River Ridge track teams first at Southwestern Invite

By A.J. Gates

The River Ridge boys and girls track and field teams dominated at last Thursday night’s Southwestern Invitational, with the boys team scoring 104.5 points to finish first of five competing schools, and the girls scoring 185 points to also finish first of five competing teams.

On the girls side, Shayna Graf and Leah Patterson were multiple event winners, Graf finishing first in the shot put (36’3”) and discus (109’3”), and Patterson taking first in the 800 (2:44.01), 1600 (5:49.17) and the 3200 (13:34.10).

The only other first-place finisher for the River Ridge girls was McKenzie Taylor in the pole vault (7’0”).

First-place finishes for the River Ridge boys included Colton Moris in the 110 hurdles (:17.87), Luke Breuer in the pole vault (11’0”), Elliott Thornton in the discus (131’3”), Matthew Nies in the high jump (5’8”) and the 4x400 relay team of Brock Bunge, Rylan Linder, Ren Bowen and Moris (3:53.94).

Competing at the River Valley Alumni Invitational last Friday evening in Spring Green, the River Ridge boys placed seventh of eight teams with 46 total points, while the girls were eighth with 30 points.

Leading the River Ridge boys with third-place finishes were Luke Patterson in the 1600 (4:55.03), Colton Moris in the 110 hurdles (:18.21) and Elliott Thornton in the discus (125’10”).

The River Ridge girls were led by Shayna Graf with second-place finishes in the shot put (35’7.5”) and the discus (101’10”), while Leah Patterson finished fourth in the 1600 (5:58.51).