Washington girls take 3rd, boys 5th, at Fairfield meet

A strong night against conference competition couldn?t have come at a better time for the Washington track teams.

On Monday, both the Demon boys? and girls? track teams were in action at Fairfield, and came away with strong finishes that have them hoping for big things at Thursday?s conference meet in Keokuk.

On the girls? side of the meet, Washington scored 136 points to finish in third, behind Mt. Pleasant (157.5) and Fairfield (151).

?We definitely came home from the meet with more PRs and season-best times, and I am so proud of the effort the girls are showing,? Washington girls? track head coach Stefanie Tschantz said. ?It was a great team effort last night as we were able to score points in 16 different events.?

Mackenzie Knutson earned the lone individual meet title on the day for the Demons, winning the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 1:12.66, more than 2.5 seconds faster than the second-place competitor.

?Mackenzie Knutson had a great race in the 400-hurdles,? Tschantz said. ?She dropped her time almost a full second, and ran a very smooth race. You can tell she is getting more comfortable with that race, and she has potential to drop that time even further.?

The Demons also earned a set of meet titles from their relays, with Makenzi Marek, Jenah Greiner, Amber Salow and Kelly Wheeler combining for a 51.92 in the 4x100 and a 1:59.23 in the sprint medley relay, winning both events.

Isabel Bailey joined Salow, Greiner and Wheeler for the 4x200-meter title with a time of 1:51.40.

Wheeler took second in the 100-meter dash with a 12.95, .03 seconds off the lead, while Jessie Buchholz claimed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a 16.56, missing the meet title by .04 seconds.

Carolan Hoffman placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a 17.23.

In the field events, Marek took second in the high jump, eclipsing 4 feet ? 8 inches, while Greiner took third in the long jump with a jump of 14 feet- 10.5 inches.

Senior McKayla Miller took second in the shot put with a toss of 33 feet ? 2 inches.

On Thursday, Tschantz is hoping to see the team continue to improve, and if that happens, the results will speak for themselves.

?I think the meet on Thursday will be a very good meet,? Tschantz said. ?Any of the teams in the conference have a shot at the title. We haven?t won?t since 1979 and I know the girls are pretty determined right now.?

On the boys? side of the meet, the Demons took fifth, scoring 73 points on the day, led by its strong relays.

?I was really impressed with the relay times,? Washington boys? track head coach Steve Roth said. ?Kyle Schindler did an awesome job in the 4x100, there were some handoff problems, but that?s to be expected with no practice. Jack got us out really well and put us in a position to win.?

The Demons saw the team of Schindler, Jack Giardino, Bryce Rickey and Jose Tapia claim the meet title in the 4x100-meter relay, while Schindler, Rickey, Giardino and Ethan Hansen won the 4x200.

The Demons used a young team in the 4x400-meter relay, with the team of Ryan Loy, Mason Sinn, Kiowa Keith and David Mares claiming second.

?We had a problem in the (distance) medley, so I yanked a couple of them out so they were fresh. Ryan Loy ran a .54 split, and it comes down to confidence. He?s a big, strong kid and it?s about confidence. It was a group of young kids that we threw in at the very end, because they wanted to run. It was a nice way to end the night.?

Individually, Caleb Bex took third in the 110-meter hurdles, while the Demons had strong field events, with Colin Murphy taking fifth in the shot put (39 feet ? 10 inches) and Bryce Craff notching sixth in the long jump (17 feet ? 10 inches).

?(Bryce) had an outstanding jump, and Colin Murphy is right there, knocking on the door of 40-feet as a sophomore,? Roth said. ?Those were both PRs.?

When looking at Thursday?s conference meet, Roth has one goal in mind: set some personal bests.

?My expectations are for them to PR and post their best time, then leave it at that,? Roth said. ?If they do that, there should be some conference champs out there. If there isn?t, then at least they left it all out there.?

The conference meet in Keokuk will start at 5 p.m. on Thursday.