Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Right: Paycen Harroun took fourth place in pole vaulting at the first track and field meet of the season, held indoors at Chadron State College.
The track season is off and running for the Kimball High team and the weather was near perfect at Saturday's Chadron State College Indoor Invitational. No wind .... No snow .... No cold. It might be different today (Thursday), for the Kimball Outdoor Invitational. Coach Gene Mohr said the coaches were happy overall with the performances of their Kimball High Tracksters.
"We had some pleasant performances for our first time out. We had some young kids that really surprised and I think our distance people are really going to come through this year," he said.
The Chadron Indoor is a meet where all the contestants, and all the schools, regardless of size, compete together. There are no team scores and no individual medals are awarded. It is simply a massive event with around 500 young men and women going against each other and the stop watch and tape measure. Kimball took a bus load with 32 young athletes.
Among the highlights on the day for Kimball, sophomore Hannah Biesecker finished 2nd in the girl's long jump with a leap of 15' 10" and ran 6th in the 55 meter dash in 8.13. Brandon Barker ran 2nd in the 1600 meter run and was just .43 of a second back of Brenner Keane of Sidney in the photo finish with Keane clocked in 5:01 and Barker in 5:01.43. This is a very good time for the first meet and for running on the tight curve of the indoor track.
Coach Mohr was excited about the boy's distance runners as sophomore Kaden Adrian ran 12th in 5:30.72 and freshman Thomas Lenzen was 16th in 5:37.97. Lenzen really shined in the 3200 meter run as the freshman ran 12:15.36 to claim 4th place. Another freshman who stood out was Brady Kilgore in the 55 meter hurdles finishing 4th with a time of 8.96.
Jaden Withrow, returning junior state qualifier, took 3rd in the long jump at 20'4.5", just an inch out of 2nd place, and had some tough luck in the triple jump scratching on all three of his attempts and it appeared he would have won this event handily if he could have had one legal jump. Also in the hard luck category, junior Kyle Spicer, who made the move from golf to track this season, would have ran 6th in the 55 meter dash with his time of 7.01 but was disqualified on a uniform violation which was new this season. He also had a bad draw for lane assignment in the 200 meters. His 18 foot long jump tied for 11th.
Ali Hunsaker, another returning state qualifier from a year ago, was 7th in the 400 meters with her time of 1.11.68 and was 6th in the pole vault at 7'3". Paycen Harroun took 4th in the boy's vault at 10'0" and Jaden Mohr was tied for 8th at 9'0". A young team of Madison Wynne, Kennedy Lewis, Alex Reader, and Kate Reader ran 6th in the 4 x 160 relay with a time of 1:51.56. Kimball will have some sprint speed along with the distance people this spring.
In the throwing department, a pair of freshman girls did well in the shot put with Macayla Bizelli 12th at 27'6" and Alexis Hoppes 13th at 27'3". Creg Barker shows promise for the boys as he was 13th at 37'.
The big question awaiting the Kimball officials is what the weather will be today (Thursday) and if in fact the Kimball Invite can go on as scheduled. If not, it will be rescheduled at a later date and we will keep you informed. Teams who will participate include Kimball, Hemingford, Mitchell, Banner County, Potter-Dix, Minatare, and Pine Bluffs.