Faulkner, Collins, Koontz lead Wildcats at De Soto Invite

Louisburg senior Luke Faulkner clears the bar in the pole vault Friday during the De Soto Invitational. Faulkner won the event at 13-6.

BASEHOR — Against some of the tougher competition it has seen this season, the Louisburg boys track and field team found its fair share of success.

Luke Faulkner, Justin Collins and Tom Koontz each won events as they helped the Wildcats to a third place finish overall Friday at the De Soto Invitational at Basehor-Linwood High School.

The Wildcats were third overall with 127 points and De Soto won the meet with 154 and Eudora was second at 135.5.

“It was the first time all season that the weather was ideal for a track meet,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “I was hoping that the team would step up with and compete with the tough competition. I felt like our team did that, as we had multiple personal best throughout the meet.

“I am super excited about how our team is progressing and we want to continue to get better so we are peaking at regionals and state.”

On the track, Collins recorded a personal best in the 400-meter dash as he chased down Eudora’s Colby Lawhorn to win in 51.19 seconds. His teammate, sophomore Ethan Ptacek, also had a personal best time of 51.98 and took third.

Collins also went on to finish runner-up in the 100 dash in a personal best time of 11.07 seconds. He, along with Ptacek, Koontz and Ben Wiedenmann had a PR of 43.73 to take second in the 4×100 relay.

“Justin continues to improve every week,” Wright said. “He came into the meet ranked eight in the 100 dash and came out with second place. You can’t ask for more than that from a kid.  He works hard in practice and continues to be a good leader.”

Koontz set a new personal record in the 110-meter hurdles as he ran a 15.10 to win the event. His teammate, sophomore Mason Dobbins, was third with his personal best of 15.44.

Koontz (42.94) and Dobbins (43.71) went on to take fourth and fifth, respectively in the 300 hurdles. Wiedenmann finished third in the 200 dash in 23.48.

In the field events, Faulkner had his best vault of the season as he cleared 13 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault. 

His teammates, Caden Caplinger and Caleb Shaughnessy also scored points. Caplinger was fifth after clearing 12-0 and Shaughnessy was seventh at 10-0.

Sophomore Nathan Vincent set another personal record in the javelin as he recorded a toss of 169-10 and senior Jay Scollin was fourth at 154-0.

Vincent also went on to take third in the discus with a toss of 125-6 and Chase Pritchard was sixth at 115-1.

Back on the track, the 4×800 relay team of Carson Houchen, Cade Holtzen, Hayden Ross and Jaden Vohs ran a season-best time of 8:39 to finish third.

The 4×400 relay of Wiedenmann, Collins, Koontz and Ptacek took third overall in 3:33.

“Both 4×8 and 4×1 set personal best and this is a credit to the athletes working together and believing in each other,” Wright said. “Each of the athletes want to win their individual events, but on a relay it’s about being part of a team and winning for each other. That is just incredibly awesome to see them work so hard together and for each other.”

Vohs would also record at PR in the 1,600-meter run as he took fourth in 4:43 and Houchen did the same in the 800 run as he took sixth in 2:03.

Ross also scored points for Louisburg in the 3,200 run as he was seventh in 11:23.

Sophomore J.R. Rooney was sixth in the shot put with a toss of 40-10.5. Hayden Feikert was eighth in the long jump at 19-5.25.

Louisburg is back in action Friday when it travels to Wellsville for the Redbud Relays.

Other results are: 

100 dash: Ben Wiedenmann, 10th, 11.54; Hayden Feikert, 14th, 11.88

200 dash: Dylan Armstrong, 14th, 24.45

400 dash: Armstrong, 11th, 55.21

800 run: Ryan Rogers, 15th, 2:17; Cade Holtzen, 16th, 2:18

1,600 run: Rogers, 10th, 5:05

High jump: Mason Dobbins, 9th, 5-8

Long jump: Ethan Ptacek, 9th, 19-2.5

Shot put: Chase Pritchard, 11th, 39-5; Reid Justesen, 28th, 31-6.25

Discus: Layne Ryals, 11th, 103-11

Javelin: Ryals, 10th, 123-0

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