St. Croix Central track teams sweeps titles at Boyceville meet

• SCC handoff

Laura DeSmith completes the handoff to Hope Hoolihan during Central’s 800 meter relay exchange at the New Richmond quad meet last Tuesday.

Talk about it

Anyone curious to see what the St. Croix Central track teams could do when the Panthers fielded their strongest lineup got an eyeful at the Boyceville Invitational last Thursday.

Saying the Panthers rolled to championships in both halves of the meet would be an understatement. Central’s boys piled up 242.5 points. Spring Valley took second place in the eight-team meet, with a meager 99 points.

Central’s girls also had a substantial margin of victory. The Panthers won with 150.5 points, compared to 116 scored by second place Elmwood-Plum City.

“We expected the boys to do well, but this was a pretty good confidence builder for the girls,” said Central co-coach Amanda Webb.

The boys’ dominance was fueled by 10 first place finishes. Three of those were supplied by senior Steve Brunshidle in the middle distances. The coaches wanted to give him the biggest possible workload, having him run the 400, 800 and 1600. He proved he could handle that load with no trouble. Carl Moll ran well too, taking second in the 800 and 1600.

Senior Korey Jacobson has been working back to full health. His times in the 100 and 200 dashes showed he’s healthy again, winning both events with outstanding times.

Junior Jag Johnson presents a quandary for the SCC coaches. Co-coach Ben Lamb said that Johnson has such a broad array of talents, he could be used in any running or jumping event and be highly competitive. Johnson was the winner in three events on Thursday. He took the top spot in the 110 high hurdles, the high jump and the triple jump. He ranked second in the long jump. His triple jump of 41 feet, 2 inches came in his first try at the event this season.

The Panther girls didn’t earn as many event victories as the boys, but they showed strong balance. The girls earned points in every event in which they were entered.

The jumps remain a Panther stronghold. Jenna Ganther, Alyssa Melby and Laura DeSmith took the top three spots in the triple jump at Boyceville and DeSmith was the long jump winner.

The Panthers also showed high quality depth in the sprints. The Panthers were able to win the 400 meter relay. They also had four girls among the top six finishers in the 100 meters, led by Jessi Johnson’s second place finish. Johnson also placed second in the 100 hurdles.

Sophomore Kayla Pabst took second place in the shot put and discus throw at Boyceville. She ran up against one of the girls who will be her main competition at the Dunn-St. Croix Conference meet, Glenwood City’s Maddie Erickson.

New Richmond quad

The Panthers got into some heavy duty competition last Tuesday, running against three Middle Border Conference opponents in a quad meet at New Richmond. The Panthers were able to take third place in both halves of the meet.

Because they were going to compete again Thursday, the SCC coaches didn’t give the Panthers a large number of events to compete in Tuesday. Where the Panthers did compete, they had some stirring efforts.

The effort was led by Brunshidle, who was able to concentrate on the 1600 meters. He won the race, knocking 12 seconds off his previous best time by running a 4:34.17.

Central was able to record three more wins in the meet. Two of them came in the long jump. Jag Johnson won the boys’ half of the event with a 19-10 jump, while DeSmith earned the girls’ title with a 15-foot leap.

The fourth Central victory came in the 800 meter relay, where Central edged Osceola by a half-second.

The Panthers took second place in eight events.

Schedule

The Panthers resume their schedule by running in the Amery Invitational this Thursday. The Panthers compete in their final meet before the Dunn-St. Croix Conference meet next Tuesday when they host a six-team event. Boyceville, Ellsworth, Osceola, Baldwin-Woodville and Prescott will compete in the meet, which starts at 4 p.m.

The Dunn-St. Croix Conference meet is scheduled for Tuesday, May 15, at Boyceville High School, with a 3:30 p.m. start time.

Tags: sports, panthers, track, prep