It’s late spring, and the season’s finish line is in sight, but the Norwood track team is not slowing down. The Mavericks high school squad performed well in Montrose on Friday, and the middle school team took over the podium in Gunnison on Thursday.
There were only five high school boys at the Montrose meet, but they still managed to snare a seventh place overall.
In the 110-meter hurdles, Billy Fourney took fifth place with a time of 17.02 seconds. He also tied for third (although a coin toss relegated him to fourth) in thw 100-meter dash, with a time of 11.64 seconds. That time was almost fast enough to pre-qualify him for state competition.
He also narrowly missed, by just hundredths of a second, pre-qualifying for the 300-meter hurdles. Fourney completed that event in 41.89 seconds, a personal best that earned him a second place finish.
Gabe Torres also recorded a personal best time in both the 1600-meter run, and the 3200-meter run. In the 1600, which is roughly a mile, Torres finished eighth with five minutes, three seconds. In the 3200, roughly two miles, Torres sped to fifth place in just 10 minutes, 55 seconds.
“He’s starting to find his legs,” said Coach Jack Brier.
Stryker Lane ended up first in the discus event, hurling it 149 feet, one inch, his best throw this year according to Brier. He also took first in the shotput, which he hucked 51 feet, four inches. That throw was long enough to break the school record, previously held by his older brother, Tucker Lane.
Mollie Lane is aptly following in her older brothers’ footsteps. Lane, Norwood’s only female athlete in Montrose, came in first in the discus with a throw of 117 feet, seven inches. She also took fourth in the shotput, heaving it 32 feet, one inch.
“She’s just strong,” said Brier. “That was our lone girl, and she did well.”
Not to be outdone by their older counterparts, the middle school track and field stars had a terrific showing in Gunnison.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Morgan Hannigan took first place among the eighth grade boys. Lindsey Stindt placed first in the eighth-grade girls category, and Shelby Brier took fifth in the seventh-grade girls category.
Lindsey Stindt also managed a fourth place win in the 100-meter dash, and a third place finish in the long jump.
Stindt was also a part of the eighth-grade girls winning relay team. In the 4X100-meter relay, Stindt, Shania Snow, Amy Snyder and Shelby Brier came in third place out of about a dozen teams and recorded their best time of the year.
Brandon Kennedy raced to a second-place finish in the 200-meters, running against other eighth-grade boys.
In the 800-meter run, Ty Williams took second place among the eighth-grade boys, and Jeff Williams took second among the seventh-grade boys. Harlie Williams got second place running against the eighth-grade girls, and Tracee Campbell got third place for the seventh grade girls.
In the 400-meter dash, Jeff Williams earned second place among the seventh-grade boys and Shelby Brier took second among the seventh-grade girls. Brier had a personal-best finish in that event.
In the 1600-meter run, Ty Williams finished third.
Harlie Williams earned third place in the seventh-grade girls high jump, and was also a part of the winning relay team.
Williams, Amy Snyder, Shania Snow and Shelby Brier took first in the 800-meter medley relay. In this event, two runners hit the track for 100 meters, another runner speeds through 200 meters, and a last runner races 400 meters. Brier did the 400-meter segment for the relay team.
The eighth-grade boys also competed in the 800-meter medley relay, coming in fourth place. The team was comprised of Nick Rushing, Matthew Hannigan, Morgan Hannigan, and Brandon Kennedy, who ran the 400-meter stretch.
Brier was impressed with the results.
“They’re hard workers,” said Brier. “They have so much talent. They go up against a lot of these bigger schools and hold their own. Everybody knows where Norwood is after we compete.”