Holtzen breaks school record, Wildcats win 8 events at Garnett

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 18, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Isabelle Holtzen clears a height in the pole vault during a meet earlier this season. Holtzen cleared 11 feet, 6 inches on Thursday at the Anderson County Invitational, which broke her own school record of 11-1, that was set last year.

GARNETT – Isabelle Holtzen’s name was already on the Louisburg High School girls track record board – it is just going to have a new number by it now.

Holtzen broke her own school record in the pole vault Thursday at the Anderson County Invitational after she cleared 11 feet, 6 inches and eclipsed her old mark of 11-1 that she set last year.

“Isabelle is doing some great things in pole vault,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “Breaking her school record was inevitable and I feel this is just the beginning. She has been moving up onto bigger poles and she continues to vault well when this is sometimes a difficult transition for a few meets.”

The Louisburg senior won the event going away and picked up three gold medals on the day, as did with senior teammate Kaitlyn Urban as the Lady Cats finished fifth in the team standings with 75 points.

On the boys side, junior Brandon Cooper propelled himself to three golds in the sprints and fellow junior Chris Williams added another first place finish to help the Wildcats to third place in the team standings with 96.5 points.

Along with her victory in the pole vault, Holtzen helped the 4×100-meter relay of Sydni Keagle, Urban and Carlee Gassman to a first place finish with a time of 53.25 seconds. Urban, Holtzen and Gassman also teamed up with Mikayla Quinn to win the 4×400 relay in 4 minutes and 28 seconds.

Urban picked up her third gold of the day as she won the triple jump with a mark 31-3.5.

“Kaitlyn is a hard worker and she earns everything she accomplishes,” Reece said. “She is staying consistent right now with interesting weather, so she will be ready to pop a great jump when the conditions are right.”

In other field events, Gassman finished runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 16-1, while Eileen Benne took fourth in the triple jump (30-2) and high jump (4-8). Avery Graham tied a personal best in the pole vault as she took third after clearing 9-6.

On the track, the Lady Cats also placed in the 4×800 relay as Quinn, Lakin Cunningham, Shaylor Whitham and Payton Shaffer took third in 11:50.

Quinn and Gassman scored points in the 400 dash as they finished fifth (1:09) and sixth (1:10), respectively. Shaffer recorded a fifth-place finish in the 800 run in 2:52, while Kristen Bell was fifth in the 100 hurdles in 20.46.

“The girls did a great job at Anderson County,” Reece said. “They are really competing well and have stepped up when needed and have run different races than they are used to. Competition creates stronger athletes both mentally and physically.

“Our relays are doing well. One of these days we will get a warm day with little to no wind and we will really see them fly. Maybe this Thursday.”

Cooper dominated the sprints on the boys side as he won the 100-meter dash in 11.95 seconds and later won the 200 dash in 24.52. In between the two races, Cooper picked up another gold – this time as the anchor of the 4×100 relay – and helped Charlie Koontz, Blue Caplinger, Ben Wiedenmann to a first place finish in 44.39 seconds.

Also on the track, Williams ran his way to a gold in the 400-meter dash in 52.49 seconds and later joined Wyatt Reece, Collins and Wiedenmann to a runner-up finish in the 4×400 relay in 3:38. Williams, Reece, Gareth Baus and Jackson Staab took third in the 4×800 relay in 9:48.

Koontz, Collins and Wiedenmann also scored points in the sprints. Koontz (12.47) and Collins (12.56) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100-meter dash and Wiedenmann (25.10) was fifth in the 200 dash.

In the field events, sophomore Michael Waldron put together a record day for himself in the javelin. Waldron threw a personal best 157 feet to finish second overall and had his best day as a Wildcat.

The pole vault provided more drama for Louisburg as that event was the last to be completed and had to finish with car lights shining on the runway. Despite that, Frankie Hurst, Trent Martin and Luke Faulkner all finished with season best heights.

Hurst cleared 12-6 for the first time this season and took third, while Martin was fourth at 12-0.25. Faulkner was fifth with a personal best 12 foot clearance.

Louisburg also got some big points in the high jump and shot put as Jack Mick and Brayden White had their best days of the season. Mick cleared 5-4 to take third in the high jump, while White threw 40-5.5 to take fourth overall.

The Wildcats will hit the track again this Thursday when they host the Louisburg Invitational, their lone home meet of the season.

On Friday and Saturday, several Wildcats will also compete in the 2018 Kansas Relays at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence. Wyatt Reece (steeplechase), Chris Williams (400, 800), Brandon Cooper (100, 4×100), Blue Caplinger (4×100), Ben Wiedenmann (4×100), Charlie Koontz (4×100), Isabelle Holtzen (pole vault), Kaitlyn Urban (triple jump) and Carlee Gassman (300 hurdles) will participate in the two day event.

Other results are:

GIRLS

100 dash: Jordon Leach, ninth, 14.81; Kaitlyn Urban, 16^th, 15.19; Andrea Gaza, 23^rd, 16.24; Shayla Aye, 29^th, 18.48

200 dash: Isabelle Holtzen, 10^th, 30.47; Leach, 11^th, 30.49; Aye, 23^rd, 38.62

400 dash: Gaza, 18^th, 1:15; Eileen Benne, 19^th, 1:15; Hannah Cook, 23^rd, 1:30

800 run: Shaylor Whitham, seventh, 2:56; Lakin Cunningham, 16^th, 3:23

100 hurdles: Sydni Keagle, eighth, 21.43

300 hurdles: Keagle, ninth, 56.93; Kristen Bell, 12^th, 1:03; Shelby Grandon, 13^th, 1:04

Long jump: Grandon, 17^th, 13-0.50

Shot put: Shea O’Hara, 13^th, 25-7.5; Lexie Reece, 17^th, 23-11; Aiyana Penca, 18^th, 23-10.25; Eden Strumillo, 19^th, 22-10.5; Melia Rice, 23^rd, 22-0

Discus: Reece, 10^th, 83-5; Rice, 13^th, 78-9; Kody Lowry, 14^th, 74-3; Strumillo, 17^th, 68-9; Penca, 20^th, 62-0

Javelin: Rice, 12^th, 68-0; Cunningham, 14^th, 67-9; Lowry, 16^th, 64-9; Strumillo, 24^th, 49-9

BOYS

100 dash: Jack Mick, 22^nd, 14.20

200 dash: Mick, 15^th, 27.25; Daulton Davis, 18^th, 28.49

400 dash: Dylan Armstrong, 13^th, 1:01; Jay Scollin, 16^th, 1:02

800 run: Wyatt Reece, 10^th, 2:22; Dylan Knipp, 16^th, 2:33; Cade Holtzen, 17^th, 2:39; Jackson Staab, 22^nd, 3:16

1,600 run: Knipp, 10^th, 5:49; Holtzen, 12^th, 5:55; Reece Jones, 15^th, 6:29

3,200 run: Gareth Baus, 11^th, 13:06

300 hurdles: Davis, 10^th, 48.84

High jump: Indy Strumillo, 11^th, 5-0

Pole vault: Logan Faulkner, 10^th, 10-0; Caleb Shaughnessy, 12^th, 9-6