Knights join the elite at interdivisional meet

By Ginna Young

It’s called the Elite Meet for a reason at UW-Stout, as only those who quaified at their previous meet, got to attend the March 28 competition.

“Even though we didn’t have a full team in competition, just two boys and two girls, it was great to be in an interdivisional meet,” said Cornell-Lake Holcombe track coach Sean Schmidt, “because it doesn’t happen very often, and it pushed the kids to compete against stronger and faster athletes outside Division 3.”

For the boys, senior Trent Nitek placed 11th in the 200-meter dash, in a time of 23.93, as well as 22nd in the 55-meter dash (6.90). Sophomore Alex Dixon also did well, competing in the 800-meter run for 25th (2:20.97), in which he achieved a personal best.

“He continues to improve and it’s really exciting to see,” said Schmidt.

On the girls’ side, senior Lauren Samardzich finished in 23rd in the 400-meter dash (1:08.76), was 28th in the triple jump (25-05) and came in 33rd in the 200-meter dash (30.06). Sophomore Megan Paff also came away with 37th in the shot put (24-09).

“We went in with the mindset that it was going to be a tough meet and came out feeling generally good about it,” said Schmidt.