish. “It was a bunch of kids they don’t normally see, and honestly, if we had gone to the Wright City Warmup or St. Dominic Invite with the times we had in Lebanon, we would have blasted a lot of the competition. I like that it gives our kids a chance to see what they can do early on, and that’s a big eye-opener for them. It pushes them and lets them know what they can do.”
The girls 1,600- and 3,200-meter relay teams finished third in their respective races, and both groups have Wurtzel looking ahead.
“Right now we’re still looking at state,” he said. “That’s probably the No. 1 conversation we’re having right now. We’re just trying to put the pieces together. We’re thinking about the 4X8 team, for example. We think we can shave some time off there, and the same goes for that core group in the 4X4. We’ve still got Morgan (Frye) we want to see there, and hopefully we can see Rylie (Cox) in there somewhere as well. I think those are the two big relays right there.”
The 1,600 team of Smith, Grace Bostick, Sabrina McRoberts and Lexi Frederick finished in 4:26.6.
Frederick, Smith, Frye and Emma Lewis finished the 3,200 relay in 10:57.18.
Lewis also ran in the 800 and 1,600, finishing 10th in both races.
“We’re also curious about Emma in the mile and the 800,” Wurtzel said. “The difference between our approach right now is we’re just trying to put the pieces together. Five weeks from now, we might be managing injuries and getting ready for the final push. But for now, we’re looking to piece everything together.”
The Warrenton boys team finished sixth overall.
The 800-relay team of Dylan Chandler, Dylan Smith, Nolan Chmiel and Jacob Parker won its race in 1:36.55.
Chmiel, Smith, Parker and Logan Dowd also finished third in the 400 relay (45.97).
Both teams will skip the annual Holt Pow Wow scheduled for Friday, and will head to the Washington Warmup Meet Tuesday before competing in the St. Dominic Crusader Invitational next Friday.
“We’re excited about going to Dominic because it’s a medal meet and we’ll get a good opportunity to see how we compete,” Wurtzel said. “But it still goes back to getting ready for state and seeing what we can do to keep pushing.”
