The track season has begun for pretty much all area schools now with many partaking in meets yesterday (April 2nd) and the Big Seven got underway with a pair of quad meets.

Hiawatha played host to one of the quads which involved fellow Big Seven League teams: Jeff West, Royal Valley and Sabetha.

All four schools walked away with individual top placers on the day but it was the host school Hiawatha tallying the most first place finishes in total between the boys and girls with 12 on the day, six for the boys and six for the girls. Sabetha girls won seven total events, while the boys took home two individual events for a total of nine events won the day. Royal Valley boys took home seven event crowns finishing the day with the second highest total as the girls won three events, giving the Panthers a total of 10 events won on the day. For Jeff West they earned two first place finishes on the day both coming at the hands of their girls team.

In the boys competitions on the day it was the Panthers of Royal Valley winning seven events, lead by Chris Chapman who won three events on the day sweeping the 110 (18.67) and 300 hurdles (45.61) and winning the high jump (5-10). His teammates, Thomas Broxterman and Skyler Link both also walked away as multi-event winner on the day. As Broxterman took home the 800 yard dash and 1600 yard run crowns with times of 2:07.36 and 4:56.70, while Link won both the long jump and high jump with leaps of 19-02.50 and 40-07.50, respectively.  Gary Smith, Michael Bailey and the Panther 4x800 relay team rounded out the first place finishes for the Panthers on the day, as Smith won the javelin throw (152-04), Bailey vaulted 11-06 to win the pole vault and the Panthers posted a time of 8:45.05 to win the 4x800 relay.

Hiawatha Redhawks took home six event first places on the boys side lead by the multiple relay wins, a sweep of the spirits and taking two of the three throwing events. Redhawks raced to wins in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays posting times of 46.83 and 3:45.68 to grab the wins. Denzel Chilcoat dashed his way to wins in the 100 and 200 yard dash competitions posting times of 11.17 and 23.46. While, it was Josh Hinkle and Quentin Overdick winning the shot put and discus throw, respectively on the day for the Redhawks with tosses of 49-05 and 139-00, respectively.

The Sabetha Bluejays captured the other two event titles on the day with Trenton Cox and Devin Stuckey each winning an event. The distance runner, Cox took home the 3200 yard run title with a time of 10:44.77, while Stuckey dashed his way to a 400 yard dash crown with a time of 56.02.

On the girls side of competition it was the lady Bluejays taking home seven events titles with four indiviudals winning events and the lady Bluejays relay teams highlighting the day sweeping the relay competitions. Lady Bluejays took home the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relay titles posting times of 53.92, 4:41.55 and 11:06.80, respectively. The other four first place finishes were split between the track and the field evnets, two and two for the Bluejays. Alexis McAfee took home the 400 yard dash title with a time of 1:06.95, while Megan Peabody won the 100 yard hurdles posting a time of 18.90. On the field side it was Meagan Garrett winning the high jump behind a leap of 5-02 and Heidi Heiniger tossed her way to a win in the javelin throw (108-09).

Hiawatha lady Redhawks followed right behind Sabetha taking six first place finishes on the day, lead by a trio of competitors. Miracle Clark dashed her way to a sweep in the spirit races, while Jordan Puvogel sweep the distance races and Emily Gartner took home the crowns in the shot put and discus throw. Clark dashed her way to the 100 and 300 yard dash crowns with times of 13.39 and 27.46, while Puvogel paced herself to wins in the 1600 and 3200 yard runs with times of 5:27.14 and 12:35.61. Gartner took home the shot put crown with a toss of 38-00.75, almost four feet better than second place and she also won the discus throw in impressive fashion with a 118-06 toss, which was nearly 32 feet better than second place.

The Panthers of Royal Valley took home three first places in the girls competition. Macy Putnam ran her way to a win in the 300 yard hurdles with a time of 54.42, while the other two first place finishes came in field events. Elizabeth Blevins won the long jump, while Mara Winter won the triple jump with leaps of 15-02.50 and 34-02.75, respectively.

For the Tigers of Jeff West their lone two first place finishes came at the hands of Michaela Jernberg and Kendal Holloman. Jernberg ran her way to victory in the 800 yard dash behind a time of 2:41.02, while Holloman vaulted her way to a win in the pole vault with a vault of 8-06.

For the full results of all the events from the Big Seven League Quad at Hiawatha --- click here.