Hawks in good form heading into final regular season meet

Horizon’s girls team was fourth overall (and second among Class 1A schools) at the 18-team Southwest Christian Invitational at Sherwood High School. The Hawks were led by senior Hannah Kempf, who had a whirlwind day with four events, as did freshman Paulina Finn.

Kempf placed second — and near her personal bests — in three individual events: 200-meter dash (28.5 seconds); 400 (64.9); and triple jump (32 feet). She and Finn teamed with Haley Becnel and Kloee Brown to finish fourth in the 4x100 relay. Finn won the high jump at 4-feet-8, was third in the triple jump (31-2.5) and fifth in the low hurdles (55.7).

Junior Salvador Ramirez continued to rewrite the school record book, his latest addition coming in the 800 at the Southwest meet. Ramirez finished second in the two-lap race in 2 minutes, 4.6 seconds, a personal best by 10 seconds and the third best 1A mark this season. Freshman teammate Andy Hung ran his first competitive 800 in 2:29.7, ranking him in the top 10 in district.

Sophomore distance runner Jony Nelson ran a career double at Southwest, finishing second in the 3000 in 9:53.6 and sixth in the 1500 in 4:32.1. Both times were mere seconds off his lifetime bests that he established when focusing on one distance race per meet.

Also at Southwest, sophomore Luke Holste finished fifth in a personal best 18.47 seconds in the high hurdles. He matched that mark at Glenwood, where he also had lifetime bests in the 100 and 200. Field event highlights at Southwest included sophomore Quinn Roetcisoender’s 8-foot mark in the pole vault, and freshman Makoa Whitaker’s personal best (by 12 feet) in the javelin at 135 feet. Roetcisoender improved on his vault best the next day at Glenwood, where he cleared 8-6. Other top marks at Glenwood included: Ryan Aldrich’s district best 117-10 in the discus; Mason Bloomster’s 139-4 javelin throw; and Amy Requa’s 2:53.63 800. Horizon’s girls team was third (among eight teams) at Glenwood and the boys squad was fourth.