For the second time in nine days, Hunter Bickell celebrated a victory in the 3,200-meter run.

The Wellsville-Middletown sophomore won the event at the Wright City Invitational with a season-best time of 11:57.69. On April 4, he won the 3,200 at the Central Methodist University Invitational with an 11:59 for his first victory in an individual event.

Senior Logan Pursifull also picked up a win at the Wright City Invitational. He came out on top in the shot put with a 44-10.75 for his first victory in high school track.

Bickell and Pursifull were the only W-M athletes who had first-place finishes at Wright City. They helped the W-M boys track finish fourth in the 10-team meet with 101 points.
The Tigers placed sixth with 44 points in the girls division. Junior Bethany Slovensky led W-M with second-place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and the long jump. Also, the Tigers got third-place efforts from juniors Meagan Cripe (shot put) and Jenelle Boeckelman (3,200).

Bickell competed in the 3,200 nine times last year. His best finish was second in the Louisiana Invitational, where he ran a personal -best time of 11:34.18. He also qualified for sectionals in the event, but came up short of a state berth as he placed seventh. Bickell competed in the 3,200-meter relay at the Class 1 state meet in Jefferson City.

At the Wright City meet, Bickell won the 3,200 by 15 seconds over Warrenton’s Noah Cline. He also finished fourth in the 1,600 and helped the 3,200-meter relay team – which also included Gage Marshall, Kaleb Peak and Jonah Slovensky – come in second, giving him a total of three medals for the meet.

Pursifull, who is competing in track for the first time this year, had a second-place finish in the Centralia Open and a fourth-place effort at the Central Methodist Invitational before coming out on top at Wright City. He won by three feet over Warrenton’s Elias McPike.

Marshall finished second in the high jump in a season-best 5-10, surpassing the previous mark of 5-7 at the Centralia Open.

Peak earned a medal in the 1,600 after finishing third. Sophomores Carson Huff (third, javelin) and Cooper Henderson (fourth, high jump), senior Dylan Alsop (fourth, javelin) and freshman Zachary Vogel (fourth, 3,200) also received medals.

By finishing with a 129-8, Huff broke his own school record in the javelin. The previous best was a 126-3 in his second-place finish at the Central Methodist Invitational.

Slovensky finished in 16.86 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and 50.80 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. The junior placed second to Winfield’s Jersy Nelke in both events.
Slovensky finished behind Winfield’s Isabel Reinebach with a 14-9.75 in the long jump. At the Central Methodist Invitational, she recorded a school-record jump of 15-10, breaking the old mark of 15-6.25 that was set by Lisa Lehnen in 2005.

Slovensky, who has a total of 14 medals after four meets, came up one place short of a medal in the triple jump, finishing fifth with a 31-7.5.

The Tigers were scheduled to compete in the Montgomery County Invitational on April 17.