Wildcat track sweeps team titles at Prairie View

By Andy Brown
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: May 3, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Kaitlyn Urban sticks a landing in the triple jump during a meet earlier this season. Urban won the triple jump and helped the Lady Cats to a team title as well.

LA CYGNE – The Louisburg track and field teams found a lot of success during the Prairie View Invitational on Thursday at Prairie View High School.

The Wildcat boys and girls finished atop the team standings as they each won their first team title of the season. The Louisburg girls racked up 105 points to win the 11-team meet and the boys totaled 103.33 points to take first out of 13 teams.

“It was great to win the Prairie View meet,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “The girls did an outstanding job competing in their events and relays. We did not win many events, but scored points in almost all of them, which is how you win a meet as a team.”

Seniors Isabelle Holtzen and Kaitlyn Urban, along with sophomores Carlee Gassman and Sydni Keagle, were a part of several bright spots for the Lady Cats.

Gassman had a big day for Louisburg as she captured four gold medals, including two individual events. She won the long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 1 inch and also took first in the 200-meter dash for the first time this season in 27.03 seconds.

“Carlee is a competitor and would do well in most events,” Reece said. “I think we have found a few events that suit her and she is a crucial part of two relays that have the potential to qualify for state, so we will wait and see how the next two meets go. She is very strong in the 300-meter hurdles and she will for sure be running them at the regional meet.”

Holtzen, Urban, Jordon Leach and Gassman teamed together to win the 4×100-meter relay in 52.83 seconds, while Holtzen, Urban, Gassman and Mikayla Quinn captured the 4×400 relay title in 4:21.

Several of those girls also did well in the individual events. Holtzen won the pole vault competition after she cleared 11 feet to finish first by three feet.

Urban set a new season-best leap in the triple jump with a mark of 33-4.5 to win that event by more than two feet. Keagle won the 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 16.47 seconds and also went on to finish second in the long jump with a mark of 15-4.5.

Keagle also scored points for the Lady Cats in the 300 hurdles as she took sixth in 56.29, while Quinn placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:07. Payton Shaffer, Shaylor Whitham, Kennady Wilkerson and Quinn placed fourth in the 4×800 relay in 11:28.

In the field events, senior Lexie Reece took runner-up for the second straight week in the discus as she recorded a toss of 99-10.5. Eileen Benne (4-8) and Shelby Grandon (4-6) were third and fourth, respectively, in the high jump.

On the boys side, junior Chris Williams had a nice day for the Wildcats as he won a pair of events. Williams took gold in the 400-meter dash in 51.34 seconds and then later joined the 4×400 relay team of Justin Collins, Ben Wiedenmann and Blue Caplinger to take first in 3:29, which is a personal best time.

Collins, Wiedenmann, Caplinger and Charlie Koontz also found gold in the 4×100 relay as they won with a time of 44.41 seconds.

Sophomore Trent Martin had the Wildcats’ other lone individual gold as he won the pole vault competition for the second straight week. Martin cleared 12 feet to take first overall and just edged out teammate Luke Faulkner, who was second at 11-6.

“It was really nice to see the team compete with overall success,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “We had a nice balance of points from both the field events and on the track. It really was a collective team effort to get the win. I was very proud of how we competed and hopefully we can take that momentum into the big meets we have coming up.”

Freshman Justin Collins sprints toward the finish line in the 100-meter dash during a meet earlier this season.

Louisburg scored several points on the track as Koontz finished runner-up in the 100 dash in 11.67 seconds and Collins was fourth at 11.83. Wiedenmann (24.05) and Collins (24.38) also finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 200-meter dash.

Senior Wyatt Reece finished toward the top of the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. Reece ran a 4:35 in the 1,600 to medal second and later ran a 10:30 in the 3,200 to finish third.

In the field events, junior Kiefer Tucker had a good showing the shot put and discus. Tucker took second in the discus with a personal best throw of 130-6.5. He recorded another PR in the shot put as he took fifth with a toss of 41-3.5.

Sophomore Michael Waldron was runner-up in the javelin with a throw of 142-5, while senior Matt Holloway also scored points in the event as he was sixth with a toss of 121-0.5. Sophomore Jack Mick was sixth in the high jump after he cleared 5-4.

Louisburg returns to action Friday when it travels to Wellsville for the Redbud Relays. The meet is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other meet results are