From Page B-3

“For the girls 4×200, they’re a very experienced group that finished last season standing on the podium in La Crosse,” Haskins said. “Elise Frisbie (team captain), Rebecca Randleman and Brooke Silloway all return this season and finished on a high note with that first-place finish.”

The 4×200 girls’ relay is as experienced as any in the Big Rivers Conference. However, the same can’t be said about the 4×400 meter relay, which has new faces and is making improvements each week.

“For the 4×400 meter, they set a season-best and showed a ton of improvement,” Haskins said. “This is a group that’s led by one of our most experienced athletes, Morgan Prigge (team captain), but also has a lot of new faces on it. It’s awesome to see them tap into their potential more and more each time they compete.”

Although relays were the focus of the meet, there were various field events throughout the meet that River Falls had success in. Most notably was Jordan Karras, who cleared six-foot in the high jump event, which earned him a first-place finish.

“I was pleasantly surprised with some of the performances we had in our field events,” Haskins said. “Jordan Karras was over 6’0” in the high jump again as well as several other athletes setting season personal bests. This has been a theme for us so far and I’m excited to see how we ride that momentum into the outdoor season.”

For the girls, senior Madeline Simpson earned a thirdplace finish in the pole vault after she cleared nine feet. Simpson was one of only three girls at the meet to clear that height. Junior Abi Banitt tied for second place in the high jump with a height of 4’10”, trailing only Emma Mommsen from Menomonie, who cleared more than five feet.

“On the girls’ side, Madeline Simpson had a great day in the vault and Abi Banitt cleared a lifetime best in the high jump,” Haskins said. “Very similar to the boys, a lot of personal bests and momentum that we can ride into the outdoor season.”

For Haskins, what he’s seen this year – and at the UW-Eau Claire Indoor Relay – is a level of success and growth that gives him hope that a Big Rivers Conference title is in play for the 2022 season. He spoke about what this momentum could mean for his program.

“I think we had a strong showing and it’s always tough to have a quick turnaround between meets, but our kids responded and had some of their best performances of the indoor season,” Haskins said. “I think that our program has a lot of momentum heading into outdoor season and we’re in a good place to keep building toward winning a Big Rivers Conference title.”

Up next for the River Falls track team is an outdoor meet on Thursday, April 14, at Hudson High School. That meet is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m.