O'NEILL - With a pair of sunglasses, a baseball hat turned sideways and a green Runza restaurant jacket hanging loosely on his body, O'Neill St. Mary's Chris Bahrij looked more like a surfer dude than a track and field competitor.

But as it turned out, Bahrij's performance was sort of like another day at the beach.

The talented Cardinal won four events to help St. Mary's beat Humphrey St. Francis 94-86 and win the Class II boys division team championship at the 42 annual O'Neill Invitational on Thursday.

St. Mary's Mary Kersenbrock was just a s dominant on the girls side by winning four events, but it wasn't enough as Humprey St. Francis easily defeated Wheeler Central 145-92 to win the team title.

Bahrij won the 110 hurdles (16.32 seconds), and 300 hurdles (43.19 seconds), the high jump (6 foot-2 inches) and the discus (151'10").

"This meet was pretty big and I didn't know how well I was going to do,: Bahrij said. "The weather was supposed to be 70 degrees, so I planned for a nice day. The discus didn't really go as far as I wanted it because I slipped in the rain because it was wet."

The day started out damp, drizzly and chilly, and by the time the meet was over it was sunny with little wind blowing.

Bahrij did enjoy competing against Lynch's Nate Eilers, who finished second to him in both hurdle events and in the high jump.

"I'm galsd I nipped him this time because he got me in basketball this year three times in a row and the last two track meet," Bahrij said. "But we're pretty good friends so it's all good."

Bahrij said the chilly weather made it difficult for him to loosen up properly for the hurdle events.

"I was tight and it affected my times," Bahrij said. "But I came out on top, so I guess that's all that matters."

St. Mary's coach Tony Allen said Bahrij has come along well as the season has progressed.

"This is our third meet and Chris has improved in every one," Allen said. "His hurdle times weren't as good as last week, but it was really cold until the sun came out. He's really fallen in love with the discus. His goal is to get into the 160s. He takes a lot of pride in his events."

Joe Korth and Ryan Gilsdorf were double winners for St. Francis. Korth won the long jump (20-3.25) and the triple jump (40'11.75"), while Gilsdorf placed first in the 100 (11.45 seconds) and the 200 (28.85 seconds).

KERSENBROCK competed like she was in a hurry to go some place and she was.

Kersenbrock, Bahrij, and the rest of her senior classmates were leaving later Thursday night for their senior trip to St. Louis.

"And we come back Monday and hit it again with another track meet," Kersenbrock said. "It's a busy time, but it's fun."

So was Kersenbrock's day on the track oval. She won the 100 (13.02 seconds), the 400 (59.97 seconds), the 200 (27.09 seconds) and the triple jump (33'9.74").

"It made me feel good because Monday and Tuesday we really worked on our conditioning," Kersenbrock said. "It paid off today. My 400 time I was pretty happy with. It was a little breezy, but (57.97 seconds) is fine with me. My sprints weren't too good of times, but the wind made it hard."

St. Francis swept all three relay events to help the Flyers win the team championship.

"Our depth paid off again today," Humphrey St. Francis coach Dean Korus said. "We picked up a lot of second, thirds and fourths. It was nice to win against some teams we usually don't see a lot."

Sarah Zeisler was a double winner for Butte, winning the 1600 (5:39.72) and the 3200 (12:12.43). Lindsey Snowdon of Niobrara was also a double winner by placing first in the 100 (17.02 seconds) and 300 hurdles events (50.93 seconds).

In the above picture, Ryan Gilsdorf of Humphrey St. Fancis takes first place in the boys Class II 200-meter runduring Thursday's O'Neill Invitational. Matt Willis of O'Neill St. Mary's is running close behind.