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A warm, sunny afternoon finally allowed Polk County to complete the twice-delayed Tony Waldrop Invitational track and field meet.

 

Athletes from East Rutherford, Madison, Chase and Christ School joined the Wolverines in G.M. Tennant Stadium in the annual meet that celebrates Waldrop, the Polk Central High graduate who went on to be one of the top distance runners in the world in the 1970s. Waldrop died in December at the age of 70.

 

Polk County dominated Thursday’s meet, with the Wolverine girls topping East Rutherford and the Polk boys racking up 251 points, more than double the total of runner-up Madison.

 

Polk athletes with two individual event wins included Sophia Overholt, winning the long jump and the 400-meter run, Antonio Simpson, who claimed the 100 and 200-meter sprints, and Nathaniel Rhein, who won the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Both of Rhein’s winning teams broke the qualifying standard for the 2A West Regional later this year, as did Overholt’s mark in the long jump.

 

Polk County’s Nathaniel Rhein leans at the finish line to top Madison’s Caden Hilemon and win the 110-meter hurdles at Thursday’s Tony Waldrop Invitational