Our 2011 Track Season finished on a high note, with the Boys taking Second Place out of ten IISL schools participating in the 2011 Track Championship. The Boys scored 98.5 points, taking first in four events and scoring in every single event except one. The Girls finished a strong fourth.

The Boys team can be very proud of this accomplishment. The winning team from Orchard was over twice the size of St. Richard’s, but the eleven Boys competing on our varsity squad made it a very close competition, second in the end 131 to 98.5. Our trophy may not be quite as large, but our effort was just a strong and our pride just as high.

The highlight of the day was Alex Rossebo’s new school record in the 400, an incredible 55.7 – two full seconds better than the record set in 2004 by Kadeem Hunter, four full seconds -nearly 30 meters - ahead of the second place finisher. Alex took third in the 200, and also anchored the 4 x 100 team to a first place finish, although by the time Malcolm Dotson, Max Hammond and Sam Hardeman had finished their legs, Alex had a big lead and could coast home. Alex also anchored the 4 x 400 team which finished second, with Zac Li, Patrick Burgett, and Sam Hardeman each contributing the fast legs.

Lance Howard won Discus, only slightly off his school record set earlier this season, and also took third in Shot Put. The second (and best ever) Howard-Shuck combo continued its dominance - Danny Shuck took an important fifth place in Shot Put with another 30+ foot throw and is now fifth all-time in both Shot Put and Discus.

Malcolm Dotson ran into a stiff head wind in the 100 meter dash, which made a record time seem unattainable, but Malcolm saved his best for last and finished first with 11.8, the second fastest in school history. Malcolm powered the 4 x 100 relay team to a big lead after the first leg, and finished sixth in the 200.

Max Hammond continued his strong multi-event contribution to the team, scoring in all three of his individual events: second in High Jump, fifth in Long Jump and eighth in the 100 meter dash. Zac Li took fifth in three events, Discus and both the 800 and 1600, and is also now top ten in all three. Patrick Burgett competed in the grueling 800 for only the third time this season, and finished right behind Zac Li with sixth place at 2:31.9; Patrick also scored with a tie for seventh in High Jump and eighth in Hurdles. Sam Hardeman ran a season’s best 65.1 in the 400, in addition to his strong effort in both relays. Judah Edwards and Tyler Wott had strong runs, just out of scoring range in the 2400, and Sam Harlan had his best ever time in Hurdles with 23.7.

Our Girls scored 62 points, ahead of larger teams from Park Tudor, ISI and Kingsway. With only 13 girls on the varsity team, this is also a very impressive achievement! Although we didn’t take any first place ribbons, the Girls showed terrific balance as a team, scoring in every single event except hurdles.

Katie Owens and Tori Blum were top scorers for the Girls, Katie taking second in the 1600 and third in the 800 with season’s best times in each event. Katie also anchored the 4 x 400 relay to a sixth place finish. Tori took second in Discus and fifth in Shot Put. Alexandria Ford scored her season’s best (and top ten list times) in three events: fifth in both the 200 and 400 and sixth in the 100. Aliza Jane Edwards, promoted to varsity for this meet from the 4-5^th grade team, ran the most meters in competition of the day, placing third in the 2400 and sixth in the 1600.

Eraena Bell had her best time in the 2400, placing fifth (sixth place on our all-time top ten list). Olivia Wagner sliced nearly 4 seconds off her 400 time with an impressive 72.9, placing seventh, returning to run a powerful leg on the 4 x 400 relay. Angela Li took eighth place in both High Jump and Long Jump. Lila Ammeen had her best ever day in Shot Put, placing sixth, and Kiana Schalk had a strong day in Discus with an eighth place finish. Natalia Rombel barely missed finals in Hurdles, placing ninth overall – she and Jackie Sublett will receive ribbons however as members of both our eighth place 4 x 100 and sixth place 4 x 400 teams, as will Hope Fennig who anchored the 4 x 100 team. Sarah Klotz barely missed scoring in High Jump, tied for ninth.

All in all, a great day for the girls, and with only three graduations and a bevy of fast runners coming up from our JV team, the future looks bright for the Girls! We’ll celebrate the accomplishments of both teams at our annual Awards Party, on Friday, May 27 in the Fortune Room, right after school.