Holding on to a narrow 10 point lead going into the final event of the Millard South Invite it would all come down to the 4×400 relay. The Patriots just needed to place in the top three in order to win the invite. The Patriots Track and Field team has gone over 25 years without winning the Millard South invitational. That streak has ended, as for the first time since 1995, the Patriots have won the Millard South track invite.

“We knew going into the 4×100 which is the race right before that it would come down to the final event,” Head Coach Michael Edmundson said. “The boys used that to get themselves fired up and totally pumped up to run. Not out of control, but definitely the knew that it would come down to them and they were all laser focused. It was awesome to see.”

“It was definitely hype during the 4×400 and it was really fun to see,” junior Aaron Masenge said.

The runners running in the relay: Nolan Feller, Aaron Masenge, Landon Miller and Delunn Jones, placed 2nd in the event which was enough to put the Patriots over the top and win the invite.

“It felt really good,” Masenge said. “It doesn’t always happen where you put in the hard work and get a great result and it was just great to have it like that.

“We were a little surprised since we haven’t won the invite since the 1990s,” senior Braytyn Nespor said. “This year we have a really solid team and we have a good shot for the rest of the season.

“It came down to the last race and the team was rallying behind the relays,” Edmundson said. “It was a super exciting way to end the day. Being able to take the victory lap was an awesome experience and everyone contributed to this great day.”

“We haven’t won the invite in over 20 years,” junior Alfred Kangni said. “We were all really excited that the hard work we put in paid off.”

A lot of practices and hard work took place in order for the Patriots to win this invite.

“Our focus is that we do not want to go into this first meet tired where our legs are not as fresh,” Edmundson said. “So we fine tune our training so that our legs will be fresh and we can perform at our best.”

“We had a lot of high intensity practices over the last couple of weeks,” Nespor said. “I feel like we were really focused and ready to go.”

“We practiced a bunch and tried to be healthy to prepare for the invite,” junior Dalton Heller.

This is just the beginning. This was just the first event of the season for the Patriots as they will continue to try and reach their goal of being one of the best teams in the state.

“Our team goal is to be a top 5 team at state,” Edmundson said. “We have a lot of the pieces in place, but need to continue to develop in all aspects. If we can put everything together by state we will be a top 5 team.”

“My goal for the rest of the season is to have us place at state,” Heller said.