Two more meets help Bruin tracksters improve

The Bruins competed in a damp Trico League meet at home April 27 and again on Saturday at the rainy Jeff Agar Invite in Trout Lake. The Bruins used the meets — spaced three days apart — to focus on some quality times and marks, albeit in subpar weather.

Columbia’s boys team had two winners in the home meet, distance runners Dakota Tama and Camden Uffelman. Tama won the 1600-meter run in a personal record 5 minutes, 12.48 seconds. Uffelman won the 3200 in a season best 11:22.67. He also set PRs in the 110 high hurdles (17.37) and 300 intermediate hurdles (46.44). He was fourth behind third-place finisher and teammate Calvin Andrews, who had a PR of his own at 16.71.

Tama has set personal bests in the distance races for two straight weeks, having ran PRs in the 1600 and 800 two weeks ago.

Other highlights for the Bruin boys were Benjamin Allen’s 17-8 PR in the long jump (fourth) and the 2-3 finish of August Lorincz (55.61) and Ryan Howard (56.09) in the 400. Lorincz’s time was a personal best; Howard’s a season best.

The Columbia girls had 10 first-place finishes, including all three relays, which is becoming commonplace in Trico events this season. Chanele Reyes, Sequoia Cohen, Piper Hicks, and Hannah Polkinghorn combined to win the 4x100 in 52.28. Hicks, Saylor Hauge, Maribeth Fries, and Cohen won the 4x200 in 1:53.87. Ella Zimmerman, Polkinghorn, Hauge, and Reyes took first in the 4x400 in 4:23.86. The short relay’s time is the fastest in District 4-1A this season.

Polkinghorn also won the 100 and was second in the 200; Hauge won the 400 in a PR 1:04.72; Reyes and Zimmerman finished 1-2 in both hurdles races (Zimmerman’s highs time of 17.71 was a personal best); Helen Hoskins won the high jump at 4-4; and Jessica Polkinghorn took first place in the shot put and javelin (a PR 112-7.5).

On Saturday at Trout Lake’s Dearden Field, the Bruins had three winners in the boys competition: Jace Greenwood raced to a PR in the 100 of 11.74; Andrews won the 400 in a PR 57.42; and the 4x400 team of Lorincz, Andrews, Howard, and Greenwood won in 3:58.69.

In girls competition, Hicks and Hauge went 1-2 and 1-4 in the 100 and 200; Hauge’s times of 13.92 and 29.97 were PRs, as was Hicks’ 200 time of 28.65. Amya Shaw bounded 27-11.5 in the triple jump — a lifetime best. Jessica Polkinghorn threw a personal best 34-7.25 in the shot put and also won the javelin at 109-3.