If you hear talk of the Russ Snyder Invitational Track Meet in the spring, chances are, the track season is coming to an end. The event is usually the final tune-up before the District Meet and is usually a meet for schools of similar size to compete against each other.

The 2021 event was held at Sandy Creek last week and had eight teams competing. The results were a number of very close and interesting events.

The hope for the season is for the athletes to continue to improve week after week and that is what many of the Raiders have been doing all season long. However, this was not an event that saw that happen as often as it has most of the season. The results were a second place finish for the girls and a fifth place finish for the boys. Team and Individual results:

BOYS: Shelton first, 136; BDS second, 90; Kenesaw third, 88; Meridian fourth, 49; L-N fifth, 47; Silver Lake sixth, 46; Harvard seventh, 38; Blue Hill eighth, 32.

400 M. Dash: Gabe Zikmund, PR.

800 M. Run: Nolan Ostdiek fifth, 2:16.34: PR; Nolan was just four seconds behind the first place finisher.

1600 M. Run: Logan Menke first, 4:55.94, PR; Cole Troudt third, 5:10.56; this was Logan’s first time to break the five minute mark, and his first gold medal in this event.

3200 M. Run: Cole Troudt first, 10:50.44; the Raider’s second gold medal of the Meet and Cole’s fifth gold medal in this event this season.

400 M. Relay: L-N sixth, 50.16: Erik Wheeland, Trevor Biltoft, Tyson Kotinek, Devyn Zikmund; sixth place finish was less than four seconds behind winner.

1600 M. Relay: L-N fourth, 3:55.24, PR: Tyson Kotinek, Nolan Ostdiek, Gabe Zikmund, Devyn Zikmund; the team continues to break the four minute mark.

3200 M. Relay: L-N second, 8:51.82, PR: Logan Menke, Tyson Kotinek, Nolan Ostdiek, Cole Troudt; first time to break the nine minute mark.

High Jump: Trevor Biltoft fifth, 5’4”.

Long Jump: Trevor Biltoft sixth, 16’4.5”.

Triple Jump: Tyson Kotinek fifth, 35’9.5”.

Discus: Erik Wheeland sixth, 108’5”, PR; first time to break 100 feet and 20 feet better than his previous best.

GIRLS: BDS 1st, 97; L-N second, 81; Shelton third, 78; Meridian fourth, 75; Kenesaw fifth, 64; Blue Hill sixth, 60; Silver Lake seventh, 42; Harvard eighth, 30.

BDS was strong in several events the Raiders were not strong in and earned the extra points for the championship trophy for this event. L-N did bring home three gold medals, however.

100 M. Dash: Elsa Jorgensen third, 14.09; Katelyn Mazour fourth, 14.29; the first six places in this race were within one second of each other. McKenzie Ostdiek, who did not place was only 1.5 seconds behind first place.

200 M. Dash: Katelyn Mazour third, 29.64, PR; another interesting race with all six places within two seconds of each other.

800 M. Run: Aleah Heikkinen fifth, 2:46.07.

1600 M. Run: Emily Troudt fifth, 6:48.79, PR.

3200 M. Run: Jessica Sole sixth, 15:23.36, PR; her second race of the year in this event.

100 M. Hurdles: Emma Epley first, 15.97; Sydney Biltoft third, 17.33; Emma’s fifth gold medal of the year in this event.

300 M. Hurdles: Sydney Biltoft second, 49.68, PR; the winner was 1/3 of one second faster.

400 M. Relay: L-N first, 55.24, PR: Elsa Jorgensen, Emma Epley, McKenzie Ostdiek, Katelyn Mazour; second place finisher, BDS had a time of 55.25.

1600 M. Relay: L-/N first, 4:31.84, PR: Aleah Heikkinen, Sydney Biltoft, Claire Himmelberg, Elsa Jorgensen. second place finisher’s time was 4:34.4.

3200 M. Relay: L-N fifth, 12:02.8: Claire Himmelberg, Aleah Heikkinen, Tori Miller, Emily Troudt.

Long Jump: Emma Epley second, 15’10.25”; Elsa Jorgensen fourth, 15’0.5”.

Shot Put: Kylie Beard fifth, 32’7.5”.

The end of the season looms this week as the Raiders go the District Track Meet to determine who will qualify for the State Meet in Omaha. Both the boys and the girls will go to Kenesaw on Wednesday for their District Meets.