Wildcats bring home medals from Red Bud Classic

By Andy Brown
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Updated: May 9, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg sophomore Chris Williams stays right behind Paola’s Matt Wilson during the 800-meter run Friday at the Red Bud Relays in Wellsville. Williams finished second in the event, just missing a school record.

WELLSVILLE – In his first-ever 800-meter run, Louisburg sophomore Chris Williams nearly did something no other Louisburg runner has done in 34 years.

Williams ran a time of 2:00.18 to finish second at the Red Bud Classic on Friday at Wellsville High School and was one second off the school record – which is the oldest record left on the Louisburg High School boys track record board. Wade Herbert set the record in 1983 with a time of 1:59.

Paola’s Matt Wilson, who set a school record of his own, won the event in 1:58.48, but Williams was on his hip most of the race.

“Nothing Chris does is that surprising to me,” Louisburg coach Gary Griffin said. “I just love the way he competed with one of the best 800 runners in the state.”

It was just one of many good performances for the Wildcats at the Wellsville met. Louisburg finished third in the team standings with 61 points after Paola won the meet with 130.5 points and Spring Hill was second with 74.50.

Louisburg finished in the top three of six events and set several personal records in the process.

“I was happy getting third place at that meet,” Griffin said. “I thought overall that we competed well.”

The Wildcats’ success continued in the pole vault when freshman Trent Martin had a season-best performance in the event. Martin cleared 12 feet and 6 inches to finish second.

Freshman Trent Martin clears a height in the pole vault Friday in Wellsville. Martin cleared a personal best 12-6 to take second.

Junior Frankie Hurst finished right behind Martin in third after he cleared 11-6. Sophomore Blue Caplinger took fifth at 11-0.

“The thing I like about the vaulters is they compete well with each other and they work hard in practice,” Griffin said. “One of them PRs (personal record) at a meet, and the next meet another one tops that. That is good competition.”

Senior T.J. Dover took third in a pair of events. Dover recorded a toss of 45-4 in the shot put and had a mark of 138-6 in the discus to medal in the two throws.

Freshman Charlie Koontz also medaled in the field events as he finished third in the long jump with mark of 19-8.

“T.J. getting two medals was very positive,” Griffin said. “He is going to have to throw well at regionals to qualify, but he has been very consistent, and hopefully he has some big throws in him yet.

“Charlie has been battling a little muscle tweak for the last few weeks, but we thought he had a good jump in him and hopefully he will continue to progress.”

On the track, the Wildcats set personal records in all three relays.

The 4×800 team of Ben Hupp, Jacob Benne, Wyatt Reece and Williams finished runner-up with a new best time of 8:37. Williams, Quinn Rigney, Caplinger and Hupp recorded a time of 3:35 in the 4×400 relay to take fifth, while Jackson Ewalt, Caplinger, Koontz and Rigney was sixth in the 4×100 in a season-best 45.35.

Senior Jacob Benne gets out to a lead during his leg of the 4×800-meter relay on Friday.

“The 4×800 has some kids on it that excel in other events like Wyatt and Chris, so we are trying to make sure those guys can do some other things to help the team plus make the strongest 4×800 possible,” Griffin said. “Jacob Benne stepped up and ran a good leg this week. The best improvement over the last two weeks has been the 4×400.”

Reece scored points for the Wildcats in a pair of individual races. The Louisburg junior ran a personal best 4:45.40 to take fourth in the 1,600-meter run and also finished fourth in the 3,200 run in 10:56.

On the girls side, the Lady Cats finished sixth in the team standings with 32 points, Paola won the 12-team meet with 160.5 points and Baldwin was second with 113.

Junior Kaitlyn Urban led the Lady Cats with a second place finish in the triple jump. Urban recorded a personal best jump of 33-5.5.

“I thought this was the best we competed at Wellsville in the past six or seven years,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “I felt like all the girls showed some toughness.

“It is great seeing Kaitlyn starting to peak. She is a real competitor and has worked hard all year.”

Junior Lexie Reece recorded a season best throw of 108-7 Friday to finish fifth in the discus.

Junior Lexie Reece also had a personal record for the Lady Cats in the discus. Lexie recorded a toss of 108-7.

“It has been a long time but Lexie finally getting over the 100-foot barrier was awesome,” Darrington said. “I think now she will have the confidence to keep improving and I am excited to see how she does this week at league.”

Also in the field events, junior Isabelle Holtzen and freshman Avery Graham each cleared 9 feet in the pole vault to take fourth overall. Senior Chloe Renner took sixth in the long jump with a mark of 15-6.5.

The Lady Cats scored points on the track as the 4×100 relay of Sydni Keagle, Urban, Haley Cain and Jordon Leach came in second with a time of 54.15 seconds. Senior Kaitlyn Gaza also scored points in the 400 dash as she finished sixth in 1:07

“The 4×100 team keeps competing and it’s been a pleasant surprise this year as to how well they have done,” Darrington said.

Louisburg returns to the track Thursday when it travels to Eudora for the Frontier League meet.