BY TRAVIS DAVID
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The North Knox boys and girls track and field teams competed in the Blue Chip Conference meet on Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, field events took place at Northeast Dubois, while the meet concluded on Tuesday with the running events on the Warriors’ home track.
Both North Knox teams ended up placing fourth in the field of nine teams.
South Knox dominated the boys meet by racking up 222 total points, winning by 97 points over Northeast Dubois. Barr-Reeve was third with 106 while the Warriors tallied 56.
In the girls meet, Barr-Reeve netted 157.83 points which was 10 clear of South Knox. The Lady Warriors totaled 83.50 points — just four points short of NED for third place.
For the Warrior boys, RJ Kaetzel paced the team with a third-place finish in the 200 meters and was fifth in the 100. Kaetzel posted a time of 24.11 in the 200 and ran 11.98 in the 100.
Logan Furman also had a successful meet. The sophomore set a personal record on the way to a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.96. Furman also placed fifth in the 110 hurdles with a time of 19.89.
Carlton Armes placed fourth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet and placed seventh in the two-mile race with a time of 12:39.69.
Austin Jones was another Warrior who set a personal record on Tuesday. The senior posted a time of 2:18.42 in the 800, which was good enough for 6th.
Warriors’ head coach Dylan Hagemeier mentioned the meet went about as he expected.
“The fourth-place finish is right on par with my predicted ceiling for this roster at the beginning of the season,” the coach said. “I am just so grateful for all my athletes for stepping up to the challenge that is the Blue Chip Conference meet and welcoming the adversity with open arms.”
Despite finishing where he had predicted heading into the season, Hagemeier mentioned his team still showed vast improvement throughout the year.
“I am just so awfully proud of all the improvement I have seen from these kids throughout the season,” he said. “This is all coming at the right time, as we look to be the most in shape and competitive for the postseason coming up.”
In the girls meet, Briley Utt finished as the lone conference champion for the Warriors. The senior won Monday’s shot put even with a top throw of 34-07.
Olivia Knabel, who has been battling an upper leg injury the last couple of weeks, narrowly missed out on a blue ribbon in the 400. The freshman posted a time of 103.86 which was just seven-tenths-of-a-second behind Elle Knepp of Barr-Reeve. Knepp finished as the high-point winner of the meet, by winning all four o f her individual events.
Knabel also placed eighth in the long jump with a leap of 14-06.
Hayden Coats placed second in the high jump by clearing 4-10. Defending state champion Josie Page of Wood Memorial easily won the event with a jump of 5-07.5.
Coats also placed fourth in the 100 and sixth in the 200. The sophomore crossed the finish line in the 100 in a time of 13.84 and 28.61 in the 200.
Rorri Bottum also picked up a pair of Top-5 finishes during the meet. The Warriors’ top distance runner placed fourth in the 3,200 with a time of 14:13.58 while placing fifth in the mile with a time of 6:20.56.
Both Warrior teams will compete in the sectional next week at Princeton Community. The girls sectional will commence on Tuesday, while the boys postseason gets underway on Thursday, May 16.
