West track takes on Intercity foes

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Grayson Talaski

Tyler Dunn (12) runs the mile at the intercity track meet held at Central Catholic. Dunn would finish second in the event.

Ryan Gibson, Staff Reporter

On Monday the girl’s track team competed in the 29th annual Intercity track meet at Bloomington High School. The girls took second behind U-High, who defended their title for the third straight year.

West won five of the 18 events in the meet. One of the those wins came from senior Lydia Spychalla. Spychalla claimed the triple jump title for the second straight year. Her winning jump was recorded at 35-11 1/4 inches. Fellow Wildcat, Whitney Bozarth (11) took second in the event.

When Spychalla was asked what it meant to have repeated as the champion of the event for the second year in a row, she said, “It means a lot to me because the competition in town is always tough to compete with, but to come out on top means a lot to me.”

West also won was the long jump. Whitney Bozarth won the event with a jump of 16-8 1/2.

Marissa Hagler (9) won the 300 hurdles event with a time of 52.02. Mara Smith (11) won the 800. West also won the 4×800 which consisted of Madi Piazza (9), Olivia Bloyd (10), Tess Birlingmair (11), and Mara Smith.

The boys Intercity meet was held at Central Catholic. Bloomington won the meet for the sixth straight year, while West took fourth of five teams.

Charlie Wetzel (10) took first place in the 3200 with a time of 9:39. Wetzel was asked after his race on what he thought of his performance, and he said, “The race was really back and forth throughout the whole race, which is something I haven’t had in awhile.” He also added. “This was my first 3200 in quite awhile, which was helpful to have my legs fresh and ready to go, but it was hard to settle in at first.”

The Normal West 4×800 took second place behind Bloomington. Tyler Dunn (12) anchored the relay and inched closer to Bloomington’s anchor, but Bloomington hung on to win.

Dunn also ran the mile and that resulted in a season best behind U-High’s Jared Schuckman.

Both the boys and girls track teams are now preparing for the Big 12 conference meets as the season nears a close.