NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – STC sophomore Alexis Thiessen competes in the long jump at the Benton Early Bird meet. Thiessen finished in 13th place in the event

VAN HORNE — On a cold and blustery night in Van Horne, the STC girls track and field team competed in the annual Benton Early Bird meet on Monday, March 31. At the conclusion of their first outdoor meet of the season, the Trojans were led by a promising group of freshman and sophomore athletes.

Leading the way was freshman Scout Ridout, who won her first 100-meter hurdle race in her high school career. Ridout had strong performances in the indoor 60-meter hurdle races to start the year and her success carried over to her first outdoor effort. With a winning time of 17.03, Ridout took first place and positioned herself among the top times for class 3A freshman in the event.

Ridout also ran the third leg of the Sprint Medley relay team that was made up of all underclassmen and finished in 3rd place. Joining Ridout were freshman Jayva Gomez, Sydney Arp, and sophomore Mady Boriskey. With a time of 2:01.54, the team was only four seconds behind the first place finisher (Center Point-Urbana, 1:56.66).

Freshman and Sophomore sprinters also brought home 6th place finishes in two other relay races. Four freshmen — Maylee Rucker, Arp, Brylee Nelson, and Gomez — finished in 6th place in the 4×100 with a time of 55.10. Then, in the final race of the evening, Boriskey, Arp, Rucker, and Ridout teamed up to take 6th in the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:42.11.

The Trojans also found success in their other two relay team entries on the night. The Distance Medley team of freshman Cahysia Kapayou, junior Naomi Peshel, junior Madeline Paxton, and sophomore Livia Smith took 5th place with a time of 5:11.66. Peshel then joined freshman Rucker, Nelson, and Gomez for a 9th place finish in the 4×200 relay (1:59.89).

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – Freshman Scout Ridout runs the third leg of the Spring Medley relay. The STC team of Jayva Gomez, Sydney Arp, Ridout, and Mady Boriskey finished in 3rd place in the race.

In individual races for the evening, STC gained a top-ten finish from Gomez in the 200-meter dash (7th place, 30.10). The Trojans also had top-twenty finishes from: junior Rylee Ridout (800 meters, 19th, 3:25), sophomore Alexis Thiessen (100 meters, 13th, 14.74), and sophomore Olivia Bradley (400 meters, 16th, 1:17).

In field events, STC was led by Arp’s fifth place finish in the long jump (14 feet, 6.50 inches). Arp was joined by two other top-fifteen Trojan jumpers: Broiskey (8th; 13 feet, 11 inches) and Thiessen (14th; 12 feet, 7 inches). Rucker was the leading high jumper for STC, taking 11th place with a jump of 4 feet, 4 inches.

In the throwing events, sophomore Ioleta Kingbird and junior Autumn Elsbury competed for the Trojans. Kingbird took 7th in the shot put (28 feet, 9 inches) and 20th in the discus (67 feet, 1 inch). Elsbury finished 10th in the shot put (26 feet, 11.50 inches) and 8th in the discus (79 feet, 3 inches).

On the night, the STC girls finished in 8th place as a team. Up next for the Trojan girls is a trip to Le Grand on Thursday, April 17 for the East Marshall Girls Invite.