The season started off on the right foot Monday evening for the Winfield-Mount Union Wolves boys’ track team. W-MU battled athletes from several regional schools in the Falcon Relays hosted by West Burlington High School. The schools W-MU competed against in the meet included Central Lee, Columbus, Danville, Fort Madison, Highland, Keokuk, Mediapolis, Mount Pleasant, New London, Washington and West Burlington/Notre Dame. Multiple top three performances helped W-MU finish the meet in second place overall in the Class B field, scoring 133 team points.
Garrett Baker represented W-MU in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, scoring a combined 18 points for the Wolves. His 100 meter sprint was clocked at 11.55 seconds, the second best finish in the Class B field behind Columbus’s Mauricio Ramirez (11.51). Baker topped the 200 meter dash competition, with a time of 23.28.
Ross Vantiger ran the 400 meter dash for the Wolves. The senior was the first to finish the quarter-mile run, crossing the line in 1:01.13, three-tenths of a second better than the second place finisher.
Johnathon Quinn had notable finishes in the 800 meter, 1600 meter and 3200 meter runs for the Wolves. His half-mile run was clocked at 2:12.57, second best in the field, and was nearly three seconds faster than the third place finisher, W-MU junior Brock Fricke. Quinn finished in first place in the two mile competition, clocking a time of 10:46, 16 seconds better than the second place finisher, Wolves’ junior Gavin Bencze. Quinn also finished second in the one mile run, finishing the event with a time of 4:53.82. He was 10 seconds behind Highland’s Keiffer Sexton (4:42.91) for first place.
The Wolves had the two best leaps recorded in the Class B long jump. Junior Bryce Robinson soared 19 feet 11.25 inches for first place. Senior Zach Davis came in second place, vaulting 19 feet 6.5 inches.
Davis, Baker, Robinson and Vantiger teamed up in the 4×100 meter relay, placing first with a time of 45.04 seconds, a half second better than the competition.
Mediapolis took the Class B team title, scoring 151 points. The Wolves return to the track tomorrow evening, participating in the Danville Invitational.