Highland girls take title at Mike Kautz Invite

The Highland Huskies girls’ track team blew past the competition on Monday, winning the Mike Kautz Invite in Lone Tree by a 24-point margin.

Highland only claimed two gold medals on the night with a pair of field event victories from Alexa Hahn and Kinzie Reuss, but the Huskies were a bastion of consistency on Monday, taking second place in three relays and four individual events and scoring points in all but two events with a Husky entry.

“I thought there were some great performances today,” Highland coach Angela Strobel said. “I was really happy with this nice weather so that our kids could finally have an opportunity to run fast and not complain about the conditions. I’m all smiles and I think they are too.”

Hahn’s victory in the long jump highlighted the day for the Huskies, as she finally broke a mark she’d been hunting all season: 17 feet.

“I was really excited because I’ve been really wanting this goal since the beginning of the season, and knowing I finally hit it was really great.”

Making her initial target mark at the halfway point of the season with a month to go before May’s state qualifiers, Hahn has already set her new goal to hit before the end of the year at 17’5”.

“I am so pumped for her,” Strobel said of Hahn’s new personal best. “She worked really hard last year on all kinds of technical things, and her increased speed this year and all the work she’s put in has really added up to that.”

Reuss’ victory came with a 4’10” mark in the high jump, short of her target of five feet. While her aims remain set higher, the freshman says she’s pleased with her progress this season, “I think things are going really good. I feel excited to see what the next half of the season looks like.”

The Huskies will return to the track on Thursday when they travel to Lisbon.