Highland track teams compete well, but fall short against Waterloo on Senior Night

Winning was not the prime objective Tuesday, April 4, for the Highland boys and girls track teams.

Instead, having fun and getting better for the second half of the season were the primary goals.

After the ceremony and action wound down on Senior Night at Highland High School, the HHS track teams did just that.

Highland’s girls team dropped a 94-71 dual meet decision to Mississippi Valley Conference rival Waterloo, but coach Nick Schaible came away quite pleased with the team’s outing.

“We had some quality events and we had some throwers (do well) and our 4x100 relay and our 4x400 relay and a couple of really good jumps in the long jump, high jump, and triple jump ... so it was a really great day,” Shaible said. “We were not taking it too seriously and I think we could have beaten them if we had been running our best teams ... it was Senior Night, it was great weather, and overall, it was a great night.”

In the high jump, Lauren Maas placed second with a height of 4-foot-10 and in the long jump, Sophia Thomas won with a leap of just over 15 feet (4.6 meters).

The Bulldogs 4x200 relay team of Maas, Thomas, Emma Henschen, and Maya Pollard won with a new record time of 53 seconds.

“They beat their previous record — and they normally run a 58 — and they beat it by 5 seconds,” Schaible said. “It was maybe the wind, but they came out strong, and they ran really well.”

Larissa Taylor and Kylee Sowers continued their success in the discus and shot put. Sowers finished second in the discus (26-6 meters) and Taylor finished third (26-4 meters). In the shot, Taylor claimed first place (9.49 meters) and Sowers took second place (9.4 meters).

“They were neck and neck and they pushed each other ... they go back and forth each time,” Schaible said.

As the team heads into the second half of the season, their development definitely satisfies Schaible.

“Our team is doing very well overall,” he said. “There’s a lot of improvement across the board and we’re looking forward to facing some more challenging competition, but once we get that competition, the girls are going to understand just how good they are.”

Highland boys update

On the boys side of the meet, Highland fell to Waterloo 72-58, but HHS coach Joe Shannon also saw several positives in his team’s efforts.

“They (Waterloo) won the meet, but they got 20 odd points in events where we had no one (competing). Other than that, I think we fared pretty well against them,” Shannon said.

In the relays, HHS did very well as Hunter Fridley, Jack Nimmo, Roe Wallace, and Donnie Miller won the 4x100 relay with a time of 46.08. That freshman-sophomore group came up big again in the 4x200 relay as well, running away with a time of 1:36.64.

“I was very proud of that (run), and it’s a very solid fresh-soph time,” Shannon said.

Hunter Fridley, Dallas Mancinas, Cole Basden, and Joseph Smart also had a solid showing in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:44.

The best performance of the day for HHS came from Mancinas, who won the 800-meter run with a dazzling time of 2:02 flat.

“Dallas Mancinas went 2:02 flat which is within a second or two of going to the state meet,” Shannon said. “He won it (the race) by over 4 seconds. I’ve been pretty excited about his development.”

Overall, Shannon saw plenty of positives in the meet and said he felt the final score wasn’t reflective of the team’s performance.

“I was proud of how we competed,” Shannon said.

Shannon said he is also pleased with how the team is trending heading into the back half of the regular season.

“We’re progressing very well, and I’m very proud of how we’ve been working lately,” Shannon said.