Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball sophomore Megan Spicer won the gold in the triple jump at the Tri-State Track Meet held at Chappell on Monday. Spicer won the event at 31 feet, 5.5 inches, and also was third in the long jump at 14 feet, 5.75 inches.
A good day on the track, and in the field, for the Kimball High Track Team this past Monday at the Tri-State Track Meet held at the Creek Valley High School in Chappell. The Kimball boys won the Team Championship with 94 points, the Kimball girls finished fifth with 42 points, and Kimball wound up second behind Pine Bluffs in the Combined Team Scores, with 136 points.
Weather-wise, it was an on and off type day where at times the sun would shine and it was fairly nice, and at times it was windy and cold. Nothing our Western Nebraska young athletes are not use to. The facilities at Chappell are good, but there was some computer problems that caused short delays.
There were numerous highlights on the day for coach Gene Mohr's team, both on the track and in the field. Senior distance runner, Thomas Lenzen had an exceptional day as he logged three and a half miles on the day winning the 3200 meter run with an all time personal best time of 11:12.79, and also won the 1600 with a time of 5:15.72. Lenzen then teamed up with Sam Cajero, Austin Lulf, and Zach Wagner to take third place in the 4x800 relay and clocked in 9:40.54. Lenzen also added a sixth place medal to his haul on the day in the high jump clearing 5'4".
Another double-win-day also for Brady Kilgore as he swept both hurdle events as expected winning the 110 meter highs in 15.97 and winning the 300 hurdles in 41.95. He also brought home the silver medal in the high jump with a leap of 6'2", the same height as the winner from Paxton. Kilgore got his fourth medal of the day as a member of the 4x100 relay team that ran second in 47.65, just a step or two back of the winning Pine Bluffs team that ran 47.02 . Teaming with Kilgore were Christian Allen-Van Pelt, Brayden Tyan and Zach Wagner.
Wagner also performed like a champion for the Horns winning the 800 meter run in 2:15.24, running stron legs on both of the relay teams, and taking fourth in the triple jump at 38'3". Beau Hanks finished just ahead of Wagner in the triple jump finishing third with his best jump of 38'6".
Thomas Muldoon, a freshman, ran fifth in the 1600 giving Kimball two places in this event, with his time at 5:40.69.
Ethan Ratzlaff was fourth in the pole vault clearing 10'6" and the young sophomore has a bright future in this event. Corey Travis has improved his form and style greatly in the shotput according to coach Mohr and coach Wurdeman, and he finished fourth at Chappell in the event at 40'4.5". Luis Portillo was just one place out of a medal in the discus throwing 109'3" to finish seventh.
Boys Team Scores: Kimball 94, Pine Bluffs 84, Paxton 64, Burns 63, Creek Valley 58, Bridgeport 53, South Platte 40, Leyton 28, Minatare 18, Banner County 12, Hay Springs 11, Potter-Dix 1.
Despite still nursing a leg problem, Megan Spicer brought home the gold in the triple jump for the Kimball girls with a good first meet jump of 31'5.5", and was third in the long jump at 14'5.75". Kimball scored well in the jumps in both divisions. Freshman Katie Heeg was fifth in the long jump at 14'2.75" and Jenna Greenwood was fifth in the triple jump at 30'8". Raven Johnson took fourth place in the pule vault clearing 7'6".
Amy Birkhofer, also a freshman, finished fifth in the shot put with a heave of 29'10.5" and Sierra Rutledge was just one place out of a medal in this event finishing seventh at 29'4.5". Carli Wurdeman had the same experience in the discus winding up seventh with her throw of 84'2'.
On the track, freshman Chantel Malson ran fifth in the 100 meter dash in 14.69, and then goes from the shortest race offered to the longest, where she ran third in the 3200 meter run in 14:14.82. Katie Heeg made the finals in the 100 meter hurdles but didn't bring home a medal running a good time of 19.46.
Kimball's 4x100 relay team suffered a DQ, but the 4x800 meter relay team ran second in 12:32.32 with Chantel Malson, Sydeny Biesecker, Maddison Wynne, and Kate Reader running legs.
Girls Team Scores: Pine Bluffs 148, Bridgeport 81, South Platte 78, Burns 58, Kimball 4, Creek Valley 40, Paxton 30, Leyton 14, Hay Springs 8, McPherson County 6, Potter-Dix 5, Minatare 3.
Combined Team Scores: Pine Bluffs 232, Kimball 136, Bridgeport 134, Burns 121, South Platte 118, Creek Valley 98, Paxton 94, Leyton 42, Minatare 21, Hay Springs 19, Banner County 122, McPherson County 6, Potter-Dix 6.
Kimball Coach Gene Mohr was quite pleased with the efforts of the Longhorns at the meet in Chappell. "I was very happy for the most part with how our kids performed. We had some exceptional individual efforts. Thomas Lenzen put in a lot of miles on the day and he asked to do so. We have some young kids that are really making progress and we have some other athletes that we feel we can still move around and score more points. Overall, I felt we had a good day," Mohr said.
Kimball has added an additional meet to their schedule trying to make up for a couple that they had to cancel due to weather. Today (Thursday) they are taking part in a meet at Mitchell that will have a later start time of 11 a.m.. On April 13 they go to Bayard for the Western Trails Conference Meet.
Banner County had only one medal winner on the day at Creek Valley but Deven Sullivan had an exceptional day on the track for the Wildcats running second in the 1600 in 5:16.96 and fourth in the 3200 in 11:40.86.
Potter-Dix got a good showing from Donnie Moench who ran sixth in the 100 meter dash in 12:53, just missed a medal in the 200 running seventh in 27.03, December Wright was sixth in the pole vault for the Lady Coyotes at 7'0", and the 4x100 relay team of Wright, Mary Kasten, Sierra Wheelock, and Ciera George ran fourth in 1:01.68.