Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Jannel Fiehtner soars through the air during her signature event, the triple jump, at the Kimball Invite. Fiehtner recently garnered fifth place in the same event at the Tri-State Track Invite at Creek Valley High School in Chappell with a jump of 30'5".
Kimball's Jaden Mohr clears the bar in the boy's pole vault Saturday, March 25, at the Kimball Invite. Mohr's coach, and father, watches as his son finishes the vault, and was pleased to chart Jaden the winner at a career personal best vault of 11'0". Tyrus Gawith of Potter-Dix cleared the same height but finished second by virtue of earlier misses. Jaden, a senior at Kimball High School competed in the same event on Monday, April 3, at the Tri-State Invite on Monday, April 3, at Creek Valley High School in Chappell and placed third with a vault of 11'6", behind second place vaulter Paycen Harroun of Kimball, with a vault of 12'0". Both Kimball vaulters achieved a personal best at Chappell.
The Kimball boys finished second and the girls ninth, leaving them in third place at Monday's Tri-State Track Invite held at Creek Valley High School in Chappell. Bridgeport won the boy's division with 144 points with Kimball runner-up with 99. Hyannis won the female division with 115 points, edging out Bridgeport with 108 and Kimball finished ninth in the 13 school listing with 24. In the combined team scores it was Bridgeport the winner with 252 points, Hyannis runner-up with 146 and Kimball third with 123.
Hannah Biesecker had another solid day on the track for the Lady Longhorns, winning the long jump at 15'3" and took third in the high jump at 4'8" and remains quite consistent in both events. A muscle pull kept her out of the 100 meter dash and with the cold and wet conditions, coach Gene Mohr didn't want to take any chances. Jannel Fiehtner came through with a fifth place finish in the triple jump with a best jump of 30'5". Kaitlin Wurdeman wound up fourth in the discus with a throw of 86'7". Kate Reader ran fifth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 29.90 to complete the scoring for the Kimball girls as they did not enter any relay teams at Chappell.
With the return of more boys, as they cleared up some school and team eligibility issues, the Longhorn boys piled up the points. Another strong day for senior Kyle Spicer who won the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.12, ran third in the 100 meters in 11.94 and was third in the long jump at 17'7.50". Spicer also teamed with Jake Jenkins, Colton Mielke and Logan Stahla to win the 4 x 100 relay with a winning time of 47.46.
In his first competition of the season, senior Jaden Withrow won the triple jump at 42'2.50", three feet farther than second place, but scratched on all of his jumps in the long jump and failed to place. Kimball scored well in the jumps however, as Zachary Wagner finished third in the triple jump at 39'1" and Brady Kilgore was fifth in the long jump at 17'1.25" and fifth in the high jump at 5'4". A good day for the Kimball vaulters as well, with Paycen Harroun second at 12'0" and Jaden Mohr third at 11'6" as both vaulters attained personal bests again.
A great day on the track for Kilgore, a double winner in the hurdle events, taking the gold in the 110 highs in 15.96, a full two seconds faster than second place, and winning the 300 hurdles in 44.81. Jaden Mohr ran third in the 110 highs in 21.12. the 4 x 100 relay team of Nicholas Thomas-Lewis, Steven Bateman, Wagner and Mielke ran fourth with a time of 10:12.01.
Sophomore James Merryfield got the Horns some points in the weights, taking fifth in the shot put at 40'01", and sixth in the discus at 113'09". Lots of promise showing in this young man.
There were other good efforts by Kimball tracksters in non-placing finishes including the boy's 400 meter dash where Thomas-Lewis ran seventh, just one place out of a medal in 59.63 and Grant Hickman was eighth in 1:00.01.
Coach Gene Mohr was overall pleased with the performances of his track team, especially considering the weather. "You know, it wasn't a horrible day, but it would rain a while, and the wind would blow and it would be cold and miserable and then lighten up and not be too bad. But that's Western Nebraska spring weather," said Mohr.
As mentioned, Coach Mohr was glad to get some more of his tracksters back and is looking forward to seeing them progress in the upcoming meets. And next up is the Western Trails Conference meet at Mitchell, Thursday, April 13. The WTC meet will be very strong with Mitchell a favorite on their home track. Start time is listed as 9 a.m.