Louisburg track captures league medals

Louisburg senior Jarod Woodward rears back for an attempt in the shot put during a meet earlier this season. The Wildcat track teams traveled to De Soto last Thursday and left with several league medals.

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DE SOTO – In a meet that was filled with state champions and medalists, the Louisburg High School track and field teams had their work cut out Thursday during the Frontier League meet at De Soto High School.

The Wildcats hung in there as they medaled in several events, despite not having a league champion.

The Louisburg girls finished fourth in the team standings with 57.5 points. Paola and Baldwin took a chunk of the team points as Paola won the league crown with 205 points and Baldwin was second at 194.

Still, the Wildcats found several positives to build on and it started with junior Liz Hildreth in the 800-meter run. Hildreth finished second overall with a time of 2 minutes and 34 seconds and was the Wildcats’ top finisher on the day.

“I was really proud of the girls,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “They showed me some toughness competing on the track. Liz finally got out of her comfort zone and did a great job finishing second. She has a really good chance to compete this week and head to state if she can keep improving.”

The league meet was just the precursor to what is an even bigger meet Friday when Louisburg travels to Chanute for regionals. The top four in each event will qualify for state.

Louisburg’s relay teams all finished in top four at league. The 4×100-meter relay of Jordon Leach, Megan Lemke, Hanna Becker and Kaitlyn Gaza was fourth in 53.06 seconds

Lemke, Gaza, Mikayla Quinn and Reilly Alexander ran a 4:23 in the 4×400 relay to come in third. Isabelle Holtzen, Lauren Becker, Shaylor Whitham and Hildreth took fourth in the 4×800 in 10:45.

“The relay teams did a nice job,” Darrington said. “The 4×100 improved as well as the other two, which is nice to see. They all stand a chance to head to state, but they must run their best races of the year.”

Also on the track, Quinn ran a season-best time of 1:04 in the 400-meter dash to come in fifth. Gaza took sixth in the 200-meter dash in 28.5 seconds and Leach was seventh in the 100 dash in 13.96.

Junior Chloe Renner scored points in three different field events for Louisburg. Renner came in fourth in the long jump with a mark of 15 feet and 7.75 inches.

Renner was also fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 32 feet and fifth in the high jump after she cleared 4-7.

Kaitlyn Urban led Louisburg in the triple jump with a mark of 32-2 to take third and Lemke came in seventh in the long jump at 14-5.5.

Sophomore Sophie McMullen recorded a couple good throws in the discus, including one that went 103-2.5, which was good enough to take third. Teammate Lexie Reece also scored points in the event with a throw of 95-0.

“It was nice to see Sophie break 100 feet, but she needs to work hard this week at practice if she wants to move on to state,” Darrington said.

Holtzen competed in a tough pole vault field, but came in fourth overall after she cleared 9-2 to round out the Lady Cat point-getters.

The Louisburg boys also went up against some tough competition as the Wildcats were sixth in the team standings with 44.5 points. Paola won the boys league title with 156 points and Baldwin was second at 136.

Freshman Jonathan Ventre continues to make strides in both hurdle events and cut down on time. On Thursday, Ventre was third in the 300-meter hurdles in 42.58 seconds and came in fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.98 seconds.

“Jonathan has had a really good season,” Louisburg boys coach Gary Griffin said. “He has improved with pretty much every meet. He is a hard worker and it is paying off.”

The Wildcats also set personal records in all three relay events.

Brandon Cooper, Chris Williams, Ben Minster and Quinn Rigney ran a time of 45.1 seconds to take fourth. Wyatt Reece, Tanner Belcher, Ben Hupp and Michael Minster helped the 4×800 to a time of 8:49 for fifth and set a personal best by nine seconds.

Ventre, Ben Minster, Michael Minster and Williams ran a 3:33 in the 4×400 to come in sixth, but shaved three seconds off their previous top time.

“They all performed pretty well, but all of them are going to have to run well if they want to qualify for state,” Griffin said.

Also on the track, Cooper ran a time of 11.68 seconds to finish fourth in the 100-meter dash. Williams came in fifth in the 400 dash in 51.77 seconds and Rigney was seventh in the 200 dash with a time of 23.99.

In the field events, senior Jarod Woodward showed he was among the best in the league in the shot put. Woodward came in third with a throw of 49-7.5.

Cooper set a personal best mark in the triple jump with a leap of 39-8.25 to come in fourth. Junior T.J. Dover was fourth in the discus with a toss of 138-3.

Freshman Ian Combs cleared 10-1 in the pole vault to come in fifth and Kristopher Light was sixth in the high jump with at 5-8.

Louisburg returns to action for the regional meet at 2 p.m. at Chanute High School.

“We did about as well as I expected there,” Griffin said. “There were a lot of state champions and state medalists at the meet and we held our own. But we are going to have to take a step up this week if we want to qualify for state. It is an exciting time and we will see who steps up.”

 

Other Wildcat results are:

Varsity Girls

100 dash: Hanna Becker, 14^th, 14.70

200 dash: Jordon Leach, 11^th, 29.41

400 dash: Kaitlyn Gaza, 8^th, 1:05.75; Reilly Alexander, 10^th, 1:07.54

800 dash: Lauren Becker, 10^th, 2:50.42;

1,600 run: Shaylor Whitham, 10^th, 6:15

3,200 run: Whitham, 11^th, 14:42

100 hurdles: Klara Riester, 8^th, 18:14

300 hurdles: Riester, 8^th, 53.25

Long jump: Kaitlyn Urban, 13^th, 13-1.5

Shot put: Morgan Strumillo, 10^th, 30-3.5; Ellie Katzer, 13^th, 29-1

Discus: Katzer, 9^th, 90-0

Javelin: Zoie Gilliland, 9^th, 88-6; Paige Buffington, 10^th, 87-1

JV Girls

100 dash: Grayson Anderson, 4^th, 14.99

200 dash: Julianne Finley, 3^rd, 30.06; Anderson, 5^th, 30.69

400 dash: Finley, 1^st, 1:06.28

800 run: Alex Miller, 1^st, 2:43

3,200 run: Miller, 1^st, 14:00

100 hurdles: Kristen Bell, 6^th, 21.05

300 hurdles: Bell, 5^th, 59.90

4×100 relay: 5th, 58.49

4×400 relay: 1st, 5:06

High jump: Eileen Benne, 1^st, 4-8; Makenna Allen, 4^th, 4-2

Long jump: Benne, 3^rd, 13-5.25; Allen, 8^th, 12-3.5

Triple jump: Benne, 2^nd, 29-3; Allen, 3^rd, 28-2

Discus: Melia Rice, 5^th, 57-3.5

Javelin: Rice, 5^th, 62-0

 

Varsity Boys

100 dash: Ben Minster, 10^th, 11.88; Quinn Rigney, 11^th, 12.01

200 dash: Minster, 9^th, 24.52; Brandon Cooper, 13^th, 24.92

800 run: Tanner Belcher, 10^th, 2:10.34; Michael Minster, 11^th, 2:10.87

1,600 run: Wyatt Reece, 9^th, 4:56; Tim Smith, 12^th, 5:02; Devyn Small, 17^th, 5:15

3,200 run: Smith, 9^th, 10:50; Reece, 11^th, 11:14; Small, 15^th, 11:40

300 hurdles: Ben Hupp, 11^th, 46.96

Triple jump: Kris Light, 9^th, 36-6.5

Shot put: T.J. Dover, 8^th, 45-8; Bradley Trageser, 14^th, 40-2

Discus: Mason Koechner, 12^th, 110-7

Javelin: Dustyn Rizzo, 11^th, 120-5; Jacob Jensen, 15^th, 112-11

JV Boys

100 dash: Jackson Ewalt, 3^rd, 12.29; Will Ridley, 10^th, 12.76; Austin Moore, 11^th, 12.76

200 dash: Moore, 6^th, 25.26; Ridley, 8^th, 25.54; Ewalt, 9^th, 25.54

400 dash: Blue Caplinger, 1^st, 54.83; Scott Murphy, 4^th, 56.51; Owen Staver, 8^th, 58.63

800 run: Eddie Murphy, 3^rd, 2:19

1,600 run: Jacob Benne, 8^th, 5:30; Dylan Knipp, 16^th, 6:05

3,200 run: Eddie Murphy, 6^th, 12:10; Benne, 9^th, 12:30; Knipp, 12^th, 13:36

4×100 relay: 2^nd, 47.56

4×400 relay: 1^st, 3:49

High jump: Marshall Rooney, 6^th, 5-4; Dalton Knipp, 7^th, 5-2

Pole vault: Caplinger, 1^st, 10-1

Long jump: Rooney, 4^th, 17-4.25; Kyle Allen, 6^th, 16-10.5; Jacob Arnett, 9^th, 15-3

Triple jump: Dalton Knipp, 1^st, 37-4; Allen, 2^nd, 36-5.25; Rooney, 3^rd, 36-0

Shot put: Matt Holloway, 3^rd, 36-1.5; Nathan Allen, 5^th, 34-1.5; Kiefer Tucker, 7^th, 33-5

Discus: Dalton Ribordy, 3^rd, 109-6; Tucker, 5^th, 106-1; Holloway, 9^th, 88-0

Javelin: Holloway, 4^th, 112-7; Ribordy, 5^th, 110-5.5; N. Allen, 8^th, 104-1

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