Tosa West girls track and field team takes fourth at Nelson-Daniels

The Wauwatosa West girls track and field team finished fourth on Saturday in its first indoor meet of the season at the Nelson-Daniels Invite at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Cary-Grove (Illinois) scored 83 points to win the event, while the Trojans had 42.5 points to finish behind Brookfield East (48) and Middleton (46).

The Trojans had eight top-10 finishers and two more just outside the top 10.

The top performer of the day was Azya McLin, who won the 55-meter dash in 7.26 seconds, beating out Yadiah Stallworth of DSHA (7.35).

It was the second straight season McLin won the 55-meter dash at the Nelson-Daniels meet, but she also went a step further in tying the meet record set by Kellion Gordon of Niles West High School (Illinois) back in 2010.

"Azya continues to impress," West coach Jack LoPresti said. "Her hard work in the off-season is evident and she will have a really super sophomore season.

"The entire coaching staff is really excited to see what the future holds for Azya."

West had two third-place performers in Mercy Ndon in the 55-meter dash in 7.45 seconds and Alexis Hardy in the shot put, with a toss of 33-6½.

"A nice start by a junior thrower," LoPresti said of Hardy's performance.

The 800 relay team finished third (1:53) behind the team of Ndon, Cheri'A Adams, Elise Ditscheit and McLin.

"It was a great job by the sprint crew in the 4x200," LoPresti said. "They had some trouble with a handoff but still finished third."

Adams was fourth in both the 55-dash (7.59) and the triple jump (33-feet, 11 inches). Hannah Doyle also finished fourth in the 3,200 in 12 minutes, 5.73 seconds.

"The rest of the Tosa West sprinters had a pretty good day, too," LoPresti said, pointing out the performances of Ndon and Adams. "Cheri'A had a great first meet for a freshman; a really nice start to her career."

Rounding out the top-10 finishes were Anna Roghan, who was ninth in the 1,600 (5:43.15) and Sarah McOlash, who finished 10th in the pole vault with a leap of 7-feet.

"Anna Roghan ran an indoor personal best of 5:42 in the 1,600," LoPresti said. "A good start to her 2014 season."

Two athletes were just outside the top-10, finishing 11th — Tessa Mallegni in the triple jump (31-feet, 9 inches) and Beth Garncarz in the shot (30-11½).