WIC & FP Track teams begin spring competition

By Patrick Browne
April 25 marked both the West Iron Wykons’ and Forest Park Trojans’ first track meet of the season, when they lined up for the Florence Bobcat Invite.  In what has been a chilly spring, teams were prevented from practicing outdoors on numerous occasions heading into the competition, but both performed admirably for a first meet.
The women’s varsity team from West Iron ran away with first place, edging out Florence by nine points, while the Lady Trojans of Forest Park finished in fourth with 101 points — just four points behind second place.
While Florence won the overall competition for the men’s varsity, Forest Park finished only seven points behind the mark. West Iron had a number of impressive individual efforts and finished fifth overall.
On a cold windy day, the athletes pushed themselves to impressive finishes in many events. West Iron was led by standout athlete Danica Shamion, who took first place in the 100-meter, 200 meter, 400 meter and the high jump. Finishing first in four of the 17 track events, Shamion was clearly ready to run. In addition to finishing first in four events, she set school records in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Calli Pellizzer finished second in the high jump and third in the 400 meters for the Wykons, while Seanna Stine finished first in the 300-meter hurdles and second in the 100 meter hurdles. Rounding out the firsts for the Wykons was their 4-by-100 relay team (Ritchie, De Sousa, Stine and Prior) who ran an impressive 59.6.
On the Trojan side, the first-place finishes were elusive, but the team stayed in the mix by finishing second and third in many events.
Lauren Kudwa, regaled for her three-point shooting in basketball, showed she can also throw the shot put. She finished second with a throw of 28 feet 4.5 inches. Other individual standouts included Ava Fischer and Charlie Larson, who took second and third respectively in the high jump. Tatum Clark finished third in the 1600 meters.
The men from Forest Park ran a strong first meet, taking five first-place finishes: Grayson Sundell in the 100 meters; Gaven Rintala in 1600 and 3200 meters; Sam McKissack in the high jump; Felix Quevedo, Grayson Sundell, Samuel McKissack and Gaven Rintala in the 4-by-100 relay.
West Iron’s Tanner Nordstron, a freshmen, took first in the shot put with a throw of 37 feet 5 inches. Logan Bradshaw finished second in the 100 meters, while Elijah Oberlin finished second in the 800 meters and high jump. The team took second in the 4-by-200 relay with Logan Bradshaw, Christian Robles, Elijah Oberlin and Gatlin Gillaspie.
Kurt Anderson, head coach for the Lady Trojans, was excited to get the first meet in the books.
“The meet was pretty cold and far from ideal conditions, but both squads were excited and ready to go,” he said. “Both Lindsey [boys coach] and I were very pleased with how the kids performed. It makes us excited to keep working and see what we can do this year.”
West Iron’s men’s coach Jeff Taff, in his first year as head coach, was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We wanted to get out and see where we are starting,” he said. “Two of our 10 athletes were hurt, but the eight that participated did a great job. We have a strong group of athletes and because the team is almost entirely freshmen and sophomores, we have a bright future.”