Demon boys open up track season

The Washington boys? track team got its season started on Friday afternoon at the Demon Indoor Invitational.

The Demons hosted the meet at Cornell College in Mount. Vernon, and senior Tommy Peterson picked up right where he left off last season.

Peterson placed third at the state meet in the shot put last season, and opened up the season with the second-best throw of his career, posting a throw of 52 feet - 9 inches.

?Tommy pretty much punched his ticket to the Drake Relays with the second-best throw of his career,? Washington head coach Steve Roth said. ?He put a lot of work in over the winter, so he?s ready to go.?

The throw won Peterson the shot put competition.

In the high jump, the Demons had a top 10 finish from Michael Ellingson, who finished in a tie for seventh place.

Ellingson?s highest jump was 5 feet - 9 inches.

In the running events, Washington senior Jacob Hennigan took fifth in the 60-meter hurdles, with a time of 8.67 seconds.

Freshman Ryan Reighard led the Demons in the 60-meter dash with a 7.74 second time, placing 21st.

In the 200-meter dash, Washington junior Bryce Rickey led the team with a 26.12 to take 24th place.

Washington sophomore Matt Reighard led the Demons with a  19th-place finish, posting a time of 59.01.

Senior Curtis Vest ran a 5:22.27 to take 17th in the 1600-meter run, followed by freshman Brennan Horak?s 5:46.22

Washington took 11th place in the 4x400-meter relay, and 12th in the 1600 sprint medley.

?We all competed well,? Roth said. ?I had a couple of freshmen run and I was really pleased with the way everyone competed. I liked the way they came up to me and told me about what they needed to do. We haven?t been outside yet, and haven?t even worked in the blocks until this meet.?

With the weather warming up and scheduled to be in the upper 50s and 60s this week, according to the National Weather Service, the Demons will be outside for practice, and there is one thing Roth is hoping to work on.

?Conditioning,? Roth said. ?We just have to get in shape. They?ve been hurting the last couple of days because a few of them haven?t been sprinting since football. Being in the gym, you can?t run long distances and you can?t stretch out. We?ll be outside all week.?