Intermittent rain prevented meet officials from holding long jump competitions, but the conditions didn't dampen a pair of streaking programs in the city track and field meet.
With senior Kate Muskat capturing two individual wins, a second and a leg on a runner-up relay, Bishop Chatard amassed 139 points to stand 21 ahead of Cathedral and clinch its fourth consecutive title in the 37th annual girls meet Wednesday at the Tech High School track.
Cathedral, meanwhile, used depth and a strong distance corps to accumulate 137 points to outdistance Manual's 88 and secure a third straight crown in the 75th annual boys gathering.
Final scores for boys and girls will be decided after the long jump events are staged; that will be at 4:15 p.m. Friday at Heritage Christian in conjunction with the city freshman meet.
"Overall I'm satisfied, but I wish the two seconds would have been firsts," said Muskat, who won the 100 meters in 12.27 seconds and the high jump at 5 feet, 4 inches, but was second in the 200 and couldn't quite pull out the anchor leg of the 400 relay. "But this is definitely better than last year as running is much more fun than watching.
"It's good to be back."
Muskat missed last year's meet because of an injury.
Chatard coach Sean McGinley was thrilled with his Trojans, who rebounded from a subpar performance at the April 25 All-Catholic Meet.
"We didn't run well there, so that was a big motivator for us," said McGinley, adding that his team's 3,200 and 1,600 relays provided key wins. "We had several people step up, and our studs ran really well."
McGinley noted that junior Carly Sobolewski and classmate Alex Metzger joined Muskat as individual standouts, while Christen Salyer, Rachel Kimack, Emily Boyce, Christine Kirby, Katy Burkert and Marianne Holland contributed to the winning relays.
Sobolewski was a repeat champion in the 3,200 (11:33.34) and runner-up in 1,600 (5:25.88) to Cathedral junior Katy Achtien (5:21.13), another repeat champ. Metzger cleared 10-8 in the pole vault to break her own meet record.
Cathedral senior Heather Barton, Covenant Christian senior Elizabeth Heuss and Northwest senior Renyae Owsley didn't set records, but they excelled. Barton won the 300 hurdles for the fourth consecutive year (47.90) and was second in the 100 hurdles (17.99) to Heritage Christian junior Erin Gallo (17.20), while Heuss beat Muskat in the 200 (25.62) after placing second in the 100 (12.36).
"I had a really good start (in the 200)," said Heuss, who also anchored the runner-up 1,600 relay.
Owsley was impressive in the 400, completing a lap in 58.04 to best defending champ Jalisa McMorris of Tech (1:00.55).
In the boys meet, Cathedral used blue ribbons from junior Anthony Cossell in the pole vault (10-0), sophomore Hale O'Herren in the 1,600 (4:28.00), senior Joe Kluemper in the 800 (2:00.67) and sophomore J.R. Ricker in the 3,200 (9:43.82) for its big points.
The Irish also saw hurdlers Joe Greenwell and Allen Richardson, distance runners O'Herren and Jeff Sterrett, and quarter-milers Cy Bennett and Jimmy Kervan add points with seconds, thirds and fourths to allow them to pull away.
"This is one of our deepest teams," Cathedral coach Tom Gallagher said.
Manual, led by triple winner Dominique Corder and double winner Jeremias Hooks, made a strong showing. Corder, a junior, set a meet record of 40.11 in the 300 hurdles and won the 110 hurdles in 14.17. Hooks, a senior, captured the 400 in 51.51. They also teamed with junior Jameel Cross and sophomore Lorenzo Copeland to win the 1,600 relay in 3:29.80.
"These kids have worked so hard," first-year Redskins coach Dameion Smith said.
The most exciting races were the 200, where Scecina junior Gilberto Leija outleaned Arlington's Kendale Williams, 22.98-22.99; the 800, where Kluemper nipped Scecina's Derek Harris by five-hundredths of a second; and the 400 relay, where Arlington's William Sanders, Howard Evans, James Sharp and Williams were timed in 43.16 to beat a Manual quartet by seven-hundredths of a second.