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Sugar River makes splash at UW-Platteville
Sugar River relay
Bryce Babler hands off to Thomas Nelson in the winning 4x400 relay. Jack Erickson and DeMarcus Conner also ran in this event. / Photo for the Times: Erin Reddy Wolff

PLATTEVILLE — The University of Wisconsin Platteville hosted the Tri-State Large and Small School Invitationals on Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18 where Sugar River proved up to the early test.

The boys dominated, finishing second to Northeast with 83.50 points. Five individuals and two relays placed in the top two.

Thomas Nelson and Tanner Gardner finished back-to-back in the 3200-meter run, with times of 10:26.87 and 11:53.75, respectively. Nelson then partnered with DeMarcus Conner, Bryce Babler and Jack Erickson in the 4x400 relay for first. The squad ran it in 3:40.38, nearly eight full seconds ahead of the second-place team.

Conner and Erickson snagged the first two spots in the triple jump, recording leaps of 38-08.5 and 38-07.5, respectively. The duo also ran in the 4x200 relay with DJ Donnell and Gabe Ness. The Raiders took second with a time of 1:38.66.

As an individual, Donnell took second in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 6.77 seconds.

Cade Thayer was the lone third-place finisher for the boys with a height of 5-08.00 in the high jump.

Herioli
Herioli Fraire was one leg of Sugar River’s 4x200 relay that took fourth. She competed with Alex Atwell, Elle Lancaster and Grace Nommensen. / Photo for the Times: Erin Reddy Wolff

On the girls side, Sugar River finished 7 of 18 teams with 36 points.

Ruthie Zuber paced the Raiders with her second-place finish in the 3200-meter run. With a time of 13:08.55, she beat the third-place runner by over 50 seconds.

Albany also participated in the Small School meet on Saturday. The girls finished 14 of 18 teams with 10 points. Six of those came from Lillyanna Morales, who finished third in the shot put with a throw of 31-02. 

The boys also scored 10 points, finishing 14 of 20 teams. The 4x800 relay team of Brian Cid, Ethan Koss, Drew Sertle and Gage Roth paced the Comets with its fifth-place finish. They recorded a time of 9:58.81.

Darlington competed in the Large School meet on Friday, going against some stiff competition.

The boys scored just four points, with its 4x200 and 4x400 relays tallying two points each. Isaac Crist, Cooper Crist, Eli Crist and Parker Shager combined in the 4x200, while George West, Ethan Aird, Kane McDermott and Isaac Crist came together in the 4x400. 

Meanwhile, the girls scored 30 points. Josie Meister paced the Redbirds with eight points. She finished second in the shot put with a throw of 31-11.00.