Wildcats win three events at Leavenworth Invitational

Louisburg senior Alyse Moore won the javelin with a throw of 136 feet, 3 inches and was one of three Wildcats to win events Thursday at the Leavenworth Invitational.

LEAVENWORTH — The Louisburg track and field team didn’t waste much time in competing against some of the top bigger schools in Kansas and Missouri.

The Wildcats took part in the Leavenworth Invitational on Thursday and brought home several medals on both the boys and the girls side.

Louisburg won three events, including two on the girls side as senior Alyse Moore captured the javelin title and junior Delaney Wright took first in the long jump.

The Wildcat boys also had a gold medal performance as sophomore Nathan Vincent recorded a 50-foot personal record to win the javelin.

In all, the boys finished third in the team standings with 107 points and the girls were fifth with 47. Lee’s Summit West won the girls title with 164.75 points and Mill Valley won the boys with 142.

“We didn’t get the times and distances we wanted overall, but I really thought we competed,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “We didn’t worry about being the smallest school at the meet.”

Moore picked up right where she left off as a sophomore in the javelin as she recorded a throw of 136 feet, 3 inches – which eclipsed her state medal-winning throw from almost two years ago.

The Louisburg junior also scored points in the shot put as she was third with a toss of 33 feet, 9.5 inches.

“Alyse is coming off of a great winter season and it is carrying over to the spring season,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “Alyse will do nothing but get better week by week. The throwers will be scoring points all season for us and that is exciting.”

Wright, who medaled at state in four events as a freshman, placed in a four of her events Thursday – including a gold medal performance in the long jump. She had a leap of 17-2.

The Wildcat junior also scored points in the sprints as Wright was second in the 200 dash (27.39 seconds), fourth in the 400 dash (1:02) and fifth in the 100 (13.47).

“Delaney did well for the first meet out,” Reece said. “Getting back into the groove after a long basketball season is a challenge, but a good one to have for our athletic programs. She was not that far off of marks from two years ago so I’m excited to see how she progresses.”

Throws were a plus for the Lady Cats as sophomore Emma Prettyman took fifth in the shot put at 32-8, while junior Rinny McMullen was fifth in the discus at 94-04. Junior Davis Guetterman also scored in the discus with a sixth-place throw of 95-10.

On the boys side, Vincent provided a nice surprise for the Wildcat coaches in the javelin. The Louisburg sophomore recorded a throw of 152-05, which set a new personal record by nearly 50 feet, and he won the competition by an inch.

Vincent’s teammate, senior Jay Scollin, took third with a toss fo 145-03.

The Wildcats also scored points in the discus as junior Chase Pritchard was third with a toss of 122-9 and Vincent was sixth at 110-7. In the shot, sophomore Jackson Rooney took fourth at 39-3 and Pritchard was fifth with a toss of 38-6.5

“The throwers have been working hard with Coach (Pete) Skakal and Coach (Alex) Gentges,” Wright said. “Javelin was the big surprise with Nathan’s PR and placing first, along with Jay’s third place throw. Chase also had a good night throwing the discus.”

On the track, the Wildcats scored points in all the sprints, but found a lot of success in the 400 dash, specifically.

Seniors Justin Collins and Ben Wiedenmann, along with sophomore Ethan Ptacek, had three of the top four placers. Collins was second in a time 52.49 seconds, Ptacek was third at 53.19 and Wiedenmann was fourth at 53.38.

“Justin and Ben wanted to run the open 400 this year,” Wright said. “Their sophomore year they had fast splits on the 4×4 relay and want to see what they can do in the open. Then add Ethan Ptacek in the mix, that is a pretty good trio to have competing against each other every week.”

Collins also went on to finish runner-up in the 100 dash in 11.80 seconds and Wiedenmann took fifth in 11.88.

Louisburg also thrived in the relays as Collins, Wiedenmann, Tom Koontz and Ptacek took runner-up in the 4×100 in 44.57, while Collins, Koontz, Ptacek and Hunter Heinrich was fifth in the 4×400 in 3:38.

On the 4×800, the team of Carson Houchen, Cade Holtzen, Hayden Ross and Jaden Vohs also ran strong in 8:53 to take fourth.

“All the relays ran well for the first meet,” Wright said,. “4×8 ran a solid race and they have the fastest time in 4A for the first week of meets. Still a long season to go, but off to a good start.

“4×1 had solid handoffs and time. I though they ran faster than I thought they would and they will get better with more experience with each other. 4×4 competed well. We didn’t have Ben in the relay this week. When we bring Ben into the mix , we should be one top 4×4 relays in class 4A.”

Sophomore Mason Dobbins ran strong in his first varsity race in the 110 hurdles. Dobbins was second in 15.99 seconds, while Koontz was fourth in 16.12. 

Koontz also had a big day in the 300 hurdles as he finished second in 41.81. Dobbins was fifth in 43.64 and sophomore Nathan Apple took sixth in 44.62.

“Mason and Tommy are going to push each all year in the 110 and 300,” Wright said. “Both should be in the top 5 at most of our meets. Mason had a good start in the 110 and Tommy had a good start in the 300’s.  Nathan Apple also had solid races in the 110 and 300’s. This trio should be fun to watch this season.”

Louisburg senior Luke Faulkner also earned a medal as he finished second overall in the pole vault after clearing 13 feet and freshman Caden Caplinger was fifth at 11-6.

The Wildcats also scored points in the jumps as junior Hayden Feikert was fifth in the long jump with a mark of 19-7.5 and Dobbins was sixth in the high jump at 5-8.

Other results:

GIRLS

100 dash: Andrea Gaza, 25th, 15.03

200 dash: Emma Vohs, 8th, 28.97; Gaza, 19th, 31.96

800 run: Erin Apple, 20th, 2:58; Alexis French, 21st, 2:59

1,600 run: Apple, 11th, 6:14; French, 15th, 6:43

Pole vault: Maddy Carpenter-Ross, 7th, 7-0

Shot put: Aiyana Penca, 15th, 25-7; Davis Guetterman, 17th, 24-5; Sydney Thornton, 19th, 23-4

Discus: Emma Prettyman, 8th, 89-3; Penca, 9th, 88-6; Guetterman, 16th, 67-3; Malee Rutherford, 20th, 59-01

Javelin: Tae Ellison, 9th, 88-9; Jocelyn Kettle, 21st, 64-0; Rutherford, 22nd, 63-11

BOYS

100 dash: Caden Caplinger, 18th, 12.45; Hayden Feikert, 19th, 12.45; Hunter Heinrich, 21st, 12.95

200 dash: Ben Wiedenmann, 8th, 24.16; Cooper Hipp, 14th, 24.84; Caplinger, 23rd, 25.5; Dylan Armstrong, 25th, 25.55; Heinrich, 26th, 26.42

400 dash: Armstrong, 11th, 56.55; Heinrich, 14th, 57.88

800 run: Carson Houchen, 9th, 2:13; Jaden Vohs, 11th, 2:13; Hayden Ross, 16th, 2:18; Sawyer Richardson, 22nd, 2:32; Ayden Deterding, 23rd, 2:36

1,600 run: Cade Holtzen, 11th, 5:20; Leo Martin, 16th, 5:56; Nathan Parker, 17th, 5:58

3,200 run: Noah Cotter, 12th, 11:54; Andrew Brown, 13th, 12:29; Max LaJoie, 14th, 12:46; Landan Henry, 15th, 12:50

110 hurdles: Nathan Apple, 7th, 16.98

High jump: Isaiah Whitley, 7th, 5-8

Pole vault: Caleb Shaughnessy, 7th, 10-0; Hipp, 7th, 10-0

Long jump: Ethan Ptacek, 8th, 18-6; Whitley, 11th, 18-4

Shot put: Nathan Vincent, 8th, 37-0.25; Jaymes Melton, 11th, 34-8; Reid Justesen 19th, 30-5

Discus: Layne Ryals, 8th, 103-0; Will Hutsell, 12th, 93-2; Jackson Rooney, 13th, 88-1

Javelin: Ryals, 13th, 113-1; Liam DeVary, 16th, 105-7; Dominic Owens, 21st, 98-10

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