BY TRAVIS DAVID
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The North Knox boys and girls track and field teams opened the season Tuesday night hosting a triangular meet against South Knox and Linton-Stockton.
The Spartans dominated the boys’ meet with 117 points, while the Warriors fell four points shy of Linton-Stockton for second place with 23 points.
South Knox also won the girls’ meet, slipping past the Miners, 68-63, with the Lady Warriors netting 32 points.
Pacing the Lady Warriors were Olivia Knabel and Hayden Coats.
Knabel earned a blue ribbon in the 400 meters, posting a winning time of 1 minute, 5.65 seconds.
Coats earned the only other first place ribbon on the night for North Knox by winning the high jump. Coats cleared 5 feet, winning by two inches. Teammate Jade Richter placed third in the event with a mark of 4-10.
Coats also placed fourth in the 100 with a time of 13.73.
Briley Utt earned points for the Warriors in a pair of individual events. Utt finished second in the shot put and third in the discus. Utt’s best toss in the shot went for 34-02, while heaving the discus 83-02. Lesli Kaetzel also scored for the Warriors in the discus, coming up one inch shy of Utt’s mark.
Rorri Bottum placed in two events during the meet. Bottom came away with a pair of 3-place finishes in the middle-distance events. She posted a time of 3:02 in the 800 and 6:37 in the 1,600.
In the boys meet, RJ Kaetzel and Carlton Armes led the Warriors.
Kaetzel placed second in sprint events with a time of 11.88 in the 100 and 24.35 in the 200.
Armes earned a pair of third-place ribbons and placed fourth in a third event. The sophomore cleared 8-0 to tie for third in the pole vault and posted a time of 12:24 in his third-place effort in the two-mile run. In the 1,600, Armes recorded a personal-best time of 5:37 which was good for fourth place.
Another Warrior to post a personal best was newcomer Austin Jones. The senior, who had not participated in track since middle school, crossed the finish line in the 800 with a time of 2:24.12. Earlier in the meet, Jones ran a 2:14 split during his leg of the Warriors’ 3,200-relay team, who placed third.
Dreyton Phillips also ran a personal best of 59.13 to place third in the 400, while Logan Fourman was third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.57.
Despite less than ideal conditions, North Knox boys coach Dylan Hagemeier liked what he saw from his team on Tuesday.
“Overall, I was very pleased with the way we competed,” the Warriors’ coach said of the opening meet. “Especially with the adverse weather conditions at the end of the meet. We had a 45-minute delay and the final events finished in a steady rain, nearing a downpour at times. But the kids never showed an ounce of quit. They fought hard through all the wind and rain and still posted some impressive times.”
Both North Knox teams will prepare for the annual Warrior Invite on Friday.
