Wildcat boys take second at Leavenworth to kickoff track season

Louisburg junior Nathan Vincent won both the javelin and the discus Friday during the Leavenworth Invitational as the Wildcat boys finished second overall

LEAVENWORTH — The Louisburg boys track team picked up right where it left off Friday following its state championship run from a year ago.

At the Leavenworth Invitational, going up against mainly bigger schools, the Wildcats more than held its own as it finished second overall with 155 points, while Mill Valley won the meet with 173.

Senior Tom Koontz and junior Nathan Vincent each won a pair of events to lead the Wildcats in what was a strong outing to its 2022 season.

“I think we have an idea of where we could be at the end of the season,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “With not as many reps or workouts that we would like before the first meet, I think we went out and competed well. 

“We were the smallest school that attended the Leavenworth meet. Placing second behind Mill Valley, I think it proved to the kids that we can compete as a team at our meets, and built excitement about what we can become.”

The Wildcats dominated the hurdle events as they finished in first, second and third place in both the 110 and 300 hurdles. Koontz led the way as he won both races with a time of 15.12 seconds in the 110 and 40.66 in the 300.

Junior Mason Dobbins finished second in both races (15.48 and 42.39), while Nathan Apple was third in both (15.96 and 43.33).

“Tom ran two solid races,” Wright said. “He was absent the last two days of school attending FBLA state. He was a little stiff, but raced really well.  The one, two, three punch was nice to have for the 110 and 300 hurdles. They push each other every day at practice, and it builds an awesome culture of competition.”

In the field events, the Wildcats scored a lot of points in the javelin and discus, which was led by Vincent. The Louisburg junior won the javelin with a throw of 158 feet, 3 inches, while junior Layne Ryals (139-1) and sophomore Scott Thornton (127-4) were third and sixth, respectively.

Vincent continued his success in the discus as he won with a toss of 133-1 and senior Chase Pritchard was right behind him in second with a toss of 127-11. Ryals was fourth at 121-0.

In the shot put, junior J.R. Rooney recorded a personal-best throw of 46-1 to finish second overall.

“Nathan is going to have a solid season,” Wright said. “He was happy to win both events, but not satisfied with his distances. I think we had a total of 47 points from the throwers. Coach (Rich) Lane and coach (Alex) Gentges are making sure that the athletes are prepared and ready for competition.”

In the distance races, Jaden Vohs had strong start to his senior season as he took third in the 800-meter run in 2:07.92. He was also third in the 1,600 run in 4:33.

Freshman Jerynce Brings Plenty scored points in the 3,200 run with a third place finish in 10:35.

“Jaden had some tough competition in the 800 and 1600, and I know he will only continue to improve throughout the season because of his work ethic,” Wright said. “Jerynce running in his first outdoor high school track meet and ran a solid 3200 race. I see him only maturing as a runner, and look forward to watching him grow as a competitor.”

In the sprints, junior Ethan Ptacek finished runner-up in the 400-meter dash in 52.20. In the 4×400 relay, Ptacek, Koontz, Colyer Wingfield and Hunter Heinrich also took second in 3:34.

Caden Caplinger finished second in the pole vault after he cleared 13 feet, while Remington Rice was fifth at 10-0. Cooper Wingfield was sixth and cleared 9 feet.

Colyer Wingfield scored points in both the long and triple jumps. Wingfield was fourth in the triple with a mark of 40-2.5 and took fifth in the long at 19-9.

Junior Isaiah Whitley led the Wildcats in high jump after he cleared 5-8 to finish fifth overall and fellow junior Trey Myers was sixth at 5-6.

The Lady Cats squad also had a good showing for the first time out as as they had 10 place in the top six that scored team points. 

Senior Corinna McMullen won the lone event for Louisburg as she took home the discus title with a throw of 110 feet, 9 inches.

“The meet went well overall,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “We had some veterans step-up in their respective events as well as strong performances in new events for them. Some of our new athletes outperformed my initial expectations.”

Louisburg had a lot of success in the throws as senior Davis Guetterman was second in the javelin with a toss of 115-5. Freshman Aspen Coulter was fourth at 102-1 and sophomore Katie Elpers was sixth at 100-5.

Junior Emma Prettyman scored points in the discus with a fifth place finish at 93-10 and was sixth in the shot put with a toss of 31-11.

“The throwers look to be strong this year,” Reece said. “Rinny threw great and I look for her to be a tough competitor at every meet. Davis had a great javelin outing and will lead a strong group that includes Aspen, Katie, and Emma. Emma threw well in both shot and disc and will be earning us points in both this season.”

On the track, freshman Mackenzie Rooney blazed her way to a third place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.74 seconds. Junior Emma Lohse took first in the 100 dash in 13.55.

“Rooney ran great in the hurdles,” Reece said. “There are some things that she will be working on to get her even faster in the 100, as well as starting to work on the 300 hurdles.”

Ini the distance races, sophomore Emma Vohs was fifth in the 800 in 2:32, and fellow sophomore Maddy Rhamy took fifth in the 1,600 run in 6:08.

Louisburg will try and improve on those marks Thursday when they travel to the Paola Invitational.

Other results are:

GIRLS

100 dash: Delaney Wieland, 17th, 14.58

200 dash: Emma Lohse, 8th, 28.51; Mackenzie Rooney, 14th, 29.54

400 dash: Emma Vohs, 7th, 1:04

800 run: Ashley Branine, 10th, 2:44; Aubryn Berck, 16th, 3:00; Nova Ptacek, 17th, 3:02

1,600 run: Erin Apple, 9th, 6:35; Berck, 10th, 6:48

3,200 run: Maddy Rhamy, 8th, 13:19

High jump: Aspen Coulter, 16th, 4-4

Long jump: Wieland, 11th, 14-7.5

Pole vault: Maddy Carpenter-Ross, 7th, 8-0

Discus: Davis Guetterman, 22nd, 67-4

Javelin: Emma Prettyman, 9th, 87-11; Kate Frederick, 14th, 75-6

Shot put: Maddy Fuller, 25th, 18-2.5

BOYS

100 dash: Ethan Ptacek, 8th, 12.09; J’Lee Collins, 19th, 12.52; Hayden Feikert, 21st, 12.75; Toby Espina-Roca, 24th, 12.93; Isaiah Whitley, 25th, 12.95

200 dash: Cooper Hipp, 10th, 24.87; Hunter Heinrich, 14th, 25.22; Collins, 19th, 25.53; Espina-Roca, 23rd, 26.31

400 dash: Hipp, 12th, 58.01; Emmett White, 14th, 58.20

800 run: Andrew Brown, 12th, 2:17; Hayden Ross, 13th, 2:18; Landon Henry, 20th, 2:34

1,600 run: Jerynce Brings Plenty, 9th, 4:52; Noah Cotter, 17th, 5:23; Leo Martin, 19th, 5:39; Henry, 20th, 5:44

3,200 run: Cotter, 7th, 11:22; Brown, 8th, 11:26; Martin, 11th, 12:01

300 hurdles: Ashton Moore, 11th, 47.78

High jump: White, 12th, 5-0

Long jump: Feikert, 8th, 19-3.5; Elias Pugh, 18th, 17-4; Whitley, 21st, 16-10.5

Triple jump: Trey Myers, 11th, 35-6; Pugh, 12th, 34-7

Discus: Ben O’Bryan, 10th, 99-9; Scott Thornton, 14th, 97-5

Javelin: Carson Wade, 14th, 115-7; Will Hutsell, 19th, 109-9

Shot Put: Connor Lee, 10th, 38-6; Jaymes Melton, 12th, 38-3; Thornton, 14th, 36-9.5; Chase Pritchard, 18th, 34-6.