Republic’s girls track and field team rolled to a first-place finish Thursday at the Branson Invitational, piling up 225 points to outdistance runner-up Branson (179) in a seven-team field. The boys finished second with 156 points, six and a half behind Branson’s 162.5.
Freshman Maura Lander and senior Avery Rossow each won two individual events to lead the girls’ effort, while sophomore Zoey Johns added a win and a runner-up finish. On the boys’ side, junior Ekene Chukwu, senior Danny Fair, and junior Anthony Uhl each claimed individual titles.
Lander swept the horizontal jumps, winning the long jump (4.97 meters) and triple jump (10.94 meters). She also placed fourth in the 200 meters (28.29 seconds). Rossow took the shot put (10.44 meters) and discus (32.45 meters), with sophomore Audrey Pearce finishing second (31.09 meters) and senior Allison Burford third (30.05 meters) to give Republic a podium sweep in the discus…