The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

COLFAX-The WP track teams competed in a District 7 track meet last Tuesday in Colfax.

The men added another first place victory to their season with a total score of 108 points. The women finished second behind the dominating Colfax team.

Ronnie Hulce led the Cardinals with three first place finishes. She put in a stellar performance in the 300 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 49.49. She set a new personal record and broke the existing school record which she herself had set last year as a sophomore.

Hulce also hopped, skipped and jumped her way to a new personal record in the triple jump with a distance of 29'11" and regained her mojo in the high jump, clearing 4'10".

"Ronnie had an amazing day," said head coach Jeff Bartlow. "She'd been struggling a little in the high jump so it was good to see her jump well."

Kristin Potter dashed her way to a first place finish in the 200 meters in 27.68 seconds and took home two seconds in the 100 and 400 meters.

The 4x100 relay team finished second with a time of 55.28.

"The girls ran well today," said Bartlow. "The team had to run without Kayla Huxoll, she still hasn't fully recovered from her ankle injury. She's throwing for us but I'm hoping she'll be able to rejoin the relay team by next week."

Huxoll scored points placing fourth in the shot put with a distance of 26'8" and finishing seventh in the javelin with 61'9."

Also scoring points for the Cardinal girls was Krystal Harris, who finished fourth in the 100 meter dash with 13.97 seconds and Yesenia Escalante who ran the 100 meter hurdles in 19.43 for a third place finish.

The Cardinal boys relay teams dominated the track with two first place finishes. The 4x400 team finished in 3:47.87 and consisted of Billy Brown, Logan Dozier, Brian Done and Jared Morris.

The 4x100 relay team had another first place finish with a time of 45.65. Brown, Morris, and brothers James and Antonio Thompkins are the speed demons that make up this team, which is currently ranked first in the state with a time of 45.50

Brown also put in a first place finish in the 300 meter hurdles in 44.37 and battled it out in the high jump for a third place finish clearing 5'6".

"Billy had a real good day," said Bartlow. " He struggled a little the week before but today he just sat back and had a little fun."

Seth Deal, who is currently ranked third in state in the 1600 meters, put in a first place performances in the 1600 and 3200 meter races.

"Seth's mile time was huge," said Bartlow. "They ran the 3200 first this meet so his legs were a little weary towards the end of the 1600, but he pushed through and set a new personal record."

The Thompkins brothers battled it out in the 100 and 200 meter dashes with younger brother James coming out on top. He finished second in the 100 meter with a time of 11.25 and third in the 200 meter dash with 23.72.

Antonio Thompkins finished fourth in both events to score for the Cardinals. He also finished second in the high jump clearing 5'6."

Also scoring points for the team was Jared Morris, who finished second in the 400 meter; Roy Ebong who finished fourth in the 800 meter; and Nick Carpenter who finished third in the 3200.

Kyle Fredricks took second place in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 20.87 and Austin Beasley landed 34'8" in the triple jump to secure a second place finish.

Eshom Estes, who is currently ranked third in the state in the shot put and discus events, chucked the shot put 43'11" for first place.

Cardinal Yusef Johnson put in an outstanding performance in the javelin event, throwing 136'4" for a second place finish. The week prior, he battled with fellow team mate Estes and came up 5 inches shy of first place. He is really coming on in this event and giving Estes some friendly competition as they head into districts.

"This was a really fun meet," said Bartlow. "It was nice to compete against a different group of schools, the kids responded to the new competition very well."

The WP Cardinal Track teams will compete in Colfax Thursday May 5, against District 9 at 3:00pm.