Mitchell Western Trails Conference Track Champions

Mitchell took top team honors this past Thursday in winning the 2016 Western Trails Conference Track championship in the meet hosted this year by Kimball. Originally scheduled to be held on Saturday, the meet was moved up two days by vote of Conference officials, and a smart move indeed, as tracksters were treated to a rather nice, but windy day, while Saturday was a snowy and wintery day as was forecasted.

The Mitchell boys won with 178.5 points with Bridgeport runnerup with 134 followed by Kimball with 74, Gordon-Rushville 63, Bayard 40, Hemingford 30, and Morrill 5.5.

The Mitchell girls piled up 159 points in their win with Bayard runnerup with 117.5, Bridgeport 98, Morrill 68.5, Hemingford 34, Kimball 25, Gordon-Rushville 21.

Three meet records were set in the boy's division with Christian Perez of Mitchell running 10.7 to win the 100 meter dash, bettering the old mark of 10.9 held by John Vergil of Bayard, ran in 2000. Drew Gilliland of Mitchell ran 14.5 to win the 110 meter hurdles, bettering the old record of 15.0 set in 1998 by Jeff Hass of Bridgeport. Caleb Peters of Gordon-Rushville set a new high jump record of 6'5" to improve on the old record of 6'4" set by Zane Mai of Bayard in 1992. Interesting to note that the lone record held by a Kimball High athlete stood the test and Jay Staehr's time of 40.10 in the men's 300 meter hurdles remains intact as Drew Gilliland's winning time Thursday was 41.75.

Without a doubt the sprint races and short hurdles were helped by the strong wind out of the south, while other events were hampered by the wind. This includes the vaulters who were going into the wind. Kimball's Trent Rutledge was disappointed with his second place finish in the pole vault as he had set a goal of 13'6" for the day and cleared only 11'0" for his silver medal with Justin Spencer of Mitchell winning at 11'6". Rutledge would be well above the bar on his vaults, only to stall out against the wind and come down on the bar. Of course it was the same for all vaulters and Kimball also got a fourth place from Paycen Harroun with his 11'0" vault.

No gold for Kimball on this day and more disappointment for Jaden Withrow, one of the state's top triple and long jump, Jaden was one quarter inch shy of the winning long jump mark of 20'8" that Logan Linch of Bridgeport jumped and had to settle for second place with his mark of 20'7.75". Worse yet, Jaden failed to get a measurable mark in his favorite event, the triple jump, scratching on all three of his prelim jumps thus eliminating him from the finals. A positive was freshman Zach Wagner getting fourth with his jump of 37'3.25".

A good day on the track for Brandon Barker as he ran second in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:17.7, and fifth in the 1600 meters in 5:19.24. Zach Wagner was one place out of a medal running seventh in 11:55.30 in the 3200 Another freshman standout for Kimball, Brady Kilgore, ran third in both hurdle events clocking 45.3 in the 300 hurdles and 16.4 in the 110 highs. Trent Rutledge was fourth in the 110 highs in 17.10. The talented Kilgore was also fourth in the high jump at 5'6". Creg Barker came through with a fifth place in the shotput with a heave of 40'5.5".

The Kimball boys ran second in the 4 x 100 relay with Jaikob Cole; Kyle Spicer, Jacob Jenkins, and Jaden Withrow running 47.46. The 4 x 800 relay team of Kaden Adrian, Zach Wagner, Ryan Soper, and Brandon Barker also ran second with a time of 9:07.85. The 4 x 400 relay team of Nicholas Thomas-Lewis, Ryan Soper, Jacob Jenkins, and Brady Kilgore ran fifth in 4:05.78. Other than the disappointments already mentioned, a good day for the Kimball boys.

The points came harder for the Kimball girls who were without some of the their top point scorers but Madison Biesecker came through with a fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 53:68 and was leading the pack before stutter-stepping with two hurdles left in the race. The talented senior showed promise of getting back to her former form in the event. Madison also picked up fourth place points in the high jump clearing 4'4", the same height Mikayla Fiehtner had for sixth place. Ali Hunsaker got the silver medal in the pole vault taking second with her vault of 8'0". Biesecker also got a sixth place in the long jump with a jump of 14'11", and Jannel Fiehtner was sixth in the triple jump at 30'5.5". The field events scored most of the points on the day for the Kimball girls and freshman Macayla Bizelli got a fourth place in the shot put at 30'10.5".

The 4 x 100 relay team had a bad hand off and was disqualified but the 4 x 400 relay team of Raelynn Hinton, Ali Hunsaker, Kate Reader, and Madison Wynne ran fifth in 4:40.40.

Jessi Smith of Bayard was named Outstanding Female Athlete of the meet while Drew Gilliland and Chase Watson, both of Mitchell, shared the Outstanding Male Athlete's award voted on by the coaches.

Head coach Gene Mohr said it was good to get points in the high jump and said "Be sure and credit Larry Pahl with our success in the high jump as he has volunteered to work with our high jumpers and it is paying off." He also pointed out a better day for the Kimball throwers as they scored points. The meet was well handled by Activities Director Ken Smith and all of his volunteers, and a salute to the Conference officials for moving the meet up two days to give the athletes a decent day to compete.

The Longhorns will compete at the George Calvert meet in Mitchell tomorrow (Friday) with a start time of 11 a.m. The Horns will also have some qualifiers for the Best of the West Meet at Scottsbluff on Tuesday (April 26) with a 4 p.m. start time. Qualifiers have not been named at this time.

BOYS WINNERS

100-Christian Perez-Mitchell 10.7 (record) 200-Christian Perez-Mitchell 23.91 400-Abe Hernandez-Mitchell 52.45 800-Chase Watson-Mitchell 2:13.57 l600-Chase Watson-Mitchell 5:14.41 3200-Chase Watson-Mitchell 11:10.90

110 hurdles-Drew Gilliland-Mitchell 14.5 (record) 300 hurdles-Drew Gilliland-Mitchell 41.75

4 x 100 relay-Mitchell 45.21

4 x 400 relay-Mitchell 3:37.28

4 x 800 relay-Bridgeport 8:50.69

high jump-Caleb Peters-Gordan-Rushville 6'5" (record)

pole vault-Justin Spencer-Mitchell 11'6"

long jump-Logan Linch-Bridgeport 20'8"

triple jump-Wyatt Pankowski-Bridgeport 39'5.5"

shotput-Isaias Mancias-Bridgeport 49'4"

discus-Connor Wiggins-Bridgeport 142'2"

GIRLS WINNERS

100-0livia Armstrong-Mitchell 12.8

200-Jessi Smith-Bayard 28.0

400-Jessi Smith-Bayard 1:00.28

800-Jori Peters-Mitchell 2:25.63

l600-Celeste Cardona-Mitchell 6:05.57

3200-Celeste Cardona-Mitchell 12:49.10

100 hurdles-Jessi Smith-Bayard 16.10

300 hurdles-Madison Watson-Mitchell 51.84

4 x 100 relay-Mitchell 53.65

4 x 400 relay-Mitchell 4:24.14

4 x 800 relay-Bridgeport 11:08.

high jump-Keyana Wilfred-Mitchell 5'0"

pole vault-Anabelle Gillen-Mitchell 9'0"

long jump-Miah Vera-Bayard 16'2.75"

triple jump-Lilyanna Martin-Morrill 32'1"

shotput-Lauren Petersen-Bayard 35'5"

discus-Emily Hansen-Hemingford 103'9.5"

See B2 for more WTC track photos.