WJ kicked off their season at the Urbana Relay Invitational on March 23. Once again, the Wildcats proved that they are still a force to be reckoned with, as the boys finished first in the 4×800 relay and the girls second. The girls, led by freshman Isabelle Senfaute, junior Jenna Goldberg, sophomore Camille Gagne and sophomore Jesse Zito, finished the relay in 10:53, just three seconds behind first-place Huntingtown.
“I think that our team is off to a very strong start,” Goldberg said. “We are all very motivated and are giving are all in workouts which is very important moving forward.”
In the 100 meter hurdles, junior Liana Wilkinson led WJ girls with a time of 18.35, good for 7th overall in the event. For the boys, junior Declan Stablow placed 12th with a time of 21.18. In the 100 meter dash, senior Kelsey Evans led the girls, finishing second overall with a time of 13.04. For the boys, sophomore Arun Sen finished 12th with a time of 12.14.
On March 28, WJ defeated B-CC and Churchill in the first home meet of the season. Evans once again proved her value to the team, finishing second overall in the girls 100 meter dash. Freshman Trinity Hill also finished in the top five for WJ. In the 200 meter dash, Evans led all three schools with a time of 27 seconds, a personal best.
“I’m happy that we have a large group of new people who are willing to work hard. We’ve been working on encouraging each other as a team and supporting one another to help the team. I’m proud of my performances so far but I know there are lots of improvements that need to be made,” Evans said.
On April 3, WJ defeated Richard Montgomery in a conference match. The girls dominated in nearly every event, with each of the top seven finishers in the 1600 meter run all sporting Wildcat green. Sophomore Ella Gaul was especially impressive, placing first overall. In the boys 100 meter, senior Tam Koroye placed third with a personal best finish of 11.6 seconds. Koroye has high hopes for the rest of the season.
“I’m very proud of my performance in the RM meet,” Koroye said. “Our goal still remains to make it back to states and build off of last season.”
WJ meets next tonight at home in the Viking Invitational Friday Night Elite at 3:00 p.m.
