Track and field: A-B-E, WCA compete at Heart-of-the-Lakes Indoor meet

MOORHEAD - The Ashby-Brandon-Evansville track and field teams, along with the West Central Area teams, competed at the Heart-of-the Lakes meet on Tuesday at Concordia-Moorhead and saw some success.

A-B-E recorded multiple personal bests at the meet, led by Skylar Bitzan's first-place finish in the girls 55m dash (7.87). Bitzan was a part of another top-10 finish in the 4x200 (2:00.81) with Lucea Wales, Ashley Paulson, and Taylor Dingwall.

"It was a great night to get in some competition beyond practice," A-B-E co-head coach Robert Bosma said. "As a program, we focus on doing our best every day and every practice. Many of our kids found what they need to do or what they are capable of doing. As coaches, we are only looking at this as a benchmark. We don't hold a lot of stake with the results, but we were impressed with many of the kids. Most notably, Skylar Bitzan won the 55 by quite a bit. It was great to see her accelerating through the finish line. She wasn't the only great thing we saw in the night, as many athletes succeeded."

Wales had two top-five finishes, one in the long jump (15'1.5, 5th) and one in the 55m hurdles (9.69, 2nd). She posted a personal best in both events.

The A-B-E girls placed 10th at the meet.

The boys team had two top-10 finishes, along with multiple personal bests.

Kenneth Spielman, Kaleb Fuglseth, Donell Lee, and Darius Grussing placed 10th in the 4x800 (11:40.18), while Logan Haburn, Nathan Anderson, Micah Fuller, and Stephen Hamilton placed ninth in the 4x200 (1:44.99).

The A-B-E boys tied-for-13th at the meet.

For the WCA girls, Jayden Styba had the highest finish by placing fourth in the triple jump (31'7.5), while Kiera Gehrke placed sixth in the high jump (4'7), and Taylor Bennett placed sixth in the 1600m (6:14.93). These were just a few of the top-10 finishes for the WCA girls. The WCA girls placed tied-for-11th as a team.

Braydon Stark was a part of a few top-six finishes for the WCA boys as he placed fifth in the high jump (5'5) and fifth in the 55m hurdles (9.43), which were among a handful of top-10 finishes for the WCA boys.

Eli Bergman was a part of those top finishes as well, which includes a sixth-place finish in the 800m (2:18.96). The WCA boys placed ninth as a team.

WCA is on the road for another meet on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Lac Qui Parle Valley high school. A-B-E is back at Concordia-Moorhead for a meet on Friday at 4:30 p.m.