DARLINGTON
    PLATTEVILLE – The Darlington Redbirds’ track and field teams hit the track running at a pair of indoor meets held at UW-Platteville’s Williams Fieldhouse last week.
    The Redbirds crowned champions in four events at the 14-team Pioneer Invitational on Tuesday, March 21, and then finished third in the boys’ meet and 10th in the girls’ meet at the 21-team Tri-State Small School Invitational on Saturday, March 25.
    Junior Grady Rielly had a hand in three of the Redbirds’ first-place performances at Tuesday’s Pioneer Indoor, finishing first in the boys’ 55-meter hurdles in 8.46 seconds and joining with seniors Alvaro Barrera and Jared Meister and junior Curtis Blosch to win the 4x200-meter relay race in 1:141.60 and the 4x400-meter relay race in 3:52.01.
    C. Blosch tied for fourth in the pole vault with a height of 9’0”, and Rielly placed 10th in the triple jump at 35’2.5”. Senior Mitchell Wagner was fourth in the 55 hurdles (8.86) and the high jump (5’8”), eighth in the triple jump (38’5”) and 13th in the 200-meter dash (26.55) for the ‘Birds.
    Senior Conner Hackett added a second-place finish in the 3,200-meter run (10:40.63) and junior Paul King was fourth in the 1,600 (5:06.32), while the Redbirds’ 4x800 relay team of junior Tanner Evenstad, sophomores Tucker Lange and Trae Schilling and freshman Bailey Schwartz finished fourth in 9:25.89.
    Sophomore Blake Whalen tied for eighth in the high jump (5’2”).
    Junior Hunter Weber led the Lady Redbirds at Tuesday’s meet by winning the girls’ pole vault with a height of 8’9”.
    The 4x200 relay squad of senior Sadie Fitzsimons, sophomore Kathleen Mathias and freshmen Natty Soper and Maddie Crist placed second in 2:01.18, while the 4x800 relay crew of juniors Emma Crist, Erin Wolf, Reghan Komprood and sophomore Ilse Mendez added a second-place finish in 11:16.06.
    Fitzsimons, Mathias and M. Crist teamed with sophomore Kaylee Meyers to take third in the 4x400 relay in 4:47.30. Fitzsimons also was fifth in the triple jump (30’7”), and Meyers took eighth in the 400 (1:11.98) behind junior Kennedy Rankin, who was sixth (1:11.41) in that race.
    Senior Paige Schilling was third in the 3,200 run (13:37.52) and 10th in the 400 dash (1:13.22) for the Lady ‘Birds, while senior Bailey McDonald placed ninth in the 1,600 (6:31.02) and sophomore Olivia Whalen took ninth in the girls’ shot put (29’2.5”).
    Back at UW-Platteville on Saturday, the Redbirds turned in 11 point-winning performances en route to a third-place finish in the boys’ Tri-State Small School Meet with 63 points, while the Lady Redbirds’ had six place-winners on the way to a 10th-place finish with 24 points.
    Northeast claimed the boys’ title with 98 points ahead of Lodi (81) and Darlington. Cascade rolled to the girls’ title with 127 points with Lodi a distant second (75) and Brodhead/Juda (45) in third.
    Evenstad finished first in the boys’ 3,200 run in 10:35.12 and the junior teamed with King, Lange and Schilling to win the 3,200 relay in 8:59.47.
    The 1,600 relay squad of Barrera, Rielly, Meister and C. Blosch came in second in 3:47.73, and the 800 relay team of Whalen, Meister, Rielly and C. Blosch placed third in 1:40.29.
    King added a third in the 3,200 (10:56.27), while Barrera was fourth in the 400 (57.55) and Lange took seventh in the 800 (2:13.75).
    Hackett was fourth in the 1,600 (4:53.68), and Wagner placed fifth in the high jump (5’8”) and the triple jump (38’3.5”). Junior Kameron Blosch was sixth in the 55-meter dash (7.11) for the ‘Birds.
    Weber placed second in the girls’ pole vault (9’3”) to lead the Lady Redbirds on Saturday.
    The 800 relay team of M. Crist, Mathias, Meyers and freshman Lizzie Schwartz finished fourth in 2:00.94, and the 1,600 relay team of Meyers, K. Rankin, M. Crist and Mathias placed fifth in 4:39.76.
    Komprood took fifth in the 3,200 (14:20.09), while Schilling was seventh (2:41.45) and E. Crist was eighth (2:43.76) in the 800.
    Darlington will host three upcoming meets on their home track. First up is the five-team meet featuring Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg and Black Hawk on Monday, April 3, starting at 4:15 p.m. Then, they will host the annual Darlington Invitational on Thursday, April 6, starting at 4 p.m. Belmont, Black Hawk and BSMS are among the teams scheduled to attend Thursday’s meet.

BENTON/SCALES MOUND/SHULLSBURG
    PLATTEVILLE – The Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg track and field team began the 2017 season by participating in three indoor meets held at UW-Platteville’s Williams Fieldhouse last week.
    The Zephyrs crowned three champions at the 14-team Pioneer Invitational on Tuesday, March 21, won two titles at the 11-team UW-Platteville High School Meet held on Thursday, March 23, and finished fourth in the girls’ meet with 42 points and 12th in the boys’ meet with 20 points at the 21-team Tri-State Small School Invitational on Saturday, March 25.
    Junior Brianna Leahy won the girls’ shot put at both Tuesday’s and Saturday’s meets, setting a Shullsburg and tri-op record with a best toss of 40’3.5” on Tuesday evening and registering a winning throw of 39’0” on Saturday afternoon.
    Senior Paige Murphy added a first-place finish in the 55-meter dash (7.82) and took second in the long jump (15’2”) on Tuesday, while finishing third in the 55 dash in a Benton and tri-op record time of 7.79 seconds and placing fourth in the long jump (15’3.5”) on Saturday.
    Murphy also teamed with sophomore Trinity Law and freshmen Chloe Matthews and Calli Jerry to win the 4x200-meter relay race in 1:58.59 on Tuesday. Murphy, Law, Matthews and senior Katie Pingel combined to finished third in the 800 relay in 1:58.71 on Saturday.
    Junior Emma Lawrence was first in the 55-meter hurdles (9.38) and the triple jump (31’7.75”) at Thursday’s meet, and she placed second in the 55 hurdles in a Benton and tri-op record of 9.20 seconds on Tuesday.
    Lawrence also joined up with Pingel, junior Kristy Kruger and sophomore Kaylee Turpin to take second in the 4x400 relay (4:47.26) on Tuesday.
    Law, Matthews, Jerry and Kruger teamed up to take eighth in the 1,600 relay (4:51.84) at Saturday’s meet. Law also placed third in the high jump on Tuesday and Saturday with top marks of 4’10”, respectively, while Kruger teamed with Turpin, senior Abby Pahnke and sophomore Eve Notrott to place fifth in the 3,200 relay in 11:47.81 on Tuesday.
    Pingel placed second in the triple jump (31’11”) and seventh in the 55 hurdles (10.10) on Tuesday, seventh in the pole vault (6’0”) on Thursday, and fourth in the triple jump (31’9”) and sixth in the 55 hurdles (10.01) on Saturday. Jerry was seventh in Tuesday’s 55 dash (8.26) for the Lady Zephyrs.
    Junior Ben Davis participated in all three meets for the Benton boys’ team, finishing second in the high jump (6’0”) and third in the pole vault (9’6”) at Tuesday’s meet and adding sixth place finishes in the pole vault on Thursday (9’0”) and Saturday (10’0”– a new Scales Mound record) along with a fourth-place finish in the high jump (5’8”) on Saturday.
    The Zephyrs’ relay crew of juniors Aaron Pulvermacher, Ryan Krueger and Josh Redfearn and sophomore Troy Turpin added a second-place finish in the 4x800 race (9:15.20) and a fifth-place finish in the 4x400 race (3:57.70) at Tuesday’s meet, while Pulvermacher and Turpin teamed with junior Ethan Shetler and freshman Caleb O’Neill to place sixth (3:51.06) in the 1,600 relay on Saturday.
    O’Neill was seventh in the 400-meter dash (58.74) on Tuesday. Pulvermacher was fifth in the 800-meter run (2:11.73) and Redfearn was eighth in the 1,600 run (5:09.69) on Saturday.
    Senior Christian Vig Rask place fourth (39’6.5”) on Thursday and eighth (39’3”) on Saturday in the boys’ shot put.
    Freshmen Tyler Allen and Matt Davis placed sixth (5’4”) and eighth (5’2”), respectively, in the high jump on Thursday, while sophomore Nic Davis placed seventh in the pole vault (9’0”) and freshman Reid Scott placed eighth (16’9”) in the long jump at that meet.
    Senior Aaron Coffey took eighth in the 55 dash (7.22), and senior Ben Sigwarth added a eighth in the long jump (17’8”) for the Zephyrs on Saturday.
    Sigwarth joined with Coffey, Shetler and senior Alan Montayne to finish eighth in the 4x200 relay race on Saturday in 1:45.93. Sigwarth, Shetler, Montanye and sophomore Zach Wiegel took eighth in the 800 relay on Tuesday in 1:48.68, while B. Davis and Scott teamed with freshmen Tyler Walton and DJ Hamp to place sixth in the 800 relay in 1:53.85 on Thursday.
    Members of the BSMS team are also scheduled to attend the 2017 USTFA Indoor State Meet on Saturday, April 8, beginning at 9 a.m.

    BELMONT
    PLATTEVILLE – The season got underway for the Belmont track and field at the UW-Platteville High School Indoor Invitational held at Williams Fieldhouse on Thursday, March 23.
    The Lady Braves crowned one champion at the event, while the Braves turned in two second-place performances on the evening. There were no team scores kept at the event.
    Senior Maddy Travis teamed with sophomores Ricca Varvil. Elsie de Haan and Lori Moctezuma-Zayas to finish first in the girls’ 4x400-meter relay race in a winning time of 5:32.45.
    Travis and Varvil joined with junior Taylor Foecking and freshman Lizzy Haag to place eighth in the 4x200 relay in 2:10.57, while Haag added a fifth-place finish in the high jump at 4’4”.
    The Lady Braves also placed three throwers among the top 10 in the shot put with sophomore Sasha Wrege leading the way in fourth-place with her toss of 31’5”. De Haan was seventh at 29’6”, and sophomore Jenna Richardson was 10th at 26’4.5”.
    Senior Josh Adams had a hand in both of the Braves’ second-place finishes after tying for second in the high jump at a height of 5’6” and joining with sophomores Seth Peters and Andrew Weber and freshman Zach Mester to finish as runner-up in the boys’ 4x800 relay in 10:11.85.
    J. Adams also placed sixth in the triple jump at 33’3” for the Braves.
    Junior Isaac Wiegel was also busy at the meet, teaming up with Weber, senior Austin Adams and freshman Tristen Gilbertson to finish fifth in the 4x200 relay in 1:51.11, and adding a seventh-place finish in the long jump at 16’11” and an eighth-place finish in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.73.
    Belmont will compete at the River Ridge Quadrangular in Bloomington on Tuesday, April 4, starting at 4:15 p.m.