by Brian Goatley
On Tuesday, April 26, the El Dorado Springs High School track team headed to the SBU campus in Bolivar to participate in the SBU Bearcat Classic Track Meet. This meet included 44 Class 1, 2 and 3 schools in the area, as the Class 4 and 5 meet was held the day before. The weather turned out to be one of the best days of the season. The athletes were ready to take advantage of the great weather and take advantage, they did.
On the girls side, the 4 x 800 meter relay team, consisting of Morgan Mitchell, Kenli Rader, Audrey Goatley and Hannnah Klaiber, got things off to a great start. They came into the meet ranked 5th and finished 2nd, 12 seconds faster than their fastest time this season. Hannah Klaiber then followed that up with a 3rd place finish in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:26.18, her fastest time of the season. Audrey Goatley took 2nd place in the 3200, improving on her personal best time, by 8 seconds, with a time of 12:23.11. The 4 x 400 meter relay team, consisting of Morgan Mitchell, Gracie Mead, Audrey Goatley and Hannah Klaiber, finished off the scoring for the girls team, finishing 6th with a season best time of 4:31.80. At of the huge field, at the end of the day the girls team found themselves finishing 6th as a team.
On the boys side, like the girls, the boys 4 x 800 meter relay team, consisting of Braxton Watts, James King, Connor Goatley and Daelen Ackley got things started off right finishing 2nd with a season best time of 8:31.10. Daelen Ackley was the next one to score for the Bulldogs, winning the 1600 meter run with a Missouri best time of 4:08.56, as of right now. Connor Goatley finished 5th in the 800 meter run with a personal best time of 2:03.61. Then Daelen came back to win the 3200 meter run with a time of 9:21.45. To finish off the scoring for the Bulldogs, the 4 x 400 meter relay team, consisting of James King, Landon Murry, Connor Goatley and Daelen Ackley, finished 8th with a season best time of 3:41.14. At the end of the day, the boys team found themselves finishing in a tie for 6th as a team.
Overall, everyone made the most of the day. Highlighted above are the ones that scored, however that doesn’t tell the whole story of the success that day for the Bulldogs. After looking back and reflecting on the results, the Bulldogs had a total of 28 performances that were either season best or personal best performances, which was amazing. The one thing about track and field is that success can be measured so many ways. Some people believe that it is beating your nemesis that you have never conquered, however, often times, it is a competition within yourselves. This showed that, despite not everyone placing, most of our performers put their best foot forward, and came out running, jumping or throwing their best of the season, meaning they are improving at the right time of the season.
Next up for the Bulldogs is the Ozark Highlands Conference Championship Meet which is scheduled to be held on Monday, May 2.
GO BULLDOGS!