The St. Louis track and field teams competed at the Doug Steward Invitational Thursday, April 14. The Sharks went up against 14 teams and the girls’ team were the champions of the meet while the boys took third place.

This meet was a chance to premiere the Sharks’ talent that they have been working on the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the weather became a huge disadvantage to all teams- as it was around 31 degrees with 25-30 miles per hour wind gusts until the very last event of the day.

The goal of the meet shifted and the Sharks were to solely focus on competing against the athletes next to them and not worry much about an exact time or individual performances as the wind limited that.

Yet both teams started strong as the boys 4×800 relay team of Aaron Bowerman, Craig Bebow, Ben March, and Nate March took first. The girls 4×800 team consisting of Jaiden Dickman, Payton Kuhn, Mikenna Borie, and Libby Munderloh also took first place.

Adding to the girls’ side, Dickman took first in the 800-meter race. Mikenna Borie also placed in the 3200-meter race. The 4×200 and 4×100 relay teams consisting of Monika Borie, Adry Munoz, Natalee Hoyt, Libby Munderloh, Lillie Shattuck, and Maude Zolue were also medalists on the night. 

Adry Munoz took home a medal in the 200-meter dash and Maude Zolue took home a medal in the 100. Other sprint medalists include Munderloh in the 400-meter race and Monika Borie in 300-meter hurdles.

Kaya Munoz stated, “I’m glad that we won the meet overall but the weather was awful. I felt like I didn’t do that good because the wind was really pushing me on the last stretch of all the races I was in.”

The boys had some pretty good performances, and Ignatious Jackson had a great race as he took first place overall in the 100-meter dash. This was Jacksons’ first meet all season as he just returned from injury. Nate March took second place in the 800-meter race and third in the 1600-meter race. Ben March and Bowerman were also medalists in the 1600 and went 1, 2 in the 3200-meter race. 

Conner Daniels stated, “The meet probably had the worst weather of any track meet I’ve been to. It was freezing cold and although it was hard for everyone to compete, I thought it was especially hard for hurdlers because when we jumped over the hurdle we just kept getting pushed back further.”

On the field events side, there were some notable performances all around. Korah Honig took second place in shot put and first place in Discus! Natalee Hoyt was second in pole vault and Maude Zolue was second in the long jump. Some other medalists were Ben Dousuah and Brook Campbell in Shot put. 

The meet ended with a bang for the girls’ team as the 4×400 relay team of Monika Borie, Adry Munoz, Dickman, and Munderloh took home the first place spot for the last race of the day. The Sharks next compete Wednesday, April 20, at home against Valley Lutheran and Bullock Creek.