The annual Monroe-Randolph Bi-County Meet took place last Tuesday in Sparta, with the Waterloo High School track team once again taking top honors.

The Bulldogs boys and girls tracksters took the overall combined championship. Waterloo’s Joe Schwartz was selected as Male Athlete of the Meet.

The Columbia High School boys track team won first place overall as a team.

In addition to Waterloo and Columbia, competing teams were Gibault, Red Bud, Chester, Sparta, Steeleville and Christ Our Savior Lutheran. 

In the boys section of the meet, Columbia’s Rand Mathews and Alex Blum placed first and second with times of 22.94 and 24.19 seconds, respectively.

Gibault’s Nate Nevois won the 400 meter run with a time of 54.56 seconds.

Schwartz won the 800 meter run with a personal best time of 2:01.20, then edged Columbia’s Ethan Hogan by less than two seconds to win the 1,600 meter run.

Hogan won the 3,200 meter run with a personal best time of 9:53.71.

Columbia’s Jackson Judy won the 110 meter hurdles with a personal best time of 15.91 seconds.

In the 300 meter hurdles, Gibault’s Owen Scherff won with a time of 42.50 seconds.

Columbia’s 4×100 relay team of Austin Luebbers, Mathews, Carson Walton and Judy won with a time of 44.99 seconds.

Columbia’s 4×200 relay team of Luebbers, Blum, Jackson Buelteman and Judy edged Waterloo’s Chris Pete, Dylan Brewer, Mitch Baldwin and Ian Huebner by less than one second, winning with a time of 1:37.37.

Waterloo’s 4×800 relay team of Morgan Stratton, Austin Corey, Ethan Schimpf and Kyle Kern won with a time of 9:06.96.

In the discus, Columbia’s Carter Hicks placed first with a throw of 37.57 meters.

Other than the continued feats of Columbia’s Abby Venhaus – who once again won the 100 and 200 meter runs, long jump and triple jump – the girls meet was dominated by Waterloo. 

In the 400 meter run, Waterloo’s Kristin Smith (1:01.60) and Molly Grohmann (1:01.67) placed first and second, respectively.

In the 800 meter run, Waterloo’s Kamryn Rader won with a time of 2:43.20.

In the 1,600 meter run, Waterloo’s Angelynn Kanyuck (5:51.87) and Cameron Crump (5:52.59) placed first and second, respectively.

In the 3,200 meter run, Waterloo’s Danielle Mudd (12:09.40) and Ava Rau (13:15.87) placed first and second, respectively.

Marah Johnston won both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles for Waterloo with times of 18.23 and 52.59 seconds, respectively.

The Waterloo girls also swept the relay events. 

The 4×100 team of Johnston, London Barringer, Carleigh McFarlane and Ellin Lunk posted a winning time of 54.24 seconds.

The 4×200 team of McFarlane, Lunk, Barringer and Taylor Thorsten posted a time of 1:56.17.

The 4×400 team of Smith, Mudd, Grohmann and Thorsten posted a time of 4:23.01.

The 4×800 team of Mudd, Rader, Crump and Kanyuck posted a time of 10:35.97.

Grohmann won the high jump at 1.63 meters and Lunk won the pole vault at 2.29 meters.