Wildcat track starts season with positives

Louisburg junior Kaitlyn Gaza finds her stride during the start of the 400-meter dash Tuesday during the Leavenworth Invitational at Mill Valley High School. The Wildcat boys and girls teams finished fifth and sixth, respectively. 

SHAWNEE – It was windy, cool and the times and distances weren’t where they wanted them to be.

Those are all the markings of the first track and field meet of the season and the Louisburg High School track team fit right into that category – except for one.

Wildcat senior Jarod Woodward looked in midseason form during the Leavenworth Invitational on Tuesday. On his first throw of the season, Woodward set a personal record in the shot put with a toss of 49 feet, 7 inches to win the event and was the Wildcats’ lone gold medalist on the day.

“It was great for Jarod to have a good throw like that in the first meet of the year,” Louisburg boys coach Gary Griffin said. “He could have a great year if he continues to work hard. Hopefully it is a starting point to some big throws.”

In the team standings, the Wildcats finished toward the bottom of the seven-team meet. Against bigger schools like Leavenworth, Topeka High, Mill Valley and Bishop Miege, the Louisburg boys totaled 34 points on the day to finish fifth.

The girls team also finished with 34 points and came in sixth place during the meet that was held at Mill Valley High School.

Senior Jarod Woodward releases an attempt in the shot put Tuesday. Woodward won the event with a personal best throw of 49-7

The Louisburg boys scored points in eight different events, including all three relays, which turned out to be one of the highlights on the day.

Wyatt Reece, Tanner Belcher, Ben Hupp and Michael Minster ran a strong opening 4×800-meter relay to take third in 9 minutes and 18 seconds. The Wildcat 4×400 team of Ben Minster, Michael Minster, Quinn Rigney and Chris Williams ended the meet on a positive note as they came in third in 3:42.83.

Ben Minster, Will Ridley, Rigney and Williams ran a time of 47.42 seconds in the 4×100 relay to finish fourth overall.

Freshman Jonathon Ventre also scored some points on the track for Louisburg. Ventre took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 46.56 seconds

“I was pretty happy overall,” Griffin said. “There wasn’t great conditions, but we competed hard and now we have a starting point and hopefully we show improvement throughout the season.

“The 4×400 and 4×800 teams both ran good times for the conditions we had and the fact that we are still not in great shape yet. I thought they competed really well and will continue to get better.”

In the field events, junior Andrew Goff scored points in two events for Louisburg. Goff came in fourth in the high jump after he cleared 5-8 and later finished sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 37-3.

Junior Ellie Katzer lets the discus fly Tuesday at the Leavenworth Invitational. Katzer finished fifth overall.

Junior Jacob Jensen rounded out the Wildcat point-getters as he was fifth in the javelin with a toss of 143-9.

Sophomore Isabelle Holtzen scored points in three events to lead the Lady Cats and it started in the pole vault after she cleared 7-0 to come in third.

During the pole vault, Holtzen had to leave to run the 4×800-meter relay along with Lauren Becker, Liz Hildreth and Madelynn Yalowitz. The Lady Cat team ran strong as they took third in 11:28.

Later in the meet, Holtzen finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:45.79.

Also on the track, Mikayla Quinn came on strong in the 400-meter dash and the Louisburg sophomore took fourth in 1:05.29. Junior Kaitlyn Gaza ran a 30.03 to take sixth in the 200-meter dash and sophomore Lilly Mick was sixth in the 300 hurdles in 55.55.

Julianne Finley, Gaza, Megan Lemke and Quinn teamed in the 4×400 relay to end the meet strong as they took fourth in 4:33.97. Gaza, Hanna Becker, Jordon Leach and Quinn ran the 4×100 relay and finished fifth in 55.58.

In the field events, sophomore Kaitlyn Urban had a good first outing in the triple jump as she took fourth at 31-11. Junior Ellie Katzer later came in fifth in the discus with a throw of 94-4.

Louisburg junior Andrew Goff clears a mark in the high jump Tuesday at Mill Valley High School. Goff took fourth overall.

Junior Chloe Renner scored in two events for Louisburg as she was sixth in the high jump (4-4) and long jump (15-4).

“I really feel we have some good young competitive girls,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “I really think the jumpers did well and feel good about our 4×400 team. I really feel the girls have a lot of potential and I’m excited as to where we will finish this year in the league.”

Louisburg returns to the track Friday when it travels to the Show-Me Invitational in Belton, Mo. Field events are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other Wildcat results from Tuesday are:

Girls

100-meter dash: Hanna Becker, 15^th, 15.34; Klara Riester, 16^th, 15.40

200 dash: Mikayla Quinn, 11^th, 30.76; Riester, 12^th, 30.96; Julianne Finley, 14^th, 31.09

400 dash: Kaitlyn Gaza, 8^th, 1:08; Megan Lemke, 9^th, 1:09; Finley, 12^th, 1:10

800 run: Liz Hildreth, 9^th, 2:53.27; Lauren Becker, 13^th, 3:00

1,600 run: Shaylor Whitham, 11^th, 6:33

3,200 run: Madelynn Yalowitz, 9^th, 14:17; Whitham, 10^th, 14:34

Long jump: Haley Earl, 14^th, 14-6.5; Lemke, 16^th, 14-2; Kaitlyn Urban, 17^th, 13-10

Triple jump: Earl, 7^th, 31-1.5; Chloe Renner, 8^th, 30-11

Shot put: Morgan Strumillo, 9^th, 27-11; Carson Buffington 14^th, 24-7; Lexie Reece, 16^th, 21-6.5; Ainsley Vance, 17^th, 20-2.5

Discus: Reece, 9^th, 85-7; Holly Turner, 13^th, 74-9; Strumillo, 17^th, 65-6

Javelin: Paige Buffington, 7^th, 91-9; Zoie Gilliland, 8^th, 86-8; Reece, 15^th, 67-2

Boys

100 dash: Ben Minster, 15^th, 12.62; Will Ridley, 20^th, 13.18; Jonathon Ventre, 23^rd, 13.35

200 dash: Minster, 10^th, 24.75; Quinn Rigney, 14^th, 24.96; Chris Williams, 18^th, 25.59

400 dash: Williams, 8^th, 55.47; Rigney, 11^th, 56.40

800 run: Tanner Belcher, 9^th, 2:20.04; Michael Minster, 10^th, 2:20.11

1,600 run: Wyatt Reece, 11^th, 5:32.80; Devyn Small, 15^th, 5:46.67; Jacob Benne, 16^th, 5:49.82

3,200 run: Reece, 14^th, 12:15; Small, 17^th, 12:50; Benne, 20^th, 13:19

300 hurdles: Ben Hupp, 9^th, 48.05

High jump: Marshall Rooney, 10^th, 5-2

Long jump: Andrew Goff, 17^th, 17-8.5; Rooney, 22^nd, 16-11; Dalton Knipp, 23^rd, 16-5; Will Ridley, 24^th, 16-4

Triple jump: Knipp, 8^th, 35-9.5; Rooney, 9^th, 35-0

Shot put: Bradley Trageser, 11^th, 41-1.5; Garrett Lowry, 12^th, 39-6.5

Discus: Lowry, 7^th, 118-6; Jarod Woodward, 10^th, 98-0; Trageser, 12^th, 90-03

Javelin: Dustyn Rizzo, 11^th, 127-5

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