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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic track teams hosted the Cedar Catholic Invitational April 1 and the Trojans finished the day second in the team standings and the Lady Trojans came in fourth.
Battle Creek won both of the team titles with the Braves turning away Cedar Catholic 174-82 and the Bravettes outscoring Bloomfield, 163-72.
Hartington-Newcastle was third in boys’ team standings while Tri County Northeast was third on the girls’ side.
Madison Eickhoff and Lauren Bernecker had very successful outings on the track.
Bernecker won the 400 with a time of 1:3.95-seconds and Eickhoff won the 800 with a time of 2: 45.44.
The Lady Trojans also earned a couple of firsts in the relays.
The 1,600 relay team of Brynn Bernecker, Lauren Bernecker, Eickhoff and Kally Becker did four laps around the oval in 4:36.66 for gold while the 3,200 squad of Kally Becker, Eickhoff, Claire Rolfes and Brynn Bernecker did eight laps in 10:58.54 to win that event.
Eickhoff also placed third in the high jump with teammate Isabel Rolfes placing fifth.
Brynn Bernecker added a third-place showing in the 200 to her day and Claire Rolfes was fifth in both 800 and 1,600-meter runs.
Kinleigh Kramer placed sixth in the pole vault. It was the Trojan relays, Keyton Arens, Kighter Wortmann and Braeden Reifenrath who paced their team.
The 3,200-meter relay team of Nolan Becker, Kighter Wortmann, Matthew Loecker and Hunter Kuchta won the race in 8:57.14 nearly a full minute in front of the runnerup.
The 1,600 squad of Becker, Cooper Hochstein, Loecker and Kuchta also won the shorter race in 3:45.97 and the Trojan 400-meter relay consisting of Booker Hochstein, Cooper Hochstein, Mason Baller and Reifenrath placed second.
Arens won the pole vault after clearing the bar at 11-feet even, Kighter Wortmann was second in the 800 and Reifenrath was third in 100 and fifth in the 200.
“I’ve gotten faster as I’ve gotten older,” said Reifenrath. “A lot of it is my weight training and some of it I think I’m just getting faster. I do like to run.”
Cedar track team is off to a fast start
Cooper Hochstein also brought home a bronze in the 400, Jared Rutar placed third in the shot and the discus while teammate Sam Wiebelhaus was fourth in the shot and fifth in the discus, Graham Potts hurled the discus far enough for sixth.
Micah Cattau was fourth behind Arens in the pole vault, Alex Elks was third behind Wortmann in the 800 and took sixth in 1,600 and Brayden Fischer placed fourth in the 800 to make it a Trojan 2-3-4 finish in that event.
Kuchta placed sixth in the 400 and Aaron Wortmann was sixth in the high jump.
The Trojans and Lady Trojans were scheduled to compete in the Hartington- Newcastle Invitational on April 8 before hosting the Trojan Invite on April 15.
