(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) Hinton's Kyle Huggenberger tries to overtake A-W's Kyle Groon in the 200 meter dash. Groon took first in 23.20 while Huggenberger was second in 23.32 seconds. [Click to enlarge]

In the midst of Tuesday afternoon's series of thunderstorms, the Akron-Westfield boys looked past the conditions and won their second meet of the season.

Kyle Groon led the Westerners to their victory at the Heartland Relays in Marcus. The senior tallied first place points in four events towards A-W's total of 131 team points.

Groon began the night winning the high jump (5-10) and the long jump (20-10 3/4).

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) A-W's Joe Sievert took third place (17.37) in the 110 high hurdles Tuesday afternoon. Finishing in fifth (18.13) was his teammate Chris Carlson. [Click to enlarge]

Later he sprinted his way to another pair of golds as he won both the 400 meter dash (54.35) and the 200 meter dash (23.20).

A fifth gold medal went to John Sievert for his top discus spin of 116-6.

The Westerners continued their success through the wind and rain and took home four silver medals as well.

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) A-W's Anthony Miller cleared 5-8 in the high jump Tuesday afternoon to place second overall. [Click to enlarge]

Anthony Miller placed second, behind Groon, in the high jump, clearing 5-foot-8.

A pair of relays also took second places finishes Tuesday afternoon. The 4x800 relay team of Braxton Bursell, Michael Harris, Nathon Easton and Cody Reed crossed second in 9:51 while Derek Appley, Joe Sievert, John Sievert and Ben Woltheizen finished second in the shuttle hurdle in a time of 1:07.

In the final event of the afternoon, cut short due to continued rain and lightning, Chris Carlson finished the 400 low hurdles in 63.33 seconds to take home a silver medal. John Sievert was close behind, recording a time of 66.88 for fourth place.

Earlier in the afternoon, Joe Sievert placed third in the 110 high hurdles with his time of 17.37.

Appley also collected third place points for A-W with his long jump of 17-2 1/2.

In the 1600 meter run, Easton was third in 4:59.85, while Anthony Miller, Reed, Eric Eskra and Woltheizen crossed the 4x200 third in 1:41.

Eskra went on to take fourth place honors in the 100 meter dash, finishing in 11.95 seconds.

Also finishing fourth for A-W were Josh Mahaney in the 3200 (11:37.58) and Chris Carlson in the 400 (58.35).

Carlson was fifth in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 18.13 seconds.

In the 100 meter dash, Woltheizen crossed fifth in 12 seconds flat while Dennis Wilken took fifth in the 200 with a time of 29.23 seconds.

Rounding out the points for the Westerners was Zack Langley with a sixth place toss of 37-7 3/4 in the shot put.

The host, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn, finished in the runner-up slot with 110 points.

Taking third place in team standings was Hinton with 93 points.

The Blackhawks were led by Ryan Wenzel, who took home an individual gold and a relay team gold.

The senior crossed first in the 1600 with his fastest time of the season, 4:54.62. He was joined by Josh Vander Plaats, Aaron Book and Brady Schindel in the 4x800 relay, where the four crossed first in 9:34.98.

Rounding up a slew of second place points for Hinton was Kyle Huggenberger.

The junior reached a distance of 18-10 1/2 in the long jump to win his first silver medal. Huggenberger continued his streak collecting wins in the 100 (11.31), 200 (23.32) and 400 (54.74). His time of 11.31 seconds in the 100 was his fastest this year while his 23.32 second 200 was very close to his season best.

The final silver medal for the Blackhawks went to the 4x200 relay team of Book, Vander Plaats, Zach Yoerger and Tim Youtzy, who crossed in 1:41.76 for second place.

Yoerger joined up with Keegan Bak, Dylan Stalheim and Jordan Sitzmann to take third in the shuttle hurdle relay (1:12.10).

Sitzmann went on to finish fifth in the 110 highs with a time of 19.15 seconds.

In field events, Adam Struve earned a bronze medal for his shot put toss of 37-7.

Doug Koithan took fourth place points in the discus. The senior had a spin of 104-8 Tuesday afternoon. Less than 10 feet behind the senior, freshman Jake Barkley threw the discus 95-3 for fifth place honors.

In the long jump, Book was fourth with his distance of 17-2 1/4 while John Timmins cleared 5-2 in the high jump to finish fourth.

Alex Vondrak racked up a pair of sixth place finishes in the 1600 (5:16.28) and the 3200 (12:11.86).

In the 400 meter dash, Blake Hoefling crossed sixth in 62.28 seconds.

Despite the rough start to the night, with a half hour delay followed by another 20 minute break due to lightning, both the Westerners and the Blackhawks had some great finishes.

And according to Hinton coach Steve Diediker, the soggy night "beats nothing."

"At least we had part of a meet and we got the chance to run some events," he said. "Most of the kids got a chance to go out and compete."

And that's just what they needed to keep them focused for this weekend's districts.

"It's that time of year where we've got to do what we came to do," Diediker said. "We are here to get what we've been shooting for."

Both A-W and Hinton will compete Saturday at the district meet in Lawton.

Team standings:

Akron-Westfield 131, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn 110, Hinton 93, West Sioux 61, Aurelia 22