George, Wagner and Canamore win at Mt. Zion Invitational
By Fred Kroner
Three St. Joseph eighth-graders won individual events on Saturday (April 29) in the 13-school Mount Zion Junior High boys’ track and field invitational.
The Panthers’ standouts were sprinter Gunnar George and weight-event specialists Cam Wagner and Willis Canamore.
George was victorious in the 100-meter dash in 12.66 seconds. He edged his nearest competitor by .02. There were 28 athletes who participated in the race.
Canamore was the discus champion with a personal-best toss of 140 feet, 5 inches. He prevailed by 2 feet.
Wagner was triumphant in the shot put with a personal-best 49 feet. He won by 5 feet, 2 ½ inches. Wagner added a fourth-place finish in the discus (133-8).
St. Joseph also received points in the shot put from a second entrant. Eli Garrett ended third (43-1).
Besides Canamore and Wagner, Panthers who wound up among the top 10 individually in three other events recorded personal-best times or distances.
Two were posted by George, who was second in the 200 meters (25.31 seconds) and second in the long jump (17 feet, 8 inches).
Also setting a PR was pole-vaulter Hayden Douglas, who was eighth at 6-6.
St. Joseph had four other top-10 placers, including Waylon Jones in two events. Jones wound up third in the long jump (17-3 ½) and seventh in the 800 meters (2:21.07).
Teammate Zach Benoit was eighth in the 200 meters (27.89 seconds) and Tyler Hess finished 10th in the 400 meters (1:04.26).
Three of the school’s relay entries also excelled, including the runner-up 400-meter grouping of Brayden Waller, Garrett, Canamore and George. Their cumulative time was 49.86 seconds.
Placing third was the 1,600-meter foursome of Waller, Benoit, Hess and Jones. They were timed in 4:00.59.
St. Joseph’s 800-meter unit of Cameron Sharp, Mason Olinger, Hayden Douglas and Jasper Marriott crossed the finish line in 1:57.00.
The Panthers finished in second place in the team chase, trailing only Mount Zion, which had 104 ½ points. St. Joseph ended with 76 points.
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In the seventh-grade portion of the Mount Zion Invitational, St. Joseph tied for 10th place with seven points. Mount Zion was the team champion with 115 points.
Six Panthers who secured top-10 places in individual events posted their top career marks. Leading the way were fifth-place finishers Landon May (shot put at 32 feet, 8 inches) and Owen Wall (discus at 91-7 ½).
Other team leaders were Jackson Kasper (sixth in the 800 meters in 2:31.96), Ben Wells (seventh in the pole vault at 6-6), Brandon Grindley (ninth in the high jump at 4-6) and Eli Franklin (10th in the 1,600 meters in 5:39.60).
All three St. Joseph relays placed among the top eight.
The 400-meter foursome of Isaiah Reynolds, Mattyx Martin, Mason Osterbur and Kenny Gonzalez were timed in 58.83 seconds.
Finishing in sixth was the 800-meter relay unit of Conlin Gill, Dalton Trotter, Grindley and Logan Umbarger. They stopped the clock in 1:59.81.
Sharing the baton on the eighth-place 1,600-meter relay were Franklin, Trotter, Kasper and Gill. Their combined time was 4:44.55.
St. Joseph will return to action on Saturday (May 6) in the Unity Invitational in Tolono.
