This past Saturday at Sherwood High School, Richard Montgomery Track and Field excelled in the 30th annual Katie Jenkins Invitational meet. With impressive performances in many events, the team was able to show the quality of its athletes.

The meet began early with the tetrathlon, a series of 4 events in which athletes compete in shotput, long jump, 1500m, and 400 m dash. For RM, Eli Samuelson competed in the tetrathlon, running a good 1500 and throwing well. However Samuelson placed 8th overall for the event.

The meet then continued with the 100m hurdles in which Rosa Boehler placed ninth overall with an impressive time 18.19, followed by Halle Phillips who ran 19.29. The next event was the 110 m hurdles in which Marcelo Amorelli and Simon Liu competed closely, running 17.29 and 17.69 respectively.

Following the hurdle events, Dara Sontan ran a new personal record in the 100m dash followed thereafter by impressive performances by both Drew Byrd and Avery Reeves, who both qualified for finals. In the finals Avery Reeves placed fifth and Drew Byrd seventh, with times of 11.30 and 11.37 respectively.

The girls’ 3200m relay then won first place in a time of 9:51.21 due to outstanding performances by Sophie El Masry, Lauren Zhou, Nefret El Masry, and Emily Newcombe. The girls’ team then continued their performance with Cynthia Kipserem’s mile time of 5:42.10, another new personal record.

The boys’ mile was also heavily contested, but senior Samad Iqbal ran a season’s best with a time of 4:43.54 placing fifth overall. This was then followed by performances from Rohann Asfaw and Mac Morgan in the 400m dash, placing sixth and eighth overall with close times of 52.62 and 52.82. Michael Riederer then ran a solid 2 mile in a time of 10:57.34 placing ninth overall.

The 300m hurdles then continued in which Richard Montgomery saw Bryony Hollingsworth and Rosa Boehler place sixth and ninth against fierce competition. In the boys’ 300m hurdles, Tylen Hebron ran an incredible time of 41.78 placing third overall.

In the 200m, RM saw fast times from Gaby Scott and Ananda Nyero followed by a new personal record from Zion Tyler and Zion Ledyard, running 24.17 and 24.37 respectively.

The boys’ 800m run was won by freshman Mark Unger in a huge run with a time of 1:57.96, a new personal record, followed by Amit Koppel who ran 2:05.01 and placed sixth overall with yet another personal record.

The boys and girls 4x100m teams each ran well with the girls finishing fifth with a time of 52.84 and the boys finishing in third with a time of 44.66. This was then followed by the 8x200m relay, a unique event to the meet, in which the girls’ team finished seventh and the boys’ team finished eighth.

Aside from track events, Richard Montgomery saw good performances in field events as well. Heather Konan jumped 31’8” in the triple jump, while Austin Cheung jumped 37’7”. In the long jump, Michael Ugwuonye and Drew Byrd finished fifth and seventh with jumps of 19’11” and 19’5” respectively while Starr Stover finished with a jump of 14’6”. In high jump, Bryony Hollingsworth and Dalia Marks finished eighth and ninth, while Avery Reeves and Daniel Alexander finished seventh and eighth. Finally Devin Bajaj threw 34’4” in the shotput to close out the field events.

Katie Jenkins allowed RM to compare themselves with other teams from across the county shortly before the county championships. Shouldering themselves with competition, Richard Montgomery Track and Field has been able to excel on both an individual and team level.