The Wright City track team returned home from the EMO meet with three conference champions on Tuesday. Perhaps the most unsuspecting was freshman Jynna Fritz, who burst onto the scene with a first-place finish in the 800-meter. She clocked a personal best 2:40. “That was an awesome performance,” said Coach Sue Wright. “I’d seen some good things from her the past few weeks, and she looks really fluid and smooth. She took 10 seconds off her best time.” A pair of competitors from the boys team also won their respective events to be named first-team all-conference. Senior Nick Hanff landed the longest distance in the long jump with a 19’7.5”. “Nick is really a better triple jumper than long jumper so for him to win the long jump was a little surprising,” said Wright. “As a senior, he’s done a very nice job. He’s an integral part of the boys team.” Junior Ben Randolph also had a successful night, winning the 800-meter race with an exciting finish. “The open 800 was a great race between him and the Montgomery County kid,” said Wright. “He passed him on the straightaway, and that was his best time.” Randolph also anchored two relay teams that medaled. The 1600-meter relay team, consisting of Nick Mueller, Alvin Chenoweth, Westley Reckamp and Randolph, placed second. Randolph joined Jensen Elrod, Josiah Brown and Nick Mueller to also finish second in the 3200-meter relay. Other strong finishes for the Wildcats included two hurdle performances by Cody Morgan. He placed fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles with an 18.1 and took third in the 300-meter hurdles with a 45.4. “I can’t say enough about Cody in the hurdles,” said Wright. “He’s worked really hard.” Additionally, in the running events, Wright City finished fifth in the 800-meter relay with the team of Lamone Davis, Carlos Lopez, Nick Hanff and Westley Reckamp. Representing the distance crew was Brenden Geier, who placed sixth in the mile with a time of 5:24. In the throwing events, P.J. Gerdeman heaved the discus 108 feet, 7 inches to place fourth, while Sergio Ortego took sixth by clearing 102 feet, five inches. “Our throwers really do a nice job for us,” said Wright. “To have them both medal was really exciting with them being seniors.” For the girls team, Fritz also helped several relay crews to strong finishes. The 3200-meter team, consisting of Kaitlin Karney, Courtney Lawson, Kaylanna Mendenhall and Fritz, placed fifth with a 12:07. Fritz, along with Karlee Pelton, Abbie Ogborn and Emily Janowski, helped the 800-meter relay to a sixth-place finish in 1:59. Junior Brittney McPike also celebrated a successful night, being recognized as EMO thrower of the year. She finished second in the discus with a toss of 92 feet, 5 inches and recorded a new personal record of 31 feet, 1.5 inches in the shot put for fifth place. “She has improved every time she’s thrown,” said Wright. “She really hard on the discus, but she’s come a long way on the shot put.” Karney also earned second-team all-conference recognition, running a 13:46 in the two-mile run. She placed sixth in the mile with a 6:31. The Wildcats finished fifth overall as a team out of 11 schools. “It was a great night,” said Wright. “We had some personal bests, and the kids ran well.”