Saint girls second, Osage fourth at Hampton

By Kristi Nixon

HAMPTON — St. Ansgar girls track and field took second in the team race against mostly bigger schools at the Lady Bulldog Invite on Thursday, April 6.

Coach Phil Baldus’ Saints finished behind only Clear Lake, 133.5-86.5. Osage was fourth with 80, only one point behind Humboldt.

“Never quite sure what to think about competing against the larger teams anymore,” Baldus said. “My guess is that they offer so many programs in the spring (track, golf, soccer, tennis) that their kids get spread out too far, and some of their best athletes are doing other things. Still, it is nice to battle against them and do relatively well.”

Neither team earned an individual or relay title at the meet, but had enough runner-up and top-three finishes to accumulate enough points for the team results.

The Saints were runners-up in the distance medley, sprint medley, shuttle hurdle and 4×200 relays, and Madison Hillman took third in the shot put for top point-getters.

“Our field events people didn’t have quite the night as the week before,” Baldus said. “Part of that is, once again, the bigger schools, but we just didn’t perform quite as well. Just need to work on being more consistent each night out. It’s still early.”

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Osage gained top-three finishes from Jacey Johnston in the 100 (third), 200 (second) and 400 (second), and she anchored the runner-up 4×400 relay that also included Gabi Reinardy, Katelyn Johnston and Scarlett Byrnes in 4 minutes, 31.04, three seconds behind Clear Lake in the event.

“We had a few girls run season best times and our throwers had 3 PR’s in the discus,” Osage coach Adam Brinkman said. “Due to some injuries, illnesses, and other prior obligations, we were missing a few girls in the lineup, causing others to fill gaps in our typical lineup.”