Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
State qualifiers for Kimball for this weekend's State High School track and field meet are, left to right, Jaden Wtihrow in the triple jump, Hannah Biesecker in the long jump and Brady Kilgore in the 110 meter high hurdles.
Jaden Withrow won the triple jump at the C-11 District meet Friday in Mitchell to make him a four time state qualifier in the event. He returns to Omaha this weekend to defend his state championship of a year ago.
Hannah Biesecker was a district champion in the girl's long jump with her winning leap of 16 feet 8 and a half inches and second in the event last year.
Brady Kilgore shows the excellent form that won him a second place finish at the district meet this past Friday and a qualifying spot in this weekend's state meet in Omaha. The talented young sophomore has one of the state's fastest times in the 110 meter hurdles and ran 14.93 at the district meet.
Kimball High senior, Jannel Fiehtner, ended her Kimball high track career with a pair of sixth place finishes at the C-11 District meet. Her medals came in the long jump and triple jump.
Kimball will be sending three athletes to the 2017 Nebraska State Track and Field Championships this weekend at Omaha Burke Stadium, and the honored trip consists of senior Jaden Withrow in the triple jump, junior Hannah Biesecker in the long jump and sophomore Brady Kilgore in the 110 meter high hurdles.
This will be the fourth trip to Omaha for Withrow who won his pet event once again at the C-11 District held at Mitchell this past Friday, and it is the third time he has emerged as the District Champion. He is also returning to Omaha as the defending champion in the event in Class C!
Withrow won the District gold medal with a hop-skip-jump of 43 feet 4 and ¾ inches, over a foot better than the second place jump of 42'2" by Cody Williams of Chase County, with the top two in each individual event qualifying to advance to the state meet plus other automatic qualifiers by virtue of set times and marks.
Along with the good news is a bit of tough luck news as Jaden ended up one quarter of an inch shy of an automatic qualifying spot in the long jump, an event that he placed fourth in at last year's state meet with a leap of 20 feet 10 and ¾ inches with the automatic qualifying mark set this year at 20 feet 11 inches. He had a couple of jumps over 21 feet where he just scratched by the closest of margins.
Jump coach Wade Brashear said, "The officials measuring, and those marking the jump, could have easily missed, but we will live with it and go concentrate on the triple jump at Omaha."
Jaden will now try to improve on his all time best of 44 feet 1 and 3/4 inches that won him the gold medal a year ago at the state meet.
Hannah Biesecker is also returning to the state meet after making the trip last year. Hannah placed second a year ago to earn her qualifying spot. This year she won the event and jumped an even one foot better than last year, winning the gold medal with her best jump of the day at 16 feet 8 and ½ inches. Her marks have been an improved consistent showing all season and her goal now is to bring back a state medal.
Brady Kilgore just missed by one place going to state last year as a freshman in the hurdles, and Friday he made a goal come true by running second in the event with a very good time of 14.93 with Phalen Sanford of Dundy County-Stratton winning in 14.64.
The talented junior from DCS was a three-event winner at Mitchell, improving his district meet record in the pole vault from 14'8" that he set last year to an even 15 feet this year. He also won the 300 hurdles in 39.08.
Coming into the district meet Kilgore was leading the state times in the 110 meter hurdles for Class C at 14.84. Brady also has a goal of bringing home some state hardware.
Kimball had some other bright spots on the day in non-qualifying finishes. Sophomore Zachery Wagner placed third in the triple jump at 40 feet 6 and ¾ inches. Jaden Mohr was fourth in the pole vault at 12'0" and Paycen Harroun was fifth at 11'6". Kyle Spicer ran fifth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.36. Freshman Jenna Greenwood equaled her personal best mark in the high jump of 4'8" to place fourth. Jannel Fiehtner picked up a pair of sixth place finishes in the long jump at 14'11.5" and the triple jump at 30'8".
Chase County won both the girl's and boy's divisions in the final team standing with the girls piling up 201.5 points with Mitchell a distant runner-up with 107.5. Dundy County-Stratton had 79, Bridgeport 42, Bayard 36, Hemingford 33, Kimball 20 and Perkins County 7.
In the boy's division it was Chase County 101, Mitchell 88, Bridgeport 82, Perkins County 75, Dundy County-Stratton 72, Kimball 42, Bayard 35.5 and Hemingford 30.5.
