By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Paced by a 1-2 finish in the pole vault, the Burlington High School boys’ track and field squad finished sixth out of 14 teams at the Racine Invitational held Saturday at UW-Parkside.
“For us, that was a good finish,” noted boys’ head coach Trent Tonn.
Seniors Garrett Riggs and Brandon Aguirre finished first and second, respectively, in the pole vault. Riggs cleared 12 feet, 6 inches, while Aguirre cleared 12-0.
“They had some good success last year,” Tonn said of Riggs and Aguirre. “They seem to be on track for having a successful season this year.”
Senior Matt Gierhan finished third in the 200-meter dash (24.31 seconds).
“That’s the first 200 we’ve run him in,” Tonn said. “That was a surprise.”
Freshman Skyler Vandusseldorp and junior Ross Canales finished fourth and fifth in the high jump. Both cleared 5-10.
“They’re both high jumping very well,” Tonn said.
Junior Max Shenkenberg was sixth in the long jump, with Riggs finishing right behind him in seventh.
The Demon boys tallied 37.5 points. Waterford won the boys’ event with 92.5 points.
“We’ve got a nice team shaping up,” Tonn noted.
The Demon girls finished 13th, tallying just 11 points.
Girls’ head coach Dan Luneau noted the performances of senior Michelle Kleitsch, and juniors Hannah Wills and Audra Weis.
Kleitsch had the best finish for the Demons by taking fourth (5:53.45) in the 1,600-meter (one mile) run.
“Last year, she was primarily a two-mile runner for us,” Luneau said.
Wills was sixth in the long jump, with a leap of 16-01.25.
“An elite mark in long jump is when you start jumping 16 feet,” Luneau said. “She’s done it twice this year.”
Weis ran in the 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams. Luneau indicated he had debated running her in the opens, but decided instead to put her in the relays.
Luneau indicated that the split times that Weis turned in in the relays would have placed her second or third in the opens.
“In both the 4×200 and 4×400, she had some pretty good splits,” he said.
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