March 28: Winfield High School - Winfield, MO
After a month of practice, the Blue Knights Track Team started their 2023 season at the Winfield High School Early Invite. The meet can be summarized with two words: relays and underclassmen.
The Knights graduated 20 Seniors from a successful 2022 team. While those Knight alum won’t be forgotten, several newcomers to the team had strong showings at Winfield. Blue Knights displayed strong teamwork in the relay portion of the meet. On the women’s side, the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relay teams each took 1st place. The 4 x 400 team consisted of Tabby Bryant, Cami Plymale, Sophia Nguyen, and Faith Brown with a time of 4:37. The 4 x 800 team of Sadie Brandt, Anya Stiles, Emily Majors, and Bryant ran an 11:55. Both relay times rank these particular teams the 2nd fastest in Blue Knights history. Also of note, 6 of the 7 ladies on these relays are freshmen or sophomores!
On the men’s side, the 4 x 400 team of Sam Schark, Michael Leine, Brody Seth, and Brandon Bryant finished 2nd at Winfield with a time of 3:54.68. The 4 x 200 relay team of Noah Kusmanoff, Michael Moore, Roman Gaugh, and Aaron Mudge finished 3rd at the meet, but managed to set a Blue Knights Team Record in the 4 by 2 with a time of 1:45:32.
Since times tend to get faster as the year goes on, the fans of the Blue Knights might be seeing other relay records fall before the end of the season!
Sophomores Mudge and James Wamsley, and Freshmen Reuben Anderson, Brown and Plymale all proved they were ready for Varsity competition as well. All 5 athletes are new to the Blue Knights High School team this year.
Mudge finished 5th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.2 and that mark set a Blue Knights team record for the event. He then anchored the 4 x 200 relay team. Walmsley finished 5th in the 1600 and anchored the Men’s 4 x 800. Another stellar Sophomore, although not new to the team, Bryant contributed to the winning relay teams and finished 4th in the 800 meter run.
Brown and Anderson led the Blue Knights in scoring. Brown earned 16.5 total points with 3rd place finishes in the Long Jump and the 400 meter dash. She also anchored the winning 4 x 400 meter relay team and earned points in the 100 Hurdles. Anderson earned the team 10 points by finishing 2nd in the 3200 and a 7th place finish in the 1600. Plymale earned the Blue Knights points in the 200 and 400.
With promising underclassmen contributing already, fans of the 2023 Blue Knights have many good moments for future meets this year.