St. Louis High School girls’ track team went to Whitmore Lake Friday, April 9 and they ended up beating the other eight teams there with 134 points. Second place was Whitmore Lake, the hosts, with 82 points. The Sharks placed first in multiple events, with Covid procedures nevertheless.

Mikenna Borie, Jaiden Dickman, Sela Delgado, and Mikaila Borie all placed first in the 4 x 1600. Natalee Hoyt, Monika Borie, Payton Kuhn, and Chloe O’Boyle took first together in Sprint Medly. For Distance Medly, Dickman, O’Boyle, Mikenna Borie, and Libby Munderloh all placed first. Delgado, Munderloh, Dickman, and Mikenna Borie placed first in 4 x 800. For the 4 x 100 the Freshmen-sophomore team of Hoyt, Monika Borie, Kiersten Wenzlick, and Lillie Shattuck took first. In the Freshmen-sophomore 4 x 400, Hoyt, Kuhn, Dickman, and Monika Borie also placed first. In the Junior-senior 4 x 400 ,Mikaila and Mikenna Borie, Munderloh, and O’Boyle placed first as well. Then in shotput, Brooke Campbell, Kylie Acker, and Caytlynn Downs also placed first.

The Sharks did exceptionally well considering they were not able to play with the first lockdown last season. Most of the team hadn’t ran track in two years, and for most sophomores, this feels like their freshman year. Many freshmen are also adapting to the changes of this year from Covid-19. Monika Borie said, “With Covid, everything seems strange. All these new restrictions make track season more difficult. I have been contact traced before, and it was very frustrating; I couldn’t imagine how frustrating it would be to be quarantined during my track season.”

Coach Tomanek shared his thoughts on new Covid restrictions as well. “As for Covid and its effects on practice, there is little that it changes in that aspect.  Obviously, we have to wear masks when not actively training so that is a hassle and one of those things that coaches have to remind people of.  Also, you try to avoid too much crowding around one another so team huddles are less often and shorter if they take place.  Where Covid is a big change, problem or factor, is preparing a lineup for a meet.  As a coaching staff, we can design a lineup that looks great on paper and a week or so before the meet, but then the new testing takes place and wipes out four or five of your athletes from your lineup.  Then you are left scrambling to shift things around to fill a roster and be competitive.  The first wave of new testing hit us pretty hard, but the girls stepped up and did more events and events outside their comfort zone in order to make it possible for us to come away Friday with the championship.”