Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
After a pressure packed day in terrible weather conditions, it's time to relax and have a bit of fun and that's just what Corey Travis (left) and Brady Kilgore did when asked to pose for a picture for the Observer to let our readers know they are Kimball High state qualifiers for this weekend's State track meet in Omaha. Kilgore qualified in three events, including both hurdle events and the high jump, and Travis in the discus.
Brady Kilgore will be making his annual trip to Omaha for the Nebraska State Track Meet after winning and qualifying in three events at last week's District meet held at Bayard. Brady will have company on his trip to Omaha as senior teammate Corey Travis qualified in the discus after placing 2nd as Class C takes the top two individuals in each event, plus the winning relay team and in addition, some automatic qualifying marks and additional fastest times from all districts.
Kilgore won the 110 meter hurdles in 15.69, the 300 hurdles in 41.85, and the high jump at 6'1". He closed out his day by running a leg on the 4 x 100 relay, joining up with Christian Allen-Van Pelt, Brayden Tyan, and Zach Wagner to take 5th place with their time of 46.72. Travis won the silver medal in the discus with his top throw of the day of 43'0". This will be Corey's first trip to the State meet.
Chase County ran away with the team titles in both divisions winning the girl's team title with 212.5 points with Hershey a distant runner-up with 64. Kimball was 7th in the 9 school field with 34.5 points. In the boy's division Chase County won with 226.5 points with Kimball in the runner-up spot with 63.
The weather was at its worst, at least for the morning session and I heard comments from different officials that "This is the very worst condition, weather wise, that I have ever seen for a track meet". It did get better for the afternoon session but overall it was a very cold and nasty day for the district meet.
While Kimball had only the two qualifiers they had some "heartbreak third place finishes" according to coach Gene Mohr. Zach Wagner ran 3rd in the 800 in 2:13.38 and was also 3rd in the triple jump at 39'3.5". On top of this he ran 6th in the 100 meter dash in 11.95 and ran on the 4 x 100 relay. Tommy Lenzen ran 3rd in the 3200 with a time of 11:16.70 and 6th in the 1600 in 5:02.07. Beau Hanks was 6th in the triple jump 38'2.75" and freshman Thomas Muldoon brought home a district medal with his 5th place in the 800 with a time of 2:20.49.
Megan Spicer came close in the triple jump taking 3rd at 31'4.5" and was 4th in the long jump at 14'11", well short of her better jumps of the season. The Kimball girls scored lots of points in the jumps like usual with three places in the triple jump where Katie Heeg was 4th at 31'.5" and Jenna Greewood 6th at 30'.2.5. Greenwood was 4th in the high jump at 4'2". Raven Johnson wound up 5th in the pole vault at 8'2". Carli Wurdeman took 4th in the discus at 96'9". Chantel Malson ran 5th in the 1600 with a time of 6:11.05.
In the relays, Kimball's 4 x 100 relay team of Spicer, Greenwood, Johnson, and Malson ran 3rd in 54.71. The 4 x 400 relay team of Tianna Stierwalt, Amy Birkhofer, Payton Wise and Maddison Merryfield ran 6th in 4:52.45.
Kilgore and Travis, along with the Kimball coaches will leave Thursday for Omaha with a stop along the way for a short workout. The State meet at Burke Stadium will be held on Friday and Saturday.
