On Thursday, the Wildcats traveled northwest for two hours to compete in Norfolk. Millard West competed against seven other schools from around the state including Burke, Benson, Columbus, Grand Island, Norfolk, Millard North, Lincoln Northeast and one out-of-state team, Sioux Falls Jefferson. 

In their recent outing at Burke, both teams were looking very strong. The two teams finished in second place, and that meet would put an end to the girls’ undefeated season as they lost to Kearney by 21 points. Also, the boys lost to Creighton Prep by just nine points. 

After a week’s rest, both teams were ready to compete. Starting with the girls field events, once again senior Sadie Millard competed fiercely. Millard was just shy of a personal record in the long jump with a total distance of 18 feet and 1 inch. She beat the individual in second by a whole foot, which goes to show her dominance in the long jump this year. Another individual who has been placing highly is senior Layla Hopkins. Hopkins finished in third place out of 13 competitors in the high jump. Hopkins and Millard are known for gathering points in the jumps for the girls team. Moving onto the throws, junior Effie Goldiay had a very good outing, and she finished in third place in shot put. Goliday ended one place ahead of senior Aileen Amenyah, who normally finishes top for Millard West. In the discus Amenyah, senior Mallory Merrick and senior Naveh Offord finished fourth through sixth respectively.

On the boys’ side, senior Jessie Cauble continued to bring in points for both the high jump and long jump. He finished in third place in the high jump and second place in the long jump. He added 14 points to Millard West’s total score. Another jumper that racked in points was sophomore Dominic Calabretto. He finished in fifth place in the triple jump. The throwers had a different story; they had some trouble earning points this week. In previous meets junior Zach Cross is typically towards the top of the leaderboards, but this week he finished in tenth place with a distance of 42 feet in the shot put. 

After the field events concluded, the running events took place. Starting with distance, both the boys and girls 4×800 meter team received first place with not much effort.

“I think we can make multiple improvements to run a faster time,” junior Sean Murphy said. “I know our team can place high at state, so I think we need to pace ourselves better so we don’t go out too fast or too slow.” 

Adding onto the distance medals, senior Sydney Beaudin had an astonishing day. The Wildcats swept the mile, and they finished in first through third with Beaudin at the top of the podium followed by sophomore Briana Hernandez and senior Sammi Vojslavek. Beaudin also competed in the two-mile and once again finished at the top of the podium, and behind her was Hernandez in second place. 

“I had about an hour between the two-mile and mile, so I made sure to stretch and mentally prepare for my next race,” Beaudin said. “It was very rewarding to get first in both of my events since I have worked hard in the workouts and trained well with my teammates.”

In the 800 meters, junior Isabelle Hartnett was just shy of first place by less than a third of a second. Hartnett usually runs the mile and two-mile, so this was a different field for her, and she still finished relatively well.

Once again the boys distance crew had a top-notch outing. In the 1600 sophomore Jack Witte just barely snuck in first place by .03 of a second. Following shortly after him was senior Sam Kirchner and senior Cole Haith in third and fourth. The crew didn’t slow down in the two-mile either as they swept the competition with a first, second and third-place finish. Junior Piercze Marshall finished just ahead of Kirchner, and following after them was senior Christian Naujokaitis. In the 800, Witte was the first Wildcat this year to break the two-minute mark and with that achievement, he also snagged a third-place medal. 

Moving onto the sprinters, Millard took home another first-place medal. However this one was on the track, and she received the top placement in the 200-meter dash. Another outstanding performance was from Hopkins, who finished in third place overall in the 400 meters. Finishing right behind her was Hartnett. Hartnett normally races the long-distance events, so this was her first experience racing in that short of an event. 

The boy’s side had fewer medals but still competed very well. In the 110 meter hurdles, junior Grant Barret finished at the top of the race with a time of 15.33 seconds. Barret also ran the 300 meter hurdles, and he finished in second by just a tenth of a second. 

All in all both teams competed strongly. The girls team finished in first overall and the boys finished in second. With the championship season coming up, both teams want to place highly. 

“If we can score multiple guys in a few events, it really helps our chances in the championship meets,” boys coach Colin Johnston said. “We have competed well in most of our meets but championship season is a different animal.”

The Wildcats will battle at Metros next week.