Back on the track

With the sound of a gunshot, spring sports officially got under way on Thursday afternoon.

The Washington girls? track and field team held its annual Demon Indoor Classic on Friday, at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, and overall, it was a success for the Demons.

?Overall I thought it was a pretty good meet,? Washington head coach Stefanie Tschantz said. ?It is very early, but it gave several kids a chance to run, and (a chance to) see where we are at this point. I think there is a lot of potential with several athletes, and I know times will really start dropping as the season goes along and we can get outside to run.?

Washington senior Macy Marek started her season off strong, taking the 60-meter dash crown in the meet with a time of 8.25 seconds in the preliminaries and an 8.23 second run in the finals to finish .18 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Clayton Ridge.

Sophomore Jessie Buchholz had a nice day in the 60-meter hurdles, qualifying for the finals, then finishing in ninth place overall, just .06 seconds away from the sixth-place finisher.

?(Buchholz) had a good run in the 60 Hurdles,? Tschantz said. ?She hit a few in the prelims but was still able to qualify for finals. She had a clean run in the finals and ended up ninth.?

In the field events, junior McKayla Miller advanced to the finals in the shot put, where she placed eighth with a throw of 33 feet - 1/2 inches.

That mark set a PR for the junior.

?(Miller) is a lot stronger this year,? Tschantz said. ?We have a few things to work on form wise, but she should be tough as the season goes along.?

In other running events, junior Kelly Wheeler had a team-best 30.91 in the 200-meter dash to finish in 17th, while senior Malary Horak finished with a 31.24 for 22nd.

In the 400-meter dash, Washington?s Mckenna Reighard led the team with a 14th place finish, posting a time of 1:12.55, followed by sophomore Victoria Barber?s 1:17.29.

In the 1500-meter run, Washington senior Stephanie Gutierrez finished in 6:24.50, good for 20th place, while junior Jasmine Mares ran a 6:44.29.

In the relays, Washington?s 4x400-meter team placed 13th, with a time of 5:05.60 and in the 4x800 meter relay, Washington took a 14th place finish with an 11:26.71.

In the distance medley, Washington?s team of Marek, Kelly Wheeler, Morgan Kimball and Emme Keith took seventh place with a time of 4:52.13, less than two seconds behind sixth-place Linn-Mar.

Behind Miller in the shot put, Makenna Goodwin took 15th place while Emma Stout finished in 19th place.

Makenzi Marek took 13th in the high jump, while junior Amber Salow finished in seventh place in the long jump.

The next scheduled meet for the girls is Saturday, March 21 at Central College in Pella.