The Marion High School track and field boys took second place and the girls took third place out of 11 teams Thursday at the Smoky Valley Invitational.
The boys continued a strong showing in the throwing events, with every Marion entry placing. John Nordquist won the javelin with a personal best throw of 164-10. Kyle Palic placed second, just three inches behind Nordquist.
“John Nordquist had a great day in the javelin, dueling Kyle on their last throws to see who would win,” coach Grant Thierolf said.
Palic also placed first in discus, followed by Nick Meyer in second. Morgan Wheeler placed fourth. Palic, Wheeler, and Meyer finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in shot put.
“[Palic] is one of the top combined throwers in the state and has a chance to medal in all three events at every meet we go to,” Thierolf said.
James Jones continued to score points in the jumps, placing second in long jump and triple jump. Mason Pedersen placed fifth in long jump, and Quinton Hett placed fifth in triple jump. Jones also placed sixth in the 200-meter dash.
Several athletes posted personal records at the meet. Nicholas Stuchlik ran the 300-meter hurdles in 49.97 seconds. Tyler Arocha long jumped 18-0 and ran the 200 in 26.09 seconds. Tyler Neufeld ran the 800 in 2 minutes, 11.8 seconds. And Taylor Fahey ran the 3,200-meter run in 13:24.5.
Girls place third
The 4x400-meter relay team of Marissa Jacobson, Katey Ehrlich, Kelli Hess, and Marshelle Mermis won their race in a time of 4:16.6. The 4x800-meter relay team of Kaelyn Thierolf, Erika Hess, Kaylie Waner, and McKenzee Remmers placed fifth in 11:19.5.
Alicia Maloney won pole vault with a vault of 9-6. Maloney just missed a vault of 10-6, which would have broken the school record of 10-3.
Jacobson placed in all of her events, finishing second in triple jump and fourth in long jump and 300-meter hurdles.
Remmers placed third in the 3,200-meters and fourth in the 1,600-meters.
“She ran so relaxed in the 1,600 and 3,200 and posted some very good times,” Thierolf said of Remmers.
Kelli Hess and Marshelle Mermis were separated by 1/10th of a second in the 400-meter dash, with Hess placing third just ahead of Mermis in fourth.
Thierolf placed fourth in javelin with a throw of 105-11, and Kristen Herzet placed sixth with a throw of 95-7. Both throwers set personal records. Jacobson’s time of 48.46 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles was also a personal record.