Longhorn tracksters' times improved

A total of 17 area teams including Kimball, Potter-Dix, and Banner County took part in the Bayard C-D Track Invite this past Saturday and the marks were very good as the athletes enjoyed unusual nice weather for this early season meet. The Kimball High tracksters for the most part showed big improvement with their times on the track over the opening Kimball Invite a week earlier and head coach Gene Mohr and distance coach Jim Reeves, were both quite happy with the results they were charting.

The Kimball girls finished just 3 points behind Bayard in the final team standings with the host school winning the team championship with 84 points while Kimball wound up runnerup with 81. The balance of the team scoring for the female division saw Lingle-Fort Laramie with 62, Pine Bluffs 50, POTTER-DIX 40, Leyton 36, Bridgeport 36, Crawford 30, Gordon-Rushville 28, Morrill 25, Hyannis 22, Cody-Kilgore 10, Garden County 9, Burns 8, Hemingford 4, Banner County 2.

The Lady Longhorns had 3 wins on the day with Laura Flores finishing well ahead of the field in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:56.43, 8 seconds faster than she ran last week. The distance ace ran 3rd in the 3200 in 12:53.50, 13 seconds better than a week ago. She was also a member of the winning 4 x 400 relay that clocked 4:24.60 with Shelby Vogel, Ali Hunsaker, and Madison Biesecker also running legs on the first place relay team, that knocked 11 seconds off their time from the Kimball Invite with each girl running better splits, according to coach Reeves.

Biesecker had an all around solid day on the track winning her second 300 meter hurdle race in a row and taking the top spot at Bayard with a time of 50.92. Along with running a leg on the winning 4 x 400 relay, she also ran a leg on the 2nd place 4 x 100 relay team that was edged out by Bayard and ran 3rd in the 100 meter dash in 13:58. Other team members on the 4 x 100 relay team were Shelby Vogel, Brooke Hager, and Kelly Green. Green ran 5th in the 100 meters in 13.78 and Vogel was 4th in the triple jump at 31'7".

Ali Hunsaker had a shining day as well running 2nd in the 200 in 27.84, 4th in the 400 in 1:04.15, and was 3rd in the pole vault at 7'0", plus her leg on the 4 x 400 relay. Jessica Hanks improved in the discus with a throw of 103'4" to finish 3rd, and freshman Jannell Fiehtner surprised by placing 6th in the 400 meters running in one of the slower heats and running a good time of 1:07.09. Both Hunsaker's and Fiehtner's times brought smiles to the Kimball coaches.

The Kimball boys finished 8th with 39 points with Lingle-Fort Laramie winning with 73. Hemingford was runnerup with 55 followed by Cody Kilgore with 46, Burns 46, Bridgeport 44, Gordon-Rushville 43, Potter Dix 41, Kimball 39, Garden County 36, Minatare 20, Bayard 20, Pine Bluffs 19, Morrill 18, Banner County 12, Hyannis 7, Leyton 6, Hay Springs 2.

The lone gold medal performance for the Kimball boys was by Dakota Jefferson in the high jump with a winning leap of 5'10", remarkable when you consider this is an inch taller in height than he stands. Coach Mohr said, "Maybe there should be a special added increment to anyone who jumps higher than themselves." The Horns scored well in the jumps with Trent Rutledge 5th in vault at 10'0" and Justin Mohr 6th at 9'0". Freshman Jaden Withrow finished 4th in the triple jump at 39'1 1/2'.

On the track Jonathon Withrow ran 3rd in the 200 in 23.85 and Jake Reader was 4th in the 100 meters in 12.36. The 4 x 100 relay team of Reader, Withrow, Angel Flores and Colton Stull ran 2nd in 46.70, and the 4 x 400 relay team of Flores, Withrow, Reader, and Ethan Land ran 4th in 3:50.30. improving their time by 8 seconds.

Mitchell Shields improved his time by 29 seconds in the 3200 and just missed a place finishing 7th. He also ran 16 seconds faster in the 1600. The 4 x 800 relay team also improved their time with 3 runners with better times. Coach Reeves said, "The kids are really working hard in the distance events and in the relays and are looking for improvement. The medals will come. As coaches, we like to see competition within the team and we like to see run offs for spots on the team." Kimball will be back in action tomorrow (Friday) at the Creek Valley meet in Chappell with a start time of 9 a.m. The Western Trails Conference meet is set for April 17 in Morrill.

POTTER-DIX HIGHLIGHTS: The Potter Dix boys scored their 41 points with the help of a pair of wins by Bryant Knigge in the pole vault with a winning vault of 12'6", and a tape breaking run by Jake Johnson in the 1600 meter run with a winning time of 4:52.89. Knigge and Johnson teamed up with Trace Sharman and Cameron Purcell to run 2nd in the 4 x 800 relay with a time of 8:52.86. Knigge and Purcell joined Cooper Hicks and Kelsey Rozelle to run 3rd in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 3:46. Rozelle was 3rd in the long jump with a leap of 19'4". The 4 x 100 relay team of Rozelle, Knigge, Purcell and Sammie Gingerich ran 6th in 48.0 flat.

The Lady Coyotes scored 40 points and also had a pair of winners with Regyn Hicks tying the meet record for Class D in the high jump at 5'2". A1exus Rozell won the shotput at 36'4 1/2. Regyn Hicks also was 6th in the 300 hurdles with a time of 52.94, and joined Kinley Vowers, Savannah Shaw, and Hope Shepard to run 4th in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 4:35.20. Ryley Hicks was 4th in the pole vault at 6'6" and Kate1yn Woten ran 2nd in the 3200 in 12:37.94. A1exus Rozelle also placed in the discus along with winning the shot with a best throw of the platter of 99'3". Woten and Ryley Hicks joined Dawson Sharman and Alana Thies to run 5th in the 4 x 800 relay with a time of ll:39.36.

BANNER COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS: The Banner County boys tallied 12 team points with Brenton Soule running 4th in the 1600 in 5:05.38, Tyson Dah1grin 3rd in the 110 meter hurdles in 16.68, and Kaden Huber 5th in the high jump at 5'6". Amanda Harrison scored the only points for the Banner County girls with her 5th place in the 3200 with a time of 13:14.88.

BOYS WINNING MARKS

200 Chastin Hill-Lingle-Ft Laramie 23.47

800 Brody Lay-Lingle Ft Laramie 2:08.38

1600 Jake Johnson-Potter Dix 4:52.89

300 hurdles Layne McCarthy-Garden County 43.82

4 x 100 relay Hemingford 45.90

4 x 400 relay Lingle-Ft Laramie 3:42.20

4 x 800 relay Cody Kilgore 8:50.57

100 Brady Turek-Hemingford 11.77

400 Ethan Skinner-Hemingford 52.22

3200 Cody Trump-Cody Kilgore 10:54.12

110 hurdles Layne McCarthy-Garden County 16.18

high jump Dakota Jefferson-Kimball 5'10" pole vault Bryant Knigge-Potter Dix 12'6" long jump Joe Jackson-Lingle-Ft Laramie 20'9 1/2

triple jump Matthew McCarthy-Garden County 41' 4 1/2"

shotput Travis Albertz-Bridgeport 46'7"

discus Travis Albertz-Bridgeport l3l' 7 1/2"

GIRLS WINNING MARKS

200 Taylor Bever-Lingle-Ft Laramie 27.35

800 Jessi Smith-Bayard 2:23.31 (record)

1600 Laura Flores-Kimball 5:56.43

300 hurdles Madison Biesecker-Kimball 50.92 4 x 100 relay Bayard 52.80 (record)

4 x 400 relay Kimball 4:24.60

4 x 800 relay Crawford 11:00.26

100 Taylor Bever-Lingle-Ft Laramie 13.53

400 Jessi Smith-Bayard 1:00.25 (record)

3200 Austin Asay-Pine Bluffs 12:36.08

100 hurdles Jessi Smith-Bayard 16.05

high jump Regyn Hicks-Potter Dix 5'2" (tie record)

pole vault Megan Stuart-Bayard 8'6"

long jump Miah Vera-Bayard 16'3"

triple jump Kaitlyn Berner-Ley ton 34'3" shotput Alexus Rozelle-Potter Dix 36'4 1/2"

discus Kassandra Harris-Ley ton l12'9 1/2"

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE MEET

Jessi Smith-Bayard

MALE ATHLETE OF THE MEET

Brady Turek-Hemingford