It was only a warm-up meet, but there wasn’t a better way to start the season for the Wright City boys track team.

The Wildcats scored 148 points to top eight competitors Thursday afternoon, which included larger schools like Francis Howell and St. Francis Borgia.

Head Coach Sue Wright was happy with the first-place finish, but she was more pleased with her team’s individual results.

“At this time of the season, all I can ask is for you to get better times and better distances,” she said. “With the weather and it being so early, it’s hard to compare with other schools so far. I’m just really excited with the work ethic we have.”

The 3,200-meter relay showed coaches and fans why it could be the team’s best unit, winning its race in 9 minutes, 7.5 seconds.

Jacob Mueller and Stephon Norwood return to the event after helping win the Class 3, District 3 championship last spring.

Thursday the duo was joined by newcomers George Pezold and Gavin Waters.

“Our 4X8 is coming around,” Wright said. “Jake is the stronghold and Stephon is running well, too. Then we have the young guys, George and Gavin. I’m pretty impressed with that group, they look pretty good so far.”

Mueller and Norwood also ran in the 1,600-meter relay that finished third in 3:50.37.

Will Janowski and John Pezold rounded out the quartet.

“The Pezold twins, John and George, are good. George goes distance and John does a little more sprinting, but they can both run that middle distance,” Wright said. “And Will is at the point that he doesn’t really know what he’s good at, but he’s a good athlete. He played offense and defense in football, and he’s the type of kid that can fit in anywhere.”

Sean McDonald finished second in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

McDonald qualified for the sectional meet in both events last season.

“He’s coming along,” Wright said. “Let’s hope that his work ethic is strong because he knows what it’s all about and he knows what it takes to go far.”

Wright also used Thursday’s format to throw more runners into the mix.

She said she is excited about her team’s possibilities in relays this season, and hopes to finalize a lineup soon.

The team returns to the track Friday at St. Dominic.

“The good thing about our meet is that we can do two relays, and with the numbers we have, we can fill that so I did a lot of changing with the 4X4 boys because I could get eight kids’ times,” she said. “It’s a good group of kids, and they have talents that they don’t even know they have yet.”