Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Trent Rutledge sails high over the beam in the pole vault Tuesday at the Western Trails Conference meet in Bayard. He won the event Tuesday, and has won the pole vault in every meet he has competed in this season.
Jaden Withrow, above, heads down the track in the long jump Tuesday in Bayard. He won both the long jump and triple jump at the meet.
Danika Daum watches her shot put throw sail through the sky in Tuesday's WTC meet in Bayard. She finished sixth in the event.
Taylor Walker-Muldoon heads around the track in the 4x800 meter relay. Kimball finished fifth in the event.
Kennedy Lewis heads around the track Tuesday during a relay event at the Western Trails Conference meet in Bayard.
Paycen Harroun, left, and Tyler Magninie jump out of the blocks in the 400 meter dash at Tuesday's WTC meet in Bayard.
Mitchell ran away with all of the team honors at Tuesday's Western Trails Conference Track and Field Meet with both the boys and girls winning team titles. Mitchell's Drew Gilliland was voted Outstanding Male Athlete on the day while Bayard's Jessi Smith won the same honor for the girls. No new meet records were established although Gilliland was just .02 of a second off the meet record in the 110 meter high hurdles running 15.02, just shy of the 15.0 flat time ran by Jeff Mass of Bridgeport in 1998. Jessi Smith was close in the girl's 800 winning in 2:21.84, just shy of the record time she ran a year ago when she set the record of 2:2l.l5!
The final tally for the boys team scores saw Mitchell on top with 149 points followed by Bridgeport with 103, Hemingford 81, Kimball 67, Gordon-Rushville 49, Bayard 46, and Morrill 32.
The Mitchell girls piled up 130 points to win easily with Bridgeport runnerup with 87, Gordon-Rushville 80, Bayard 76, Hemingford 62, Morrill 49, and Kimball 42.
In defense of Kimball's point totals, they shorted themselves with some of the Longhorn athletes having to leave early to make it home in time for the music concert they were involved in. That is the reason Kimball's Administration voted for Monday as a postponement date after the conference meet was called off this past Saturday because of weather conditions.
There were highlights a plenty for the Kimball Teams and Jaden Withrow was one of the brightest shining stars as a double-winner on the day. The talented sophomore won both the triple jump and long jump with a season best long jump mark of 20'8.50" and a season tying best mark of 42'7" in the triple jump. In fact, the Withrow brothers went one-two in the triple jump with Jon getting out 40'2." Like always, the jump events brought Kimball their share of points as Colton Stull was 5th in the long jump at 19'2.5."
Like Withrow in the triple jump, Trent Rutledge is still unbeaten in the pole vault as he won the conference crown at 12'6" and just missed by the narrowest of margins at 13'0." Justin Mohr wound up 4th at 10'6."
The top three finishers in all events are considered All Conference so count Jaden, Jon, and Trent as All Conference and add Ryan Muneio as well as he ran 3rd in the 400 with a career personal best time of 52.67, a great time on a very windy day. Muneio also ran 4th in the 800 meters with a time of 2:15.19.
AJ Williams battled that strong wind in the 1600 meter run and the young sophomore finished 5th in 5:21.94. Colton Stull ran 5th in the 100 meter dash in 11.49, and Damien Rutledge was 6th in the shotput at 43'3."
Kimball placed in all three relays but their time in the 4x100 relay was well off their state leading time in Class C-2 of 44.4 as they ran 3rd at the conference meet in 46.33 with Mitchell winning in 44.53, and Hemingford running second in 45.67. The young team of Kaden Adrian, Ryan Soper, Jaden Mohr, and AJ Williams ran 6th in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:54.39, and the 4x400 relay team of Williams, Logan Stahla, Justin Mohr, and Tyler Magninie ran 6th in 4:17.94.
Ali Hunsaker was the shining star for the Kimball girls as she won the pole vault with a career personal best vault of 8'6" which tied the Kimball School record and which she will now share with Chelsea Wangler who set the record in 2000 and was equaled by Kandice Boutard in 2006. Ali also ran 4th in the 200 in 29.05 and 5th in the 400 in 1:06.73 for an all around good day on the track and in the field! A gold medal winner, a school record setter, and an All Conference performer by finishing in the top three.
Madison Biesecker was Kimball's other All Conference performer as she ran 3rd in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 53.25, again not a bad time considering the wind. Madison also was 5th in the long jump at 14'9.50," and 6th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.84.
Hannah Biesecker had a contributing day for the Kimball girls placing 4th in the long jump at 15'1.25" and 5th in the 100 meter dash in 13.72. Jannel Fiehtner was 5th in the triple jump at 31'2.50." Jessica Hanks placed in both weight events taking 4th in the discus at 93'8.50," and 5th in the shotput at 32'6.25." Danika Daum was 6th in the shotput at 32'5.50."
Due to the fact that several girls had to leave early to get back to Kimball for the music concert, Kimball did not run either the 4x100 or 4x400 relays, but they did put a 4x800 relay team together for the conference meet and the foursome of Ireland Olson, Taylor Walker-Muldoon, Alex Reader, and Kennedy Lewis ran 5th in the time of 13:16.50.
With several personal bests on the day, the Kimball coaching staff was encouraged with the performances of their athletes. Now they ready for Friday's meet at Morrill with a start time of 9 a.m., and then those who have put up good enough marks to qualify for Tuesday's Best of the West meet in Scottsbluff will head to Bearcat Stadium to join the top athletes of Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming with a 4 p.m. start time for this illustrious event.
A final side note. The only Western Trails Conference record still held by a Kimball athlete is in the boys 300 hurdles with Jay Staehr holding that record with his time of 40.10 ran in 1994.