The Central boys track and field team faced tough competition in meets at Decorah and West Delaware last week.

At the Decorah Boys Relays on April 13, the Warriors placed fifth or better in six different events, highlighted by the distance races. Jesse Polkinghorn and Tyce Zittergruen went three-four in the 800 meter run, turning in respective times of 2:14.45 and 2:17.92. Carson Ruegnitz crossed the line third in the 3200 meter run, thanks to a time of 11:06.09, then took fourth in the 1600 after completing that race in 5:10.79. Teammates Michael White and Declan Finley placed eighth in the 1500 and 3200, respectively.

More top times came in the 400 meter dash, where Mason Loan and Jesse Polkinghorn claimed third and sixth places. Loan had a time of 53.26 seconds, while Polkinghorn was at 55.97 seconds.

That was one of three sprint races for Loan, who also cruised to seventh in the 200 meter dash and eighth in the 100 behind times of 24.22 seconds and 12.01 seconds. George Reimer placed ninth in both those races.

Breckon Holst was Central’s lone competitor in the hurdle events, finishing seventh in both the 110 and 400.

In the relays, Holst, White, Cruz Healy and Finley combined for sixth in the distance medley with a time of 4:30.29. Corbyn Clark, Henry Reimer, Polkinghorn and Holst were seventh in the sprint medley, crossing the line in 1:53.82.

The field events included a fifth place jump of 19-04.75 for Loan in long jump. George Reimer reached 16-04.50, claiming 10th place. Throwers Julian Singleton and Zane Embretson also represented well, with Singleton earning fifth in the shot put and 12th in the discus, then Embretson taking eighth in the discus and 12th in the shot.

The distance races remained strong for the Warriors at the April 16 West Delaware Boys Invitational. Polkinghorn and Finley notched respective fifth and ninth place finishes in the 800, while Ruegnitz was fifth in the 1500, followed by White in eighth and Healy ninth. Healy was then fourth in the 3200 and White sixth.

The sprints included a sixth place time for Henry Reimer in the 400. Teammate Griffin Koehn was 20th. Reimer also ran to 20th in the 100 and 26th in the 200. Brother George led the Central field in the 200, in 10th place, and Lukas Friedlein was 32nd. Clark and Holst followed Reimer in the 100, taking 22nd and 23rd, respectively.

For the hurdles, Embretson and Holst leapt to 11th and 12th in the 110 meter race. In 12th, Embretson also finished just ahead of Holst and Koehn in the 400 meter event.

The relays were highlighted by a winning 4x800 team of Ruegnitz, Zittergruen, Finley and Polkinghorn, who finished in 8:52.29. Central also came in fourth in the 4x400 with Polkinghorn, Zittergruen, Reimer and Loan, then the distance medley squad of Reimer, Zittergruen, Loan and Ruegnitz combined for fifth. The sprint medley of Zittergruen, Polkinghorn, Reimer and Loan placed sixth, then Holst, Singleton, Koehn and Friedlein were 13th in the 4x100.

The field events had Singleton 11th in the discus and 18th in the shot put and Embretson 18th in the discus and 28th in the shot put. Friedlein also placed 31st in the discus.

This week, Central competed at the Oelwein Co-Ed Invitational on April 21. The team headed to the Waukon Indian Boys Indian Relays on April 23.