The Marion boys didn't win any events, but they ran well enough to score 71 points and finish fifth out of 14 teams at their home meet on Monday.

"I thought they made some strides, but they still have some work to do,” Coach Chad Zrudsky said. “We are at a point where we have had some injuries and things keeping our kids from running and the weather hasn't helped, so we are trying to get some things figured out here and shuffle some things around with relays and individuals and try to get the best line-up for conference."

DeWitt Central won the meet with a score of 113 followed by Western Dubuque with 103 and Solon with 90.

The Indians' two best events were the 100 meter dash and the distance medley, which both came in second.

In the 100 meter dash, John Tiernan came in second with a time of 11.696 seconds, despite running in the slower heat. His time beat out Jonah Kuntz of Solon by .001 seconds.

"He ran really well,” Zrudsky said. “He got out of the blocks and got a good start and got out front. He came out of the slow heat to get second overall. He just missed making the fast heat. I'm really proud of the way he ran. He is just one of those kids that works hard and has made strides as the years have gone on."

Zrudsky also was pleased with the Indians distance medley, which came in second with a time of 3:42.73, 1.45 seconds behind Monticello.

"The distance medley ran really well,” he said. “We've got to clean up our handoffs, if we can find an area to improve on. They ran really well between the handoffs. They ran really fast, looked good, form-wise they did what they were supposed to do. If we just clean up the handoffs we can, hopefully, take a couple seconds off that."

Due to a bit of bad luck with injuries, coupled with the poor weather, the Indians have had a bit of trouble getting everyone running this spring. Zrudsky was glad to have this  home meet to give his team one final evaluation before the postseason meets begin.

"It helps us clarify things as far as relay lineups, what is the best lineup going to be,” he said. “It helps us evaluate speed and times to get us ready for the best lineup for the conference to score as well as possible. Then we will change that up and try to get as many events to state that will score well as we can."

Next up for Marion is the Wamac Conference meet Thursday at DeWitt. The Indians have finished seventh at the meet the last couple seasons, but Zrudsky said he feels good about their chances to move up the standings this season.

"DeWitt is going to be nearly impossible to catch,” Zrudsky said. “They've got a great program and they are doing really well. I'm confident in our athletes' abilities. Right now I think things are going to be pretty bunched up in the top half. We were seventh the last two years, so we would like to improve upon that and just see where it takes us. It is kind of up to the kids."

MARION INVITATIONAL

Team Standings -- 1. DeWitt Central 113, 2. Western Dubuque 103, 3. Solon 90, 4. Monticello 74.5, 5. Marion 71, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 58.5, 7. Center Point-Urbana 58, 8. Mount Vernon 41, 9. Benton 26, 10. West Delaware 22.5, 11. Independence 18, 12. Maquoketa Valley 14.5, 13. Alburnett 9, 14. North Cedar 3.

High Jump -- 1. Nick Day (Solon) 6-06, 2. Kreston Coldwell (Independence) 6-0, 3. Sawyer Henry (Center Point-Urbana) 6-0, 4. Isaac Frazier (Marion) 5-10, 5. Max Griffith (Vinton-Shellsburg) 5-06, 6. TIE Scott Carroll (West Delaware), Cody Schindler (Maquoketa Valley), Cody Jamison (Monticello), Kelyn Rickels (Vinton-Shellsburg) 5-04.

Long Jump -- 1. Nick Day (Solon) 20-00.25, 2. Kreston Coldwell (Independence) 19-11.5, 3. Sawyer Henry (Center Point-Urbana) 19-07.00, 4. Chris Campbell (DeWitt Central) 19-03.50, 5. Chris Lubben (DeWitt Central) 18-07.50, 6. Riley Pfeiler (W.Dubuque) 18-05.50.

Shot Put -- 1. Ben Stutt (Monticello) 58-06.00, 2. Joe Carber (DeWitt Central) 55-08.00, 3. Colt Feltes (Maquoketa Valley) 54-09.00, 4. Colton Reynolds (Center Point-Urbana) 51-05.5, 5. Tom McClimon (DeWitt Central Clinton) 51-01.5, 6. Andy Bellamy (Mt. Vernon) 50-09.00.

Discus -- 1. Joe Carber (DeWitt Central) 160-00, 2. Devonte Merrill (Monticello) 158-02, 3. Ben Stutt (Monticello) 155-09, 4. Colt Feltes (Maquoketa Valley) 149-10, 5. Tom McClimon (DeWitt Central) 148-07, 6. Alex Deeds (Benton) 147-08.

3200 meters -- 1. Collin Bream (Solon) 10:05.21, 2. Pryor Stroud (Mt. Vernon) 10:06.73, 3. Trevor Ebel (Mt. Vernon) 10:27.50, 4. Alex Hunter (Marion) 10:42.36, 5. Jason McVay (Alburnett) 10:48.30, 6. Jordan Murray (DeWitt Central) 10:49.24.

4x800 -- 1. Monticello 8:15.93, 2. Western Dubuque 8:25.40, 3. Marion 8:31.01, 4. Vinton-Shellsburg 8:34.14, 5. DeWitt Central 8:52.01, 6. Center Point-Urbana 9:02.51.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay-- 1. Center Point-Urbana 1:00.70, 2. Western Dubuque 1:00.77, 3. West Delaware 1:02.19, 4. Marion 1:02.19, 5. DeWitt Central 1:03.47, 6. Benton 1:04.35.

100 meters -- 1. Pat Parysz (Solon) 11.32, 2. John Tiernan (Marion) 11.696, 3. Jonah Kuntz (Solon) 11.697, 4. Derrick Williams (Marion) 11.72, 5. Antonio Milons (Western Dubuque) 11.74, 6. Daniel Beard (Western Dubuque) 11.79.

400 meters -- 1. Brandon Jasper (DeWitt Central) 50.60, 2. Ben Niemann (DeWitt Central) 51.56, 3. Colton Dall (Solon) 52.57, 4. Chase Overton (Vinton-Shellsburg) 54.14, 5. Logan Pitz (Western Dubuque) 54.37, 6. Dylan James (Western Dubuque) 55.12.

4x200 -- 1. Western Dubuque 1:32.28, 2. DeWitt Central 1:33.03, 3. Solon 1:33.23, 4. Marion 1:33.30, 5. Vinton-Shellsburg 1:34.00, 6. West Delaware 1:35.87.

110 Hurdles -- 1. Conrad Thompson (Benton) 14.83, 2. Dustin Smith (Center Point-Urbana) 15.43, 3. Nick Lenstra (Western Dubuque) 15.5, 4. Taylor Rogers (Marion) 15.53, 5. Isaac Frazier (Marion) 16.12, 6. Sam Lahr (West Delaware) 16.22.

1600 meters -- 1. Ben Alhrichs (Monticello) 4:40.10, 2. Ryan Hermsen (Western Dubuque) 4:44.35, 3. Trevor Ebel (Mt. Vernon) 4:48.89, 4. Wyatt Lyons (Vinton-Shellsburg) 4:51.16, 5. Matt Zinner (DeWitt Central) 4:51.94, 6. Nolan Sagan (Vinton-Shellsburg) 4:54.56.

200 meters -- 1. Pat Parysz (Solon) 22.50, 2. Nick Day (Solon) 22.82, 3. Jason Kirk (Vinton-Shellsburg) 22.94, 4. Corey Harris (Western Dubuque) 23.19, 5. Antonio Milons (Western Dubuque) 23.31, 6. Joe Feldpausch (DeWitt Central) 23.41.

400 meters -- 1. Nick Lenstra (Western Dubuque) 56.40, 2. Garrett Gatrost (Center Point-Urbana) 56.53, 3. Brian Turnis (Monticello) 58.49, 4. Conrad Thompson (Benton) 58.72, 5. Tanner Connor (DeWitt Central) 59.49, 6. Tyler Donovan (Western Dubuque) 59.52.

Distance Medley -- 1. Monticello 3:41.18, 2. Marion 3:42.73, 3. Solon 3:43.62, 4. Mt. Vernon 3:44.20, 5. DeWitt Central 3:44.53, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 3:55.24.

800 meters -- 1. Ben Niemann (DeWitt Central) 2:05.10, 2. Cameron James (Western Dubuque) 2:07.00, 3. Tyler Schneider (Monticello) 2:07.15, 4. Nic Rhinehart (Center Point-Urbana) 2:07.44, 5. Marcus Dunford (Mt. Vernon) 2:10.07, 6. Connor Dalldorf (DeWitt Central) 2:12.39.

Weightman's 4x100 -- 1. Center Point-Urbana 50.40, 2. North Cedar 51.45, 3. Solon 52.57, 4. Monticello 53.40, 5. Alburnett 56.07, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 56.12.

4x100 -- 1. Western Dubuque 44.53, 2. Vinton-Shellsburg 44.90, 3. Solon 45.16, 4. West Delaware 46.01, 5. Marion 46.05, 6. Center Point-Urbana 46.11.

4x400 -- 1. DeWitt Central 3:31.47, 2. Vinton-Shellsburg 3:32.84, 3. Marion 3:33.59, 4. Mt. Vernon 3:34.41, 5. Western Dubuque 3:35.58, 6. West Delaware 3:38.30.