Cold wet conditions at Madison Relays

BUTLER STADIUM-The Cougars had to deal with constant drizzle and temperatures below 50 degrees on Saturday, but it seemed to work in their favor. The performance of the meet on the men's side came from senior Eric Sheppard who led the team to a 3rd place finish in the 3200m Relay with a 1:58.8 anchor leg. Sheppard then went on to win the open 800 meter run in 2:01 and the 1600 meter run in a time of 4:32, which ties his current personal best and is his 2005 best. Senior Chris Pine had another stellar day, leading the team off with a 2nd place finish in the 3200 meter run with a new personal best time of 10:10. Pine ran the second leg of the 3200m Relay with a 2:09 leg, then finished the day with a 3rd place finish in the 1600m with a 4:46, which ties his PR set last week at the Katy ISD Relays. Senior David Thiele had a break through performance in the 110 meter hurdles by placing 4th with a 15.3.

There were several outstanding performances on the girls' side. Sophomore Elizabeth Westlake set a track PR of 12:07 which was good enough for 2nd place in the 3200m run. She came back later to win the 1600m with a time of 5:36. Junior Amy Machemehl also ran well in the 3200m and placed 3rd with a 12:43. Machemehl was also a member of the 3200m Relay team that placed 2nd. The ladies also got some points in the 100m hurdles with Jessica Bonilla placing 5th and Sade Anding placing 7th. Senior Veronica Rodriguez jumped 4-10 in the high jump, anchored the 2nd place 3200m Relay team and finished 5th in the open 800m run. Rodriguez finished the day by anchoring the 1600m Relay.

Overall both teams showed improvement in almost every event and are making good progress leading into their main focus, the district 20-5A Championships.