The West Liberty boys’ track and field team began its season on Monday in Mount Vernon at the 15-school Hilltop Co-Ed Invite at Cornell College.
Starting at 2:30 p.m. and ending shortly after 8 p.m., it was an all-day affair.
It took until the penultimate event of the evening, but the Comets secured their first win of the season in the 4x200 meter relay.
Senior Jayce McHugh, juniors Ryker Dengler, Seth Axsom, and sophomore Owen Daufeldt took down the field in the finals with a time of 1:35.88.
It cleared second place, Pleasant Valley, by nearly two full seconds (1:37.79).
This run was a return to form for Axsom and McHugh in particular. They were two members of last season’s state qualifying team in the 4x200 with Axell Polanco and Jonathan Cardona, running the race in 1:32.94.
This quartet also ran the 4x100 at Drake Stadium last May, placing 14th in 44.41 seconds.
On Monday, the crew of McHugh, Dengler, Axsom and Daufeldt also took second place in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:43.86.
These Comets also shined in the open sprinting events.
Axsom took fourth place in the 60-meter dash in 7.46 seconds while Cardona took fifth in 7.57 seconds.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Dengler and McHugh went back-to-back on the podium.
Dengler placed second with a time of 8.80 seconds while McHugh took third at 8.98 seconds.
These two are aiming to return to state navigating the hurdles. McHugh qualified in the 110-meter hurdles while Dengler made it in the 400-meter variant.
Additionally, both Axsom and McHugh helped the Comets earn a 10th place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay at state last summer.
Cardona, a junior, also took eighth in the 200-meter dash at 24.97 seconds.
His teammate, freshman Enrique Michel, took 17th with a time of 27.68 seconds.
In the open 400-meter dash event, junior Bryson Garcia finished in 14th place in 1:04.83 with sophomore Kane Shield right behind him in 15th place at 1:07.95.
For the 800-meter run, cross-country standout freshman Jonathan Juarez placed 10th at 2:27.39. Sophomore Ben Tharp took 15th place at 2:59.20.
Juarez’s best performance came in the 1600-meter run where he set a personal record with a time of 5:37.94, which was good for eighth place.
Senior Joaquin Elizondo took 12th in this event with a time of 6:03.34.
The Comets only contested one of the field events in Mount Vernon.
Garcia stepped up for the shot-put and scored a 39-01.50 which placed him 10th in the field.
No official team scores were kept for this event.
Of the 27 contested events, Pleasant Valley won five. Central DeWitt and Mount Vernon each won four while Maquoketa Valley, Linn-Mar and AGWSR all won three.
In the individual open events, Mount Vernon’s Caliana Whitaker and Iowa City West’s Jaylin Herring each won two events.
Whitaker won the girls’ 60- and 200-meter dashes while Herring won the girls’ 400-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles.
Other notable individual champions include Maquoketa Valley's Lance McShane in the boys' 200m dash (23.68), Mount Vernon's Kiersten Swart in the girls' 800m run (2:30.44), Pleasant Valley's Conner Collier in the boys' high jump (5-10) and AGWSR's Abby Veld in the girls' shot put (40-3).
While this was a co-ed event, West Liberty only sent its boys’ team to Cornell College.
The girls’ season got underway on Tuesday, March 19 when they joined the boys and all of their River Valley Conference foes at the University of Dubuque for a conference-only meet.
This will be the only indoor meet this season for the Comet girls.
The season’s first outdoor meet will take place at Iowa City Regina High School on Saturday, March 23 beginning at noon with the Comet boys and girls joining an eight-school field featuring five out-of-conference opponents.
On deck is a Tuesday, March 26 meet at Wapello High School which both the boys' and girls' teams will attend.
Then, all eyes will be on the girls on Tuesday, April 2 as they host the first home track meet at the new stadium in West Liberty.