Area Team’s have good start to season at UNK Track Invite
KEARNEY - It may not be quite April yet, but that didn’t matter for eager area team’s looking to get their season’s started at the UNK Invite on March 20. It was definitely a good day for the area teams with most of them taking home at least one first place.
Leading the pack with multiple first-place finishes was the S-E-M Track Team. The Mustangs were very strong in the throwing events. This was well documented with Carson Rohde winning the boy’s Shot Put with a throw of 48.07, and the Discus with a toss of 161-01.
“We always have high expectations for Carson to perform,” S-E-M Coach Erka Kappel said. “We’re just used to seeing him perform well all the time so that was expected. We teased him afterward about having us all a little scared when he scratched his first throw and fell on his second in the discus. We all blew a sigh of relief with his third throw being in the 150s. Then that fourth throw was just really fun to watch. What was really exciting was that he was only a couple of feet off the discus school record and I know that is something he’s really chasing after. I’m excited to see where the rest of the year takes him.”
On the girl’s side, Josie Smith’s good XC season in the fall is caring over to the track where she won the 3,200-meter run in a time of 14:28.35.
“I knew she’d be strong in the 3,200 meters too since she was a state qualifier in cross country,” Kappel said. “We’d like to shave some time off that two mile for sure, but we’re really happy with that start to this season.”
For South Loup, their two highest finishes came in the middle distance and distance races. Landyn Cole won the girls 800 meters in a time of 2:50.56 and Trey Connell was second in the 1,600-meter run in a time of 5:29.80.
According to South Loup girls Coach, Mike Weverka he was very proud of the effort put out by his distance runner Cole and Tallii Martin. With that being said, he also likes where his team stacks up at other places on the track as well.
Alli and Landyn were fun to watch,” Weverka said. “They are tough and love to compete. Those two are not afraid of the pain and will push through it to reach their goals for the season. As far as strong points this season, we have plenty of speed in the sprints and strong legs for the mid and long-distance races. The trick will be getting them in the right events so the team can be competitive.”
For Rick Peterson, the UNK Invite was full of surprises with the South Loup boys.
“I was really pleased with how well we competed,” Peterson said.
“We knew without Brett Halstead out with a skiing injury that we would be a little short-handed in the relays. On the first relay of the day, the 4x800 relay two freshmen and two sophomores had the lead until the last lap and ended up 3rd, really surprising me. Possibly the biggest surprise of the day was freshman Trey Connell who placed 2nd in the 1,600 meters when we weren’t even sure that he would run because of a back injury.”
Anselmo-Merna’s lone first-place finisher on the day was Kaitlyn Jacquot in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.50 and the 300-meter hurdles in 59.04. According to A-M girls, Coach Jason Reed Jacquot has high expectations for herself this season.
On the boys side for the Coyotes they are led by Wyat Lambertson who had a great meet in the jumps and sprints. According to boys Coach Katie Hoblyn this was a lot
of her runner’s first time competing in high school track this year.
“It was nice to see great individual performances at the first meet,” Hoblyn said. “This gives us a starting point and goals to work toward for the rest of the season. Wyat is such a competitor and it will be fun to see what he accomplishes this season. Over half the boys team