After hosting the Cuba Invitational on April 16, Cuba High School’s track and field team had a busy week of travel and competition the following week. The Wildcats traveled to Montgomery County High School on April 20 to compete in the Montgomery County Invitational before taking the hour bus ride to Hermann on April 23 to take part in the Hermann Invitational. Both meets are detailed below. 

Cuba is scheduled to compete on April 27 in the St. James Invitational and on April 30 in the Guy Rush Memorial Track Meet in California, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. The Wildcats will then host the Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) meet on May 2, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Cuba High School track. 

Montgomery County Invitational

The Wildcats traveled to Montgomery County to compete against schools they aren’t usually paired with. Belle and the Missouri School of the Deaf were the only schools they competed with in the Cuba Invitational that were in Montgomery County.

A total of 15 schools with a boys team and 14 schools with a girls team battled it out in Montgomery County. Cuba’s girls took 10th place and the Wildcat’s boys finished in 11th. Centralia High School won the boys and girls meets and Bowling Green’s girls earned second while their boys took third place. 

After winning numerous raises and the overall meet in Cuba, the Lady Wildcats had fewer participants in the Montgomery County meet and didn’t have a top-three finisher. 

Sophomore Savannah Vass and senior Shannon Black each finished in fifth place in their respective competitions to lead the Lady Wildcats. Vass took fifth in the 3200 meter race after completing it in 15:54.83.

 Black finished in fifth place in the discus throw and in the shot put competition. She tossed the discus 30.24 meters and heaved the shot put 9.83 meters. 

Cuba sophomore Justice Evrard, who dominated the Cuba meet with four gold medals, competed in just two events in Montgomery County. Evrard took seventh in the long jump and finished 11th in the high jump with 4.61 meter and 1.38 meter leaps, respectively. 

Junior Teryn Vass earned seventh place in the pole vault competition after hoisting herself over 2.25 meters. 

Senior Cadynce Basham took sixth place in the 1600 meter race after completing it in 6:30.05 and her younger sister, sophomore Ella Basham, finished in ninth in the 800 meter race with a 2:39.68 time. Cadynce Basham also competed in the 300 meter hurdles, taking 11th after finishing in 59.47 seconds.

Sophomore Kendra Humphrey also competed in the 300 meter hurdles and in the 110 meter hurdles. Humphrey finished in eighth in the 300 meter hurdles race with a 57.06 time and took 15th in the 110 meter hurdles event with a 20.39 time.

Senior Cailyn Hulsey earned 10th place in the 110 meter hurdles after completing it in 19.20 seconds. 

Hulsey, Ella Basham, Teryn Vass and Humphrey were a part of Cuba’s 4x400 relay team that earned fourth place with a 4:32.89 finishing time. 

Lady Cat senior Cynthia Viramontes competed in the 400 meter race and in the triple jump, taking 16th and 14th place, respectively with a 1:13.05 time and a 8.63 meter leap. 

Sophomore Makenlee Lorenz also participated in the long jump event, taking 12th place with an 8.88 meter leap. 

Cuba’s boys didn’t have an athlete finish in the top-five, but had multiple top-10 standout performances. 

Halbert finished in sixth in the 300 meter hurdles, seventh in the 110 meter hurdles and in eighth in the 100 meter dash. 

DeLuna took sixth place in the pole vault competition after hurling himself over a 3.35 meter bar and finished in 14th in the 800 meter race with a 2:27.10 time.  

Fellow sophomore Jamison Scott competed in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, finishing in 12th and in 14th with 19.82 and 50.69 times, respectively. 

Cuba senior Cole Henke ran in the 800 meter race alongside DeLuna, earning 23rd with a 2:53.49 finish. 

Junior Tandon Baker took seventh place in the 3200 meter race with a 12:06.33 time.

Sophomore John Vandegriffe earned ninth place in the discus competition after tossing it 34.30 meters. Junior Zane Brown was just behind him, taking 12th place with a 33.02 meter heave. Both field event athletes also competed in the javelin event and Brown finished in 22nd with a 27.63 meter throw and Vandegriffe took 24th with a 25.36 meter launch. 

Brown capped his busy day with a 10th place finish in the shot put event after hurling it 11.46 meters. Henke also competed in the shot put competition, earning 13th with a 10.56 meter heave. 

Hermann Invitational 

The Wildcats traveled to Hermann to compete against 13 other schools in the Hermann Invitational. Cuba had similar results of their meet in Montgomery County, not winning any races but having a bevy of standout showings. 

Evrard continued to be amongst the top Lady Wildcat performers. She earned fourth place in the high jump and fifth place in the long jump with 1.35 meter and 4.43 meter leaps, respectively. 

Ella Basham took fifth place in the 800 meter run with a 2:42.59 time in her lone individual competition of the meet. Cadynce Basham ran the 3200 meter race in 14:58.56 to finish in seventh place and completed the 300 meter hurdles in 59:35 to earn eighth place. 

Humphrey and Hulsey each competed in the 200 and 400 meter dashes and in the 100 meter hurdles. Humphrey took 10th in the 200 meter, seventh in the 400 meter before finishing in 12th in the 100 meter hurdles. Hulsey finished in 11th in the 100 meter, eighth in the 200 meter and took eighth in the 100 meter hurdles after finishing in 19.28 seconds. 

Izarra Smith and Lorenz each competed in the 100 meter dash, taking 14th and 15th with 15:08 and 15:20 times, respectively. 

Black continued her consistent strong showings in the field events. She took fifth place in the discus and shot put competitions and finished in 11th in the javelin toss. She hurled the discus 31.62 meters, heaved the shot put 10.16 meters before tossing the javelin 24.86 meters. 

Teryn Vass earned sixth place in the pole vault competition after hoisting herself over 2.3 meters.

Viramontes took 10th place in the triple jump with an 8.4 meter leap. 

The Lady Cat’s 4x800 meter relay team took second place and their 4x200 and 4x400 teams each earned third place. Runners in those races weren’t listed in the results page. 

Cuba’s boys teams continued to lead with standout performances from Halbert. He finished in 4th in the 110 meter hurdles, sixth in the 300 meter hurdles, and ninth in the 100 meter dash after completing the races in 19.02, 45.64 and 26.10 seconds, respectively. 

Karter Kaysinger took ninth place in the 100 meter dash and 12th in the 200 meter dash after finishing in 12.64 seconds and 26.32 seconds, respectively. 

Zaylen Kammer finished in 11th in the 400 meter dash with a 58:21 time and Scott earned 17th after crossing the finish line in 1:04.02. Scott also competed in the 110 meter hurdles, taking 11th place with a 20.96 finish. 

Gavin Hepperman completed the 1600 meter run in 6:30.34 to take 19th place and Tandon Baker earned 11th place in the 3200 meter race after finishing in 12:17.38. 

Preston Hulsey ran the 300 meter hurdles, taking 15th place with a 55:45 second finish. 

In the field events, James Eickhorst took 22nd in the long jump after leaping 4.34 meters. Billie Thompson finished in 14th in the triple jump with a 7.88 meter hop. 

Vandegriffe and Brown competed in the discus and javelin events. Vandegriffe earned 9th and 21st places after tossing them 32.46 meters and 24.48 meters, respectively. 

Brown finished in 11th in the discus with a 31.12 meter toss and took 15th in the javelin toss with a 29.5 meter throw. Brown also had a strong showing in the shot put event, earning ninth with an 11.56 meter heave. Henke took 13th in the shot put with a 10.77 meter toss.