The boys track and field team kicked off its season with an event-packed day at the Saginaw Valley State University Division 2 Invitational on Thursday, March 21.

The Hornets placed in the top 16 in eight events, including one relay.

In the shot put, senior Eddie Harris took second with a throw of 45 feet, 10.25 inches. Earning ninth place, senior Dylan Buschur threw for 41-01.75.

Despite his success, Harris feels his throw is just a starting point as he hopes to throw to SVSU’s standards.

“It’s not at all where I wanted to be, but it’s a start,” Harris said. “It was normal up until the end when I came to a realization that I wouldn’t be starting off the season at that meet again. I hope to meet the standard for SVSU’s track team at 50 feet for the shot put.”

Sophomore Silvas soared to fourth place in the long jump with a distance of 20-02.75.

While Silvas feels he performed well, his main goal is to develop as the season progresses.

“I think I had a very productive day considering it was my first time jumping for the season,” Silvas said. “There is always time to grow and always room to grow to where I will be later in the season.”

He has his sight set on improvement this year.

“I want to break the sophomore record in the long jump,” Silvas said. “That is my goal going into this season and to improve in my hurdles and sprints.”

The 400-meter dash was a solid event for the Hornets, as junior Raydoffa Braziel pushed himself for fifth place with a 52.88 run. Freshman Tyler Csintyan finished 16th with a time of 56.63 seconds.

Braziel sees his time as a good starting point for the season.

“I feel like running a 52.8-second 400 is really promising for me,” Braziel said. “It’s around where I left off last year, so I believe that if I keep improving, I’ll be running at least 49 seconds by May or June. I want to improve on finishing stronger, on my mentality, and on my recovery between races.”

Braziel bolted two seconds slower than his personal record in the 800 run, earning seventh place in 2:08.95.

According to Braziel, the turnaround between the 400 dash and 800 run is his biggest obstacle.

“I had to run the 400 and 800,” Braziel said. “I’m not mad about that (the turnaround), but I know I’ll have to do that all season, so I’ll get used to it.”

The 1200 relay team of Braziel, Csintyan, sophomore Braylon Silvas, and senior Josh Bischoff clocked in at 2:37.27 but was only able to capture seventh in the meet.

Exchanges are the team’s biggest struggle.

“Our main problem was the handoffs between Tyler and Josh because we didn’t get much practice, so people were able to pass us,” Braziel said. “We need to perform and work at practice, and we’ll do well at our second meet.”

In the high jump, Csintyan tied for 12th place with a 5-05 leap.

Braziel feels the team is small, with only 10 athletes competing in the invitational and a few more runners who didn’t go. He encourages any potential runners to come to a practice and get to know the team.

“One way we can improve is to have more people to run,” Braziel said, “and by putting in the most effort we can improve and become great.”

With Kearsley’s size in mind, Silvas is hopeful for the season.

“We’re not the biggest team — as Kearsley used to have — but we compete well and we do our best,” Silvas said. “We can only go up from here.”