Loyal girls win Amherst meet, Loyal boys take 4th

The Loyal High School track and field team traveled to an April 29 meet at Tomorrow River Schools in Amherst, and the Greyhound girls ended up on top, boosted by several first- and second-place individual finishes, while the boys finished fourth.

At this small meet of five teams, only the top five finishers in each event earned points, rather than the top eight, which is typical. Athletes earning points for Loyal were as follows.

Girls On the girls side, Olivia Nikolai won the 300m hurdles with a time of 1:00.37. She also placed second in the 100m hurdles, completing the course in 18.89 seconds. Her teammate Lesly Soto took third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 21.72. Annika Schley won the 800m run with a time of 2:50.91 and her teammate Gwen LaMarr was right behind, coming in second with a time of 2:51 flat. In the high jump, Addysen Wolf took first, clearing the bar at 5 feet, 1 inch (5-1) and Alexis Meyer took second at 4-6. Summer Smith placed second in the triple jump at 30-8.5.

In the 100m dash, three Loyal athletes placed high enough to score points. Wolf, Lillian Boushon, and Hope Peroshek earned second, third, and fourth place, respectively, with times of 12.92, 14.13, and 14.27. Wolf took second in the 200m dash with a time of 26.26 and Noelle Teschner placed fourth in that event at 28.5. Teschner also placed third in the long jump with a distance of 13-9.75. Peroshek took third in the discus throw at 89 feet and Schley took fifth at 80-4.

The girls 4x200m relay took second place with a time of 1:59.64. Team members were Smith, Peroshek, Teschner, and Raelyn Fritz. The girls 4x100m relay also took second place, with a time of 53.59. Team members were Smith, Peroshek, Teschner, and Wolf.

The Loyal girls won the meet, taking the top spot out of five teams with 93 points. The next closest team was Amherst with 85 points.

Boys Jaden Smith took fourth in the shot put at 38-7.5 and fourth in the discus throw at 110-6. Andrew Lavengood placed fifth in the 800m run at 2:25.45. Jerome Buchanan took fifth in the long jump at 17-6.

The boys 4x100m relay took third with a time of 51.39. Team members were Jacob Schmidt, Joe Treffinger, Lavengood, and Buchanan.

The Greyhound boys took fourth out of five teams with 10 points. Winning the meet was the host school, Amherst, with 129 points.

Above left: Loyal second baseman Adam Kautzer chases Gilman batter Max Pockat to tag him out at the end of the third inning. At left, Loyal third baseman Andy Petkovsek throws to second base to get a forceout on Gilman runner Beau Pockat in bottom of the fourth.

MATT FREY/MEDFORD STAR NEWS PHOTOS