Wildcats earn solid marks at Gardner meet

By Andy Brown
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Updated: May 4, 2016

Louisburg freshman Jonathan Ventre clears a hurdle during a meet earlier this season. Ventre placed in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles Monday at the Trailblazer Invitational in Gardner.

GARDNER – Rain and thunderstorms forced the Louisburg track and field team to make two different trips to Gardner to compete in the Trailblazer Invitational.

Field events took place for an hour Friday before the meet was postponed to Monday. Several athletes couldn’t return due to previous engagements, but the Wildcats still scored in several events.

Louisburg got a season-best performance from junior T.J. Dover in both the shot put and the discus. Dover finished third in the discus with a toss of 143 feet, 11 inches and later took fourth in the shot put with a toss of 44-11.

“I really thought our best performances on the day were from T.J. and Tim Smith in the distance races,” Louisburg coach Gary Griffin said.

Smith didn’t score points in those races, but he improved his times in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Smith was 11^th in the 3,200-meter run in 10 minutes and 57 seconds and was 14^th in the 1,600 run in 5:03.

Freshman Jonathan Ventre scored points in both hurdle events on the day. Ventre finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.67 seconds and sixth in the 300 hurdles in 44.46 seconds.

Fellow freshman Brandon Cooper had a strong showing in the triple jump as he took seventh with a mark of 39-1.5. Cooper was also sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.83 seconds.

Chris Williams earned points for the Wildcats in the 400-meter dash. Williams finished fourth in 52.65 seconds. The Wildcats 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams each took fifth.

Overall, the Wildcats were seventh in the team standings with 36 points.

Many varsity members of the girls track team competed in Thursday’s Prairie View Invitational, but sophomore Isabelle Holtzen made the trip to Gardner and tied her season best in the pole vault. Holtzen was fourth overall after clearing 9-6.

Louisburg returns to the track Friday when it travels to Wellsville for the Redbud Relays. Field events are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other results from the meet are:

Boys

100 dash: Ben Minster, 11^th, 11.96; Quinn Rigney, 13^th, 12.10

200 dash: Brandon Cooper, 11^th, 24.38; Minster, 12^th, 24.43; Rigney, 14^th, 24.75

High jump: Kristopher Light, 11^th, 5-4

Triple jump: Light, 14^th, 33-7.5

Shot put: Garrett Lowry, 16^th, 39-1.5

Discus: Lowry, 11^th, 117-9

Javelin: Dustyn Rizzo, 15^th, 122-1; Lyndon Smith, 16^th, 117-2

Girls

200 dash: Julianne Finley, 15^th, 30.47