The Switzerland County Pacer boys track team didn’t have all of its team members present at last Thursday’s Milan Invitational track meet, and in the end the short-handed Pacers finished sixth in the meet.
Milan won the meet with a score of 143; followed by Jac-Cen-Del with 76; South Decatur with 75; Southwestern with 69; North Decatur with 63; and Switzerland County with 38.
Junior Ben Hickman continued his outstanding season, finishing first in the 200-meter dash in a time of :23.56; second in the long jump; fifth in the discus; and was part of the 400-meter relay team along with Nathan Hickman, B.J. Shelton, and Brandon Otter that finished fourth.
Third place points were scored by Brandon Otter in the high jump; and fourth place points were earned by Nathan Wegman in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Fifth place finishers included Nathan Hickman in the 110-meter high hurdles and in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles; and B.J. Shelton in the shot put.
Josh Snow was sixth in the 1,600-meter run; and Jim Abbott was sixth in the 3,200-meter run.
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On Saturday, the Pacers participated in the Madison Invitational, finishing fourth in a field of seven teams.
Indian Creek won the meet with a score of 123, followed by Madison with 102, South Dearborn with 72, Switzerland County with 53, South Ripley with 49, Jac-Cen-Del with 41, and Pekin Eastern with 38.
Ben Hickman brought home Switzerland County’s lone blue ribbon, winning the long jump with a leap of 19’9 1/4”. Ben Hickman was also third in the 200-meter dash; and was part of the fourth place 400-meter relay team, along with Brandon Otter, T.J. Sefton, and Nathan Hickman.
Jim Abbott was second in the 3,200-meter run; and Brandon Otter was second in the high jump.
Third place was earned by T.J. Sefton in the 100-meter dash; and he was also fourth in the long jump and sixth in the high jump. B.J. Shelton was fourth in the shot put; and fifth place was earned by Josh Wegman in the 110-meter high hurdles.
“We finished ahead of other conference schools that were in the meet, and that’s always a goal,” Coach Sean McGarvey said. “I was very proud of several individual performances.”