By Hunter Pinke

Mother nature hasn’t been too kind to the spring sports season thus far, but that hasn’t slowed down the Raiders Track and Field team. The Raiders kicked off their season on April 21 with a Metro East Conference Showdown against Two Rivers, North St. Paul and Tartan.

The Raider boys got off to a fast start in the 100meter Dash, having three athletes finish in the top five out of 29 competitors. Jonathan Bezdicek took home a firstplace finish with a 11.12 for the Raiders. Brenden Freiermuth and Payton Burow would follow with both a second place and a fifthplace finish. Freiermuth finished with a 11.49 while Burow finished with a 11.88. Jonathon Vickney narrowly misses the top ten with a 12.31. Lastly, Cole Zeien finished with a 16th place with a 12.56, still placing near the upper half of the competition.

The momentum carried on to the 200meter dash, with the Raiders once again having three athletes placing in the top five. Bezdicek and Burow finished in first and second place, with Jack Cloutier coming in with a fifthplace finish and Isaiah McCabe right behind him with a sixthplace finish.

Isaac Clark led the way for the Raiders in the 110meter hurdles taking first place with an 18.61. Jared Hanson would follow in second with a 18.97, with Mathew Carda coming in right behind him in third with a 19.08. Taylor Schmaltz fell short of earning the Raiders points with an eighthplace finish, but with this being the first meet of the season, there is plenty of time to improve and make the top five. Clark, Hanson, Carda and Schmaltz would all finish in the same positions for the 300meter hurdles, with the exception of Hanson finishing in first place over Clark.

In the longdistance category, Payton Leedean and Steven Krey spearheaded the way for the Raiders in the 400meter dash with Leedean taking a firstplace finish and Krey coming in third. Isaiah McCabe would once again narrowly miss the top five with a sixthplace finish. Daniel Milner and Tyler Warmka took the reins for the 800meter run with Milner finishing in first and Warmka in fifth. Ethan Klaren and Ryan Prange also finished in sixth and seventh places respectively. Aidan Stoltz, would get on the scoreboard for the Raiders in the 1600 meter run with a third place finish, while Craig Hartman would claim the first place title for the 3200 meter run.

The Raider boys also earned points in the relay category, taking a thirdplace finish in the 4×100 relay, a firstplace finish in the 4×200 and the 4×400 and lastly with a third place finish in the 4×800 relay.

Other athletes to score points for the Raider boys: Wyatt Burg with a fifthplace finish in the high jump, William Meyer with a fifthplace for the long jump, and lastly a handful of Raiders for the Triple Jump: Cole Zeien, Payton Leedean, Max Albertson, and William Meyer. Zeien finished first, Leedean in second, Albertson in third and Meyer in fourth place.

Lucas Sorenson, Jonathan Watson and Miguel Navarette would score for Hastings in the pole vault, earning fourth, fifth and sixth place. In the discus throw, Benjamin Witt, Sorenson, and Jayden Lindsey would earn first, second and third place.

The Raider boys wound up dominating the competition scoring 123 points to land them the victory over their Metro East conference Rivals. Two Rivers would finish second with a score of 63 followed by Tartan at 41.5 and lastly North St. Paul at 22.5.

The Raider girls also had a fast paced start to their season, having four Raiders finish within the top ten for the 100 meter dash out of 28 competitors. Elliana Magnus took home a second place finish with a time of 12.88 with Madison Kennedy following with a third place finish with a time of 13.24 . Jaylyn Pistner and Miranda Gabbert both finished with 8th and 9th place finishes. Kyra Bartholomew and Mia Lindner both finished in the top half of the rankings as well with a 12th place finish for Bartholomew and a 15th place for Lindner.

Bartholomew would end up taking charge in the 100 meter hurdle for the Raiders, with a second place finish with a time of 18.35. Emily Podulke would finish with a time of 18.91, which would secure a fifth place finish. Podulke would continue her success into the 300 meter hurdle securing fifth place once again, narrowly beating out Mia Lindner for that spot. Carlee Kordosky took the lead for the 300 meter hurdle however, securing a second place finish with a 49.96, losing to Tartan’s Ellie Volkers who had a time of 49.85.

The Lady Raiders then established dominance in both the 400 meter run and the 800 meter run. Jaylen Hanson, Emma Burmeister and Jordyn Doughty took home the top three slots with Hanson finishing in first, Burmeister in second and Doughty in third. Pistner, just misses the scoreboard with a 6th place finish. In the 800 meter, the Raiders claim the upper six placements with Autumn Adricula finishing in first, Elise Atkins in second, Molly Caturia in third, Elsie Jacobs in fourth, Emma Kelly in Fifth, Hannah Hoff in sixth. Lani Vanhavermaet would claim the 7th spot. Point scorers for the Raiders include: Adricula, Atkins and Caturia.

Other Point scorers for the Lady Raiders include: Alyssa Bauer claiming fifth in the high jump, Elliana Magnus securing fifth in the long jump, and once again Carlee Korodosky claiming fourth for the triple jump. Bauer barely misses points with a sixth place finish in the triple jump as well.

Laura Deshler would be Hastings' lone scorer for the pole vault. Emma Hood and Rylee Kimmes would claim points for Hastings in Discus, earning Fourth and Sixth place.

The Lady Raiders would claim victory over their Metro East Conference rivals. Hastings Finished with a score of 67 points followed by Tartan at 61.5, Two Rivers at 55.5 and North St. Paul at 44.

The Raiders are set to hit the road to St. Thomas Academy for their next meet on April 28th. The meet is set to start at 3 p.m.