By NATE BEIER | For the County Line
In just a week’s span, the weather seemed to have done a 180-degree turn, from piles of snow and ice to a shorts, sandals and sunscreen type of weather.
Royall’s track and field athletes took advantage of their first outdoor meet in almost two weeks and their first in comfortable conditions when they traveled to Black River Falls for the Hoffman invite.
The Royall girls team finished third among 10 participating schools after scoring 95 points. Westby won the meet with 137 points, and Black River Falls was second with 102.
The Lady Panthers had a fair share of success on the track, but scored the majority of their points in the field.
Freshman Jessica Brueggeman helped lead the charge by winning both the long and triple jumps. Brueggeman cleared a distance of 17-02.5 to win the long, and then finished with a distance of 36-02.5 in the triple.
Brueggeman wasn’t alone in finding success in jumps. Megan Retzlaff was second in the triple jump (33-01), and Abigail Crneckiy was third (31-08). Emma Gruen was fifth in the long jump.
Gruen was sixth in the high jump, while teammate Molly Crneckiy was sixth. Emily Trepes also added to the team score by finishing fifth in discus.
The girls picked up a pair of wins on the track, as the 1,600-meter relay team took first and Madeline Wainwright narrowly took first in the 400. The relay won with a time of 4:22.9. Wainwright held off Neillsville’s Olivia Hanson to take the 400 title with a time of 1:03.56, just three-hundredths ahead of the second-place finisher.
Brueggeman was third in the 200-meter dash. Also, Paige Britzman took fourth in the 800-meter run, and Abigail Crneckiy fifth in 100 final. The 400- and 800-meter relay teams were fifth.
Tenley Wopat was seventh in the 1,600-meter run, and Gruen also took seventh in 100-meter hurdle race.
The Royall boys finished by scoring 25 points, good enough for eighth place out of 10 teams. The defending Coulee Conference champions, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, won the meet with 182 points.
Royall’s relays had the most success on the afternoon, as the 400-meter relay took fourth, and the 800 meter was fifth. Keith Travis was eighth in the 200.
Ian Braund threw a 119-02 in to take second in the discus and was third in shot put with a put of 41-02.5. Nolan Knudtson was eighth in discus.
The Panthers will host the Gerard Brunner invite at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 26.