It’s that time of year again, all track TVL duals have ended and most runners on track teams have concluded their seasons. However, there are several players on each team that performed well enough during duals and the recent TVL final to get a chance to compete in the SJS finals on May 10. There were several RHS runners who were able to compete in the SJS finals, and 11 of those runners performed so well they qualified for the next track event, Masters.

The meet began with field events, but only had one event where RHS came away with the win. Sophomore Clara Schoolland was the only winner for RHS field runners as she came away with an impressive 1.60 meter jump in d-5 high jump. Despite Schoolland being the only runner to place first, there were still many RHS runners who gave an amazing performance. This included junior Dru Orlando who placed third in d-5 long jump, and senior Jade Thommes who placed second in d-5 pole vault.

Halfway through the meet, sprinters began their events. Similar to field events, RHS sprinters were not able to secure more than three wins. However, many sprinters were able to qualify for masters, four of those sprinters qualified in single runner sprints and five qualified for relay teams. Junior Marcus Madoski was one of the few sprinters to qualify for masters as he had an impressive new P.R(personal record) of 50.88 seconds in the 400 meter run.

Madoski stated, “I don’t really get nervous for a whole lotta races, but this one I definitely had some nerves. Especially walking up to the blocks, getting ready, it was just everything all kinda came together as soon as I heard that gun. It was off to the races at that point.”

To end the night off, the meet concluded with distance events taking place. Many distance runners struggled with their events and the RHS distance runners unfortunately didn’t win. However, a few distance runners were able to come away with good times to qualify for masters. The girls 4×400 relay team was a part of the group that qualified for masters, as they broke a school record with a time of 4.03 seconds. The team included senior Jenna Skavdahl, junior Emily Paxton and Starla Skiles, and sophomore Clara Schoolland. 

Despite this not being RHS track’s best meet, many were able to accomplish an incredible feat of making it to the SJS division finals. For those that did make it to masters, they have the opportunity to put their name in RHS history with one more good performance.