SPASH senior Rachel Sullivan clears the bar at the Point Invite Friday afternoon. (Metro Wire photo)

SPASH, Pacelli open girl’s track season

March 17, 2018March 18, 2018

By Robert Whitmire

The SPASH girls track team opened the indoor portion of their 2018 season on Friday, competing in the Point Invitational at held at UWSP.

The Panthers finished second in the 25 team field with 46.5 points. Kimberly took top honors scoring 77 points.

*Laura Mitch competed in the Long Jump for Pacelli at the 2018 Point Invite. (Metro Wire photo)*

Sophomore Madeline Hyland crossed the finish line with a winning time of 5:29.04 in the 1600m run. Grace Belson finished fifth at 5:33.49. Renee Hinchcliffe posted a 9.94 to take second in the 60m hurdles.

“Hyland took charge from the start and never looked back,” said Panther coach Nate Olson. “Renee had an okay prelim [sic], then turned it on to finish very strong in the finals. Lots of girls were competing in their first varsity meet and did an outstanding job. I can’t wait to see where they end up at the end of the year.”

The 4 x 400m relay (Hyland, Halle Gregorich, Taylor Konczal, Grace Belson) finished second with a time of 4:18.35.

Senior Rachel Sullivan cleared the high jump bar at 4’-1” to finish seventh in her first varsity competition.

“Today was our first meet of the year and I would say it was very successful. The atmosphere was awesome and everyone radiated such positive energy. Our team has a ton of potential and I can’t wait to see what the future brings,” said Sullivan.

Additional results include: 4 x 800m relay ( Taylor Konczal, Kathryn Meixner, Jayden Jones, McKenzie Fuehrer, 6th, 11:00.84); high jump (Rachel Sullivan, 7th, 4’-1”); triple jump (Korrine Truemann, 4th, 13’10.5”); 60m hurdles (Renee Hinchcliffe, 2nd, 9.94); 1600m run Madeline Hyland, 1st, 5:29.04; Grace Belson 5th, 5:33.49); 400m dash (Halle Gregorch, 5th, 1:02.97); 3200m run (Sarah Hopper, 6th, 13:26.75); 4 x 400m relay (Hyland, Gregorich, Konczal, Belson, 2nd, 4:18.35).

The Pacelli girls placed 22nd in the final standings with four points. Grace Van Handel took sixth in the 400m dash crossing the line at 1:04.74 and the 4 x 400m relay finished 8th in a time of 4:28.53 (Sami Miller, Jenelle Higgins, Grace Engebretson, Grace Van Handel).