By Robert Whitmire

The SPASH Boys track and field team played host to Wisconsin Rapids and D.C. Everest at Goerke Park Thursday afternoon.

No team scores were kept but athletes used the meet to acclimate themselves to the outdoor season and set some early times, heights and distances to build on as the season progresses.

Individual results for the Panthers Alex Scott in the shot put with a distance of 53-08.00. Scott also took second in the discus at 149-11 and Nate McNamara took third at 125-03.

Derek Franz had a big day on the track for the Panthers with a third place finish in the 1600-meter run finishing with a time of 4:37.36. Franz came back to finish first in the 3200-meter run crossing the finish line at 10:09.38, nearly a minute faster than second place finisher Isaiah Winowiski from Everest (11:05.47).

Nolan Metz took the 400-meter dash at 50.93 and ran the second leg of the winning 4 x 400 meter relay (Chase Franz, Nolan Metz, Colton Kizewski, Pierce Kauth) with a time of 3:28.58.

Other first place finishers for SPASH included Tyler Patoka in the 300-meter hurdles (39.65) and Connor Pliska in the pole vault (12-06.00).

“We use this meet as a training meet,” said Panther Coach Kevin Streveler. “We had some good performances given the tough week of training. Right now we have to get healthy, get focused and get prepared for the end of the season.”

The meet was suspended when dark clouds brought in thunder and lightning, but athletes were back on the field after about 30 minutes.

SPASH is back at Goerke Park on Tuesday, April 26th when it hosts a triangular meet starting at 4:30 PM.