Cobras excel in first meet of season

The Triton track and field team was able to get away from the mid-week snow and get their first meet of the season in last Thursday as part of the Early Bird Indoor at St. Mary’s University in Winona. The competition was a great chance for the Cobras to set the tone for the year and they did so by setting the bar high in several events.

“I was very pleased with our kids efforts,” Triton coach Bruce Huber declared. “This meet provided us with an opportunity to get some good, hard practice in against competition. The marks that were achieved here are the benchmarks that we’re going to build from this point on.”

Standing out for Triton was junior sprinter Leif Bungum, who posted a 6.74 time in the 55 meter dash to win the event. The Cobras also picked up a victory in the girls sprint medley as the team of Greta Rhodes, Kiley Yankowiak, Kendra Petersohn and Nell Graham ran an inspired time of 4:44.8.

One of the most encouraging developments was the performance of freshman hurdler Breanna Barney who finished fifth in the 55 meter event with a time of 10.94 seconds.

“I thought she did well,” Huber said of Barney’s finish. “She ran very well considering it was her first attempt at the event.”

Outside of the victories, the Cobras were also able to give solid performances in other events as sophomore Courtney West finished second in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:40.8. In addition, Garrett Dahms was able to set a personal record in the shotput toss with a throw of 36 feet and eight inches.

With the strong showing, the Cobras will turn their attention to a pair of meets this week. They had a home meet scheduled with Byron, Hayfield, Kasson-Mantorville, Lanesboro, Lyle-Pacelli, Pine Island and Stewartville scheduled for Tuesday, but it was postponed due to the weather.

“We were hoping for the weather to cooperate on Tuesday,” Huber lamented. “It was another opportunity to gauge where we were at with our training.”