Mende breaks record

FORT WAYNE — Matilda Mende started her high school athletics career on a strong note.

In her second meet, it only got stronger.

One week after breaking the 60-meter dash school record for the Jay County High School indoor track team, she repeated Saturday at the Bulldog Invitational held at Indiana Tech, hosted by New Haven.

The girls team finished fourth by scoring 57 points, while Wawasee took the top spot with 89. The boys fell to 13th with only 11 points. Warsaw won the meet for the boys with 97 points.

Mende ran a time of 8.2 seconds on March 1, and cut that time down to 8.11 seconds to take first place in the event.

The Patriots also had six other top-five finishes. Adam Alig’s third-place finish in the high jump was the only top-five finish for the boys. He reached the 5 feet, 8 inches mark for the score, and also placed eighth in the 60 hurdles.

Molly Muhlenkamp and Jenna Dues earned the runner-up and third spot in the girls high jump. Muhlenakmp reached 4 feet, 10inches, while Dues got to 4 feet, 8 inches.

Morgan DeHoff logged the other individual top-five placement. Her time of 10.69 seconds netted her fifth place. 

Both the 4x200 relay (1 minute, 55.22 seconds) and distance medley relay teams (15:11.17) placed fourth.