Trojans Take Second at Ken Carstens Invitational

The Trojans scored a total of 121 points as a team to earn second place, three points behind host team Harlan.

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Bryer Rose

INCHING AWAY – Senior Jalen Petersen creeps into the lead position during the 3200m run at the Denison meet. Petersen took first during that race and again in Harlan.

Madison Botos and Maycie Waters

The Atlantic boys’ track team took second place at the Ken Carstens Invitational in Harlan on Tuesday, April 9. According to head coach Jordan Mullen, junior Tyler Moen “just keeps getting faster.” Moen won the 200m dash with a time of 22.72. Senior Zade Niklasen also won in the 400m dash with a time of 50.35, beating the meet record.

Coming back from an injury, senior Chase Mullenix won the open 800m run and gained a new personal record in the 400m dash with a time of 50.70. Sophomore Craig Alan Becker won the 1600m run and Mullen said, “[he] keeps dropping time by himself, so I’m excited to see what he can do when we get some competition out in front of him.” Senior Jalen Petersen also “ran pretty dang well,” winning the 3200m run.

The sprint medley consisting of freshman Gannon O’Hara, sophomore Skyler Handlos, Niklasen and Moen “went really fast” and won with a time of 1:37.16. “That relay is starting to come along. It’s very promising,” Mullen said.

One highlight of the meet was high-jumper Spencer Ray getting over 5’10”. Mullen said, “As a whole we’ve had a lot of positives and the team really competed and I’m getting excited for the latter half of the season. No time to go backwards, so that was a big positive, big strides forward but we gotta keep working. We are starting to compete and look a lot like a team.”

The Trojans run next on Tuesday, April 16, at Lewis Central.