Wildcat boys grab Louisburg Invitational title, win 10 individual events

Louisburg junior Layne Ryals finished third in both the javelin and the discus Thursday during the Louisburg Invitational.

The Louisburg boys track and field team put on a show in front of its home fans Thursday.

The Wildcats won their second meet of the season, this time at the Louisburg Invitational, as they took first in the team standings going away with 254 points in the 7-team event. Spring Hill was runner-up at 156.

Senior Tom Koontz continues to lead the Wildcat track team this season and he did so again Thursday by winning three events.

Koontz won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.26 seconds and was followed by teammates Mason Dobbins (15.93) and Nathan Apple (16.21) who took second and third, respectively.

Next was the 300 hurdles for Koontz and he took gold once again in 40.33 seconds. Apple was third in the event in 42.13 and Dobbins was fourth at 42.81.

Koontz, Dobbins, Caden Caplinger and Ethan Ptacek blazed the track in the 4×100-meter relay in 44.34 seconds to take the top spot in that event.

Also in the sprints, Ptacek was second in both the 200 (24.01) and 400-meter (52.59) dashes. Senior Cooper Hipp was third in the 200 in 24.05, while freshman Ashton Moore was fourth at 24.20.

Moore (12.01), senior Hayden Feikert (12.28) and sophomore J’Lee Collins (12.29) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100 dash.

Ptacek, Hunter Heinrich, Colyer Wingfield and Koontz took second in the 4×400 relay in 3:38.

Senior Jaden Vohs led the Wildcat distance runners as he took gold in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes and 4 seconds and senior teammate Hayden Ross took third at 2:13.

Vohs, Ross, Andrew Brown and Hunter Heinrich also won the 4×800-meter relay in 8:44.

Freshman Jerynce Brings Plenty had runner-up performances in both the 1,600 run (4:53) and 3,200 (10:37). Brown (11:21) and junior Leo Martin (12:14) were fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 3,200 run, while sophomore Noah Cotter was sixth in the 1,600 in 5:13.

Junior Nathan Vincent continues his success in the javelin and discus as he won both events for the fourth consecutive time to start the season.

Vincent recorded a throw of 139 feet, 2 inches to win the discus and also had a mark of 166-10 to take gold in the javelin. 

In fact, the Wildcats dominated the javelin event as they took five of the six top places. Junior Carson Wade (144-3) was second, while junior Layne Ryals was third (134-0). Scott Thornton (127-6) and Brecon Klugman (124-5) finished fifth and sixth.

Ryals also scored points in the discus along with Vincent and finished third with a throw of 123-2.

Junior J.R. Rooney continued the Wildcats’ success in the shot put as he recorded at toss of 45-1 to take gold and Connor Lee was fifth at 40-1.

Dobbins led the Wildcat jumpers as he won the high jump after he cleared 6 feet and junior teammates Isaiah Whitley (5-8) and Trey Myers (5-6) finished third and fourth.

Caplinger also won the pole vault for Louisburg after he cleared 13 feet and freshman Cooper Wingfield took fourth.

Feikert recorded a personal-best mark in the long jump as he was runner-up with a mark of 19-11. Colyer Wingfield was fourth in the triple jump at 38-1 and Elias Pugh took sixth at 37-5.

The Wildcat throwers also had a little fun for the 4×100 throwers relay as the quartet of Vincent, Wade, Rooney and Ryals took second in 49.59 seconds.

Louisburg is back in action today as the Wildcats travel to the Spring Hill Invitational.

Other results are: 

100 dash: Toby Espina-Roca, 14th, 12.67

200 dash: J’Lee Collins, 12th, 25.36; Espina Roca, 14th, 25.41

400 dash: Michijah Pankau, 9th, 56.87; Collins, 11th, 57.93; Cooper Hipp, 12th, 57.96

800 run: Noah Cotter, 10th, 2:23; Vitus Aagaard, 15th, 2:36

1,600 run: Leo Martin, 7th, 5:17; Landan Henry, 11th, 5:38; Ben Proctor, 12th, 5:43

3,200 run: Henry, 7th, 12:20; Proctor, 8th, 12:25

Long jump: Colyer Wingfield, 7th, 19-4; Isaiah Whitley, 8th, 18-11.75; Elias Pugh, 12th, 17-3

Triple jump: Trey Myers, 7th, 36-9

Shot put: Scott Thornton, 8th, 37-9; Jaymes Melton, 10th, 37-5; Chase Pritchard, 16th, 34-1

Discus: Ben O’Bryan, 8th, 106-3; Connor Lee, 9th, 105-10; Pritchard, 15th, 89-0

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