AT THE WIRE — North Union sprinter Shelby Fraker (left) leans to nip Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther rival Brooke Grathwohl for top honors in the Sentinel Relays’ Class A girls 100-meter dash Friday night in Fairmont. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Two high-profile multi-team track & field events in back-to-back days does not logically seem like a formula for success at the high school level.

The North Union Warriors dispatched that theory during the Class A division of the 67th annual Sentinel Relays on Friday night at Bob Bonk Track.

Sprinter Shelby Fraker and thrower Olivia Merrill delivered double victories to help power North Union to a narrow 120-115 1/2 margin of victory over both St. Clair and River Valley during the eight-school competition in Fairmont.

“We’re coming off a second-place showing at the Top of Iowa Conference Meet last night (Thursday) at Waldorf College in Forest City (Iowa), but the kids were anxious to compete against a number of good Minnesota lineups today,” said North Union coach Loren Looft, who captured the Warriors’ first-ever team crown at the long-running regular-season event.

Fraker, who is ironically a catcher for the Warriors’ softball team in the summer, dispelled the myth that signal-callers do not possess speed by breaking the tape in the 100-meter dash in a winning time of 13.48.

Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther Jayhawk senior Brooke Grathwohl captured the bronze medal in the open 100 in 13.82.

After North Union long-distance extraordinaire Jacey Welbig crossed the finish line first in the 1,600 in 5:57.69, Fraker delivered another gold medal by claiming top honors in the open 200 (27.7).

Fraker then loaned her sprinting skills to the Warriors’ winning 4×100 relay team. Ella Ulrich, Naomi Jones, Fraker and Sam Nielsen exchanged handoffs to cover the distance in 52.93.

Nielsen continued her winning ways in the high jump by earning a gold medal by clearing 5-2 before Merrill generated more points for North Union’s cause. Merrill outdueled teammate Makayla Burt for first place in the discus, 102-6–85-3, before topping the Class A field in the shot with a heave of 33-1 1/2.

The Warriors packed more point production via its 4×800 and 4×200 relays by striking silver in both events. Hanna Sandvig, Cassie Beadle, Welbig and Lily Henderson won the Sentinel Relays-opening 4×800 in a time of 10:55.0, while Ulrich, Sandvig, Beth Strueber and Naomi Jones coordinated handoffs to a runner-up time of 1:54.97 in the 4×200.

Henderson, Libby Stevens, Strueber and Naomi Jones added a third-place performance (4:32.43) in the 4×400 relay to the Warriors’ winning ways.

Grathwohl defended her high hurdles crown from 2019 by edging Fairmont junior varsity’s Cadence Leiding, 17.33-17.43.

Rachel O’Connor cleared 15-0 1/2 in the long jump for the first of her two golds for the Fairmont junior varsity, which claimed fourth in the team standings at 108.5. O’Connor then outdueled Cardinal teammate Emily Frank for first place in the triple jump, 31-8–31-2.

Katie Hartke bested the small-schools field in the 3,200-meter run by crossing the finish line in 12:38.91 for Martin County West, which netted sixth in the team competition at 70.

Martin County West and Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther compete in a True Team Section Meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Mapleton, while North Union competes against Central Springs at 4:30 p.m. Monday in Manly, Iowa.