RED Ribbon Invitational (4-26-2019)

This past Friday, our top Varsity and Frosh-Soph teams competed in the Red Ribbon Invitational at Waubonsie Valley High School. The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, but due to some great planning on Waubonsie Valley's part, the meet was able to be moved up one day, avoiding the cold, rain and snow that would occur on Saturday. The Frosh-Soph team took 2nd place, only half of a point out of first behind Metea Valley, showing that our Frosh-Soph team is making great progress just before the conference meet. Our Varsity team, still not at full strength, took 4th, only one point away from 3rd. Complete results from the meet are at the link below. 

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/371404/results

The meet began with a complete Neuqua Valley sweep of the top spots in the throwing events. Hunter Danton (So.) took 1st place in both the Frosh-Soph Shot Put and Discus with marks of 46' 8.25" and 143' 2" respectively. Both of these marks are personal bests for Hunter. Matt Appel (Jr.) would accomplish the same task at the Varsity level, winning both throwing events with marks of 55' 8" and 156' 0".  Matt's mark in the Shot Put is now just inches away from the school record and is another personal best. Adding to the point totals from the throws were Elijah Darden (So.), who placed 3rd in the Frosh-Soph Discus with a personal best throw of 120' 0" and Jake Dauod (So.) in the Frosh-Soph Shot Put, taking 5th with another personal best of 39' 5.25". Jacob Remack (Sr.) took 5th in the Varsity Shot Put with a throw of 46' 4".

In the jumping events, Jailen Poole (So.) took 2nd in the Frosh-Soph Long Jump with a leap of 18' 8", which is a personal best. Jailen took a break from the Pole Vault this meet, but our depth in the Pole Vault showed through when Goutham Baskaran (So.) and Jonathan Martinez (So.) took 4th and 6th respectively at the Frosh-Soph level with vaults of 9' 8" and 9' 2". In the Varsity Pole Vault, we had identical scoring as we did in the Frosh-Soph, with Alex Kiefer (Sr.) and Trevor Lambert (Sr.) taking 4th and 6th places with marks of 13' 2" and 12' 8". 

With the wind picking up, we started the events on the track and Vasant Fong (So.), Daniel Gutierrez (So.), Luke Suman (So.) and Luke Mennecke (So.) turned in nearly identical 2:11 splits in the Frosh-Soph 4 x 800 m relay to take 2nd in a time of 8:47.01. The Varsity 4 x 800 m relay would face some stiff competition but Chris Keeley (Sr.), Michael Madiol (Sr.), Spencer Teske (Sr.) and Jack Orengo (Sr.) charged through to a time of 8:16.72, good enough for 3rd place and a season best. Vasant Fong would return about an hour later in the Frosh-Soph open 800 m to take 3rd in 2:10.14, a personal best. Michael Madiol would do the same at the Varsity level to take 4th in the open 800 m in 2:01.93, bettering his split in the relay. 

The Varsity 4 x 100 m relay of Max Rivera (So.), Patrick Hoffmann (Jr.), Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.) and Christian Allen (So.) ran a season best 44.18 to take 6th against some tough teams. The same team returned in the 4 x 200 m relay with Max Rivera replaced by Michael Grawe (Sr.) and again took 6th in 1:33.27. Max Rivera also placed 6th in the 100 m dash with a time of 11.64. In the Frosh-Soph 110 m High Hurdles, Enoch Kim (So.) continues to improve and took 5th in 17.88.

In the Frosh-Soph 3200 m, Aidan Stone (So.) ran 10:16.26 to capture both 2nd place and a personal best. Nicholas Drechsler (Sr.) would also achieve an outdoor personal best in the Varsity 3200m, running 10:01.48 and taking 6th place. 

As the night drew to a close, we were tired and cold, but despite this fact, our last relays of the night came through with some aggressive racing. Our Frosh-Soph 4 x 400 m relay team of  Ethan Briones (So.), Ethan Thomas (So.), Brandon Do (So.) and Max Mitchell (Fr.) ran 3:48.01 to take 3rd place. For Ethan Thomas, this would be his second 400 m of the night as he took 3rd place in the open 400 m with a time of 54.59. The Varsity 4 x 400 m relay team of Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.), Nicolas Dovalovsky (So.), EJ Oketona (So.) and Patrick Hoffman (Jr.) ran 3:31.32, a season best time, taking 3rd place. 

We have just under two weeks before the DVC Championship Meet and now is the time to really focus on doing everything possible to get ready for a peak performance at the end of the season. Sleep right, eat right and train right and big things can happen in the next few weeks. 

On that note, the Red Ribbon Invitational has always been the "Meet with a Message". The message being that of drinking and driving and the tragedies that our district has experienced as a result. As we move into next weekend and Senior Prom, we want all of our seniors to make positive decisions, not simply because it will help them perform at their best later, but so that we can see them safe and sound next Monday.