The Hillsboro and Marion track and field teams faced stiff competition Friday at the 12-school Viking Invitational in Lindsborg.
The Hillsboro girls, competing without Hannah Marsh, placed fourth with 69 points and the Marion girls placed seventh with 53. Smoky Valley ran away with the title with 1281/2 points. The Vikings' nearest competitor was Sacred Heart with 72.
For the boys, Marion placed fourth with 59 points while Hillsboro was seventh with 52. Abilene won the meet with 1011/2 points and the home team was second with 80.
The Trojan girls won only two of the 20 events. JuliAnne Chisholm placed first in the high jump at 5-feet, 5 inches and Tina Frick edged Chisholm for first place in the 100-meter hurdles, 15.6 seconds to 15.8 seconds.
"Today's hurdle events featured some outstanding hurdlers at the state level," Trojan coach Dennis Boldt said. "Tina had a super time in the 100 hurdles, and JuliAnne ran a near-personal-best time, finishing second in the 300 hurdles."
The Trojans' 4x400 team of Kelsie Penner, Jessica Heidel, Tina Frick and Chisholm placed second in 4:16.48.
For Marion, which also won two events, Erin Richmond placed first in the pole vault by clearing 8-0 while Erin Carr won the 200 meters in 27.22. Toni Gordon placed second in the javelin.
The Marion boys, meanwhile, did not win an event on the way to fourth place. The Warriors' best finishes came from Jeremy Vondenkamp, who placed second in the 300-meter hurdles in 41.51, and Ben Leppke who placed second in the triple jump at 40-10.
Hillsboro won three events: Tim Funk cleared 6-0 in the high jump, Sammy Espada sailed 42-1 in the triple jump and David Funk cleared 13-6 in the pole vault.
Thad Holmes finished the 1,600 in 4:51.47 for the Trojans' only second-place finish.
In addition to those performances, Boldt cited as a highlight Sean Leihy and Cody McMillen breaking the 11-minute barrier in the 3,200 to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
Coming-Hillsboro was to play host to a five-team meet on Tuesday, then will compete on Friday in the large Conrad Nightingale Invitational in Halstead.
Marion was scheduled to be in Leon for a quint on Tuesday and will join the field in Halstead on Friday. Events begin there at 3 p.m.
