Woodbury boys track & field: Abodunde, McClain help Royals finish third in pair

The Woodbury boys track and field team fared well in its two most recent meets.

The Royals took third place out of eight teams at the 39th Annual Jim Sauer Invitational, held at Rosemount High School on Friday, April 27, before taking third place at the six-team Bob Stewart Invitational last Tuesday at Barnum High School.

In Rosemount, Woodbury scored 119 points. Rosemount won its own meet with 179.50 points. North St. Paul finished second with 179 points.

Though Woodbury had strong finishes on the track, its top results may have come in the field.

As it has in most meets, Woodbury stood out in the triple jump. Junior Abiola Abodunde finished in first place in the event with a leap of 43 feet, 2 inches in the final. Also, junior Ethan Turner took third place with a 41-11.50 mark, junior John Osifuye took fourth place with a leap of 40 feet, 10 inches, sophomore Ladi Lawal placed sixth with a jump of 40-07.75 and sophomore Ryan Buchmeier took 10th place with a 36-11.25 mark.

In addition, Woodbury junior Joshua McClain won the discus toss with a throw of 138 feet, 2 inches in the finals. Also, Woodbury junior Kyle Schmidt earned sixth place in the disk with a throw of 131-03.

On the track, the Royals’ 1600-meter relay team of juniors Matthew Waterhouse and Abodunde and seniors Davis Johnson and Kyle Haugen finished in first place with a time of 3:31.39.

In other relays, Woodbury’s 400-meter relay team of junior Quaran Al-Hameed, Abodunde, Osifuye and senior Dimeji Iselewa took second place with a time of 45.23 and Woodbury’s 800-meter relay team of Iselewa, Osifuye, Abodunde and Haugen also took second with a time of 1:35.03.

Individually, Johnson also won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.32 seconds and took second place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.85. Lawal earned eighth in the 110-meter event with a time of 17.07 and junior Tucker Benjamin finished 12th in the 300-meter race with a 45.45 time. Also, freshman Nick Wareham and senior Luke Wittman took second and third in the 3200-meter run, respectively. Wareham had a time of 10 minutes, 20.29 seconds. Wittman ran the race in 10:34.68. Al-Hameed finished in third place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.83. Waterhouse took third place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.22. Sam Evans and Taylor Voit came in 10th and 11th in the 800-meter run with times of 2:10.79 and 2:10.99, respectively. Junior Ethan Turner took fourth place in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 8 inches and Lawal earned eighth place in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 8.75 inches.

At last Tuesday’s Bob Stewart Invitational, Woodbury finished in third place behind first-place Mounds View (285.5 points) and second-place Stillwater (217.5) as the Suburban East Conference schools flexed their muscles.

Woodbury won both the 400-meter relay and the 800-meter relay at the meet. The 400 team of Iselewa, Abodunde, Al-Hameed and Haugen won the race with a time of 43.68 and the 800 team of Iselewa, Osifuye, Waterhouse and Haugen took first in a 1:32.46 time. The Royals’ finish in the 400 relay was the third fastest recorded time in the state thus far this year.

Also, Woodbury’s 1600-meter sprint medley relay team of Osifuye, Lawal, Johnson and Waterhouse won the race in a time of 3:42.97 and the Royals’ 3200-meter relay team of Nathan Orf, Evans, Voit and Steven Jessen-Howard crossed the finish line in second place with a time of 8:43.31.

Individually, Abodunde won the 200 in a time of 23.39 and finished first in the triple jump with a leap of 44-05.75, which was the fifth best recorded distance in the state thus far this season. Also, Osifuye was second in the triple with a 43-09 mark. McClain won the shot put with a heave of 48-08.50 and was second in the discus toss with a 147-00 mark. Turner took second place in the high jump, clearing 5-10. Johnson took third place in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.29 and was third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.77 and Jessen-Howard took sixth place in the 400 with a time of 56.10.

Woodbury competed in an invitational at Mounds View on Tuesday, after the Bulletin went to press. Next, the Royals will compete in the True Team Section Meet on Thursday at Stillwater.

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