Youth leads Wildcat boys track at Anderson County

Louisburg’s Kris Light lands in the pit to get a mark in the long jump competition Thursday at the Anderson County Invitational in Garnett. Light finished second in the high jump and fifth in the triple jump. As a team, the Wildcats took second overall.

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GARNETT – Experience has been something the Louisburg High School boys track team lacked coming into the season, but following the Anderson County Invitational on Thursday, the young Wildcats seem to be coming into their own.

Louisburg finished second in the team standings with 105 points behind champion Spring Hill, which had 150.5. The Wildcats also won three events, including two from a pair of freshmen.

“I was pretty happy overall how we competed,” Louisburg coach Gary Griffin said. “Just like every meet we had some good and not so good, but I think all the runners are making some strides and the jumpers had a lot better day overall than last week.”

Freshman Brandon Cooper had his best day of the early season as he racked up four medals, including three on the track.

One of those was in the 100-meter dash as Cooper sprinted to a gold medal in 11.55 seconds, while teammates Quinn Rigney (11.71) and Ben Minster (11.72) came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Cooper continued his success in the 200-meter dash as he was third in 24 seconds and helped the 4×100 team of Minster, Rigney and Chris Williams run a season-best time of 45.84 seconds to finish second.

“Brandon had a very good day and he improved on all of his events,” Griffin said. “He is very talented and has a very high ceiling and he will keep improving as his practice habits improve.”

Another freshman, Chris Williams, also finished strong on the track as he won the 400-meter dash for the first time this season in 53.02 seconds. Fellow freshman Jonathan Ventre came in fourth in the 300 hurdles in 44.25.

“The times for the sprinters are gradually getting to where they need to be and that comes with warmer weather,” Griffin said. “Chris has consistently performed well this year and his time was very good for a freshman.”

Louisburg also had a pair of medalists in the distance races. Wyatt Reece ran a 5:03 in the 1,600-meter run to finish third and Tim Smith was fourth in the 3,200 run in 11:30.

Reece, Tanner Belcher, Michael Minster and Ben Hupp ran a season-best time of 8:57 in the 4×800 relay to come in third, while Rigney, Williams, Michael Minster and Scott Murphy took third in the 4×400 relay in 3:43.

In the field events, senior Jarod Woodward had another strong performance in the shot put as he recorded a toss of 49 feet, 8 inches to win the event by more than three feet.

Kris Light medaled in two field events for the Wildcats, including a runner-up finish in the high jump after he cleared 5-8. Teammate Andrew Goff, who took fourth in the high jump after he cleared 5-6, led Louisburg in the triple jump as he took third with a leap of 37-8.

Cooper also medaled in the event with a mark of 37-3 and Light came in fifth in 36-2.

“Kris has done a nice job in the high jump and is improving in the triple jump as well,” Griffin said. “Hopefully all three of the triple jumpers will reach the 40-foot mark by the end of the year.”

Freshman Ian Combs also had a strong performance in the pole vault after he cleared 11 feet to medal third overall.

Louisburg returns to the track Thursday when it hosts the Louisburg Invitational at Wildcat Stadium. Field events are set to start at 3:30 p.m.

Other Wildcat results are:

100 dash: Jackson Ewalt, 19^th, 12.65

200 dash: Quinn Rigney, 7^th, 24.41; Scott Murphy, 15^th, 26.14; Ewalt, 19^th, 26.86

400 dash: Murphy, 7^th, 56.69

800 run: Tanner Belcher, 7^th, 2:16; Michael Minster, 9^th, 2:16

1,600 run: Tim Smith, 7^th 5:19; Eddie Murphy, 13^th, 5:26; Devyn Small, 18^th, 5:33; Jacob Benne, 19^th, 5:34

3,200 run: Wyatt Reece, 7^th, 12:04; Small, 9^th, 12:25; E. Murphy, 10^th, 12:26; Benne, 15^th, 13:03

110 hurdles: Jonathan Ventre, 7^th, 17.79

300 hurdles: Ben Hupp, 8^th, 46.07

Long jump: Marshall Rooney, 14^th, 16-0; Andrew Goff, 15^th, 15-10.5; Kyle Allen, 18^th, 15-5.25; Kris Light, 19^th, 14-8.5

Triple jump: Rooney, 8^th, 35-0; Allen, 9^th, 34-9

Shot put: Bradley Trageser, 9^th, 39-1; Mason Koechner, 12^th, 37-0.5; Nathan Allen, 16^th, 35-11.25

Discus: Koechner, 14^th, 103-8; Dalton Ribordy, 15^th, 101-11; Trageser, 16^th, 101-10; Jarod Woodward, 17^th, 100-7; Matthew Holloway, 21^st, 94-5

Javelin: Jacob Jensen, 8^th, 129-5; Lyndon Smith, 13^th, 123-3; Dustyn Rizzo, 15^th, 118-6; Holloway, 16^th, 116-10; N. Allen, 18^th, 104-0