Wildcat boys take second in Garnett; Lady Cats finish third

Louisburg junior Mason Dobbins clears a height in the high jump Thursday at the Anderson County Invitational in Garnett. Dobbins finished second overall after clearing 6 feet.

GARNETT — The Louisburg boys track and field team has competed at a high level since the start of the season and that continued last Thursday at the Anderson County Invitational.

The Wildcats finished second in the team standings with 151 points and finished less than 10 points behind Eudora for the top spot.

The Louisburg girls also had a strong finish despite having small numbers as the Lady Cats were third with 85 points. Eudora won the meet with 183 and Spring Hill was second at 125.

Louisburg won seven events on the boys side, while seniors Tom Koontz, Jaden Vohs and junior Nathan Vincent each won a pair of individual events.

“We are hitting the middle of the season,” Louisburg coach Andy Wright said. “Some of the boys are settling in and figuring out what events they will excel at. We performed well and got a small glimpse of what our regionals could look like. We didn’t have our best marks of the season, but we competed in each event.”

Vohs shined in the 1,600-meter run as he took first in 4 minutes and 46.93 seconds and held off a late charge from Eudora’s Cody Loganbill, who finished just .07 seconds behind Vohs.

The Louisburg senior also captured the title in the 3,200 run in 10:21. His teammate, freshman Jerynce Brings Plenty, took second in the 3200 in 10:26 and also place fourth in the 1,600 in 4:50.

“Jaden has now run the 800, 1600 and 3200 with good times,” Wright said. “Now we have to decide which races to run at the end of the year. With the weather hopefully getting better, I only see his times improving.”

Hurdles continue to be a strength for the Wildcats as Koontz won both the 110-meter hurdles (15.38) and 300 hurdles (40.13). 

Juniors Mason Dobbins and Nathan Apple also scored points in the event. Dobbins (15.78) and Apple (16.5) took second and third, respectively, in the 110s. Dobbins finished third in the 300 hurdles in 42.59 and Apple was fifth at 43.74.

Koontz, Dobbins, Caden Caplinger and Ethan Ptacek ran to gold in the 4×100-meter relay in 44.26 seconds.

Koontz, Ptacek, Hunter Heinrich and Colyer Wingfield were third in the 4×400 relay. In the 4×800 relay, Heinrich, Hayden Ross, Andrew Brown and Noah Cotter were also third in 9:17.

“The 4×100 did set a personal record, but still have room to improve,” Wright said. “The 4×4 didn’t run their best times and will only get better the more races they run. In the 4×8, we are moving some runners around and should have a solid four in the next meet or two.”

Ptacek also scored points for the Wildcats in the 400-meter dash as he took third in 52.40. Freshman Ashton Moore was sixth in the 200 dash in 24.83.

In the field events, Vincent continues to take the top spot in the discus and javelin. He has won the two events in all of the meets so far this season.

On Thursday, Vincent won the javelin with a throw of 153 feet, 11 inches, just eight inches in front of Eudora’s Conor Dunback, who took second. Louisburg’s Scott Thornton (131-1) and Carson Wade (130-7) also scored points in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Vincent also took the top spot in the discus with a toss of 143-4.

“Nathan keeps improving every week,” Wright said. “His marks are not where he would want them to be, but he is throwing far enough to win his events.”

Dobbins cleared 6 feet for the first time this season as he took second in the high jump, while teammate Isaiah Whitley was fourth at 5-8. Whitley also went on to record a season-best in the long jump, 19-9.5, to also take fourth. Junior Trey Myers was sixth in the high jump at 5-8.

Caplinger, a sophomore, took third in the pole vault after he cleared 13 feet. Junior J.R. Rooney was fifth in the shot put at 42-8.

Although the girls did not win any events, the Lady Cats still brought home plenty of medals and it was evident with their third place finish.

“We had a strong showing at Anderson County with questionable weather conditions again,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “Who knows what will happen when we have a nice day.

“Even though we did not win an event, we brought home more medals than we have in a long time. We continue to show improvement in all areas of the track and the field.”

The Lady Cats scored a lot points in the distance races as sophomore Emma Vohs finished third in both the 800 (2:32) and 1,600-meter (5:44) runs.

Sophomore Maddy Rhamy took third in the 3,200 run in 13:24 and sixth in the 1,600 in 6:06. Sophomore Erin Apple was also sixth in the 3,200 in 14:49.

Apple, Nova Ptacek, Aubryn Berck and Ashley Branine finished runner-up in the 4×800 relay in 11:40.

In the sprints, junior Emma Lohse had another strong performance as she was second in the 200 dash in 28.06 and third in the 100 dash in 13.48.

Freshman Mackenzie Rooney scored points in both hurdle races. Rooney was second in the 300 hurdles in 52.93 and fifth in the 100 hurdles at 18.66.

Lohse, Rooney, Emma Vohs and Delaney Wieland also took fourth in the 4×400 relay in 4:32.

In the field events, sophomore Maddy Carpenter-Ross set a personal record in the pole vault after she cleared 8-6 and took second overall.

Senior Corinna McMullen recorded a throw of 113-11 in the discus to finish second and junior Emma Prettyman was fifth at 98-4. 

Another senior, Davis Guetterman, took third in the javelin with a toss of 108-1. Katie Elpers (97-10) and Prettyman (95-7) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Prettyman was also fifth in the shot put at 30-3.5.

Louisburg is back in action this Thursday when it hosts the Louisburg Invitational. Events are set to begin at 4 p.m.

Other results are:

GIRLS

100 dash: Delaney Wright, 8th, 13.74; Delaney Wieland, 17th, 14.88

800 run: Ashley Branine, 9th, 2:50; Aubryn Berck, 12th, 2:54; Nova Ptacek, 14th, 3:03.65

Long jump: Wieland, 8th, 14-7

Discus: Davis Guetterman, 21st, 68-5.5

BOYS

100 dash: Ashton Moore, 7th, 12.31; J’Lee Collins, 12th, 12.48; Gavin York, 13th, 12.60; Hayden Feikert, 19th, 12.78; Toby Espina-Roca, 24th, 13.01; Ayden Deterding, 41st, 13.73

200 dash: Cooper Hipp, 10th, 25.02; Collins, 16th, 25.85; Espina-Roca, 19th, 26.08; Deterding, 34th, 27.03

400 dash: Hunter Heinrich, 7th, 56.20; Hipp, 18th, 1:00; Michijah Pankau, 23rd, 1:01

800 run: Hayden Ross, 8th, 2:16; Leo Martin, 20th, 2:37

1,600 run: Andrew Brown, 11th, 5:14; Martin, 16th, 5:23

3,200 run: Noah Cotter, 9th, 11:16; Landan Henry, 13th, 12:30

Pole vault: Remington Rice, 8th, 10-0

Long jump: Feikert, 8th, 18-11; Colyer Wingfield, 9th, 18-10; Elias Pugh, 13th, 18-4

Triple jump: Wingfield, 8th, 37-7.25; Pugh, 9th, 36-7.50; Trey Myers, 13th, 35-3.5

Shot put: Jaymes Melton, 11th, 38-5.75; Conner Lee, 12th, 38-4.25; Scott Thornton, 19th, 35-5.75; Chase Pritchard, 20th, 35-4.5; Reid Justesen, 23rd, 33-3.5; Ben O’Bryan, 30th, 29-6; Will Hutsell, 37th, 26-10.5

Discus: Layne Ryals, 7th, 121-7; Pritchard, 8th, 121-5; J.R. Rooney, 13th, 110-9; O’Bryan, 15th, 106-10; Hutsell, 23rd, 96-7; Thornton, 24th, 94-6; Justesen 27th, 83-10; Melton, 41st, 66-4

Javelin: Ryals, 11th, 124-6; Brecon Klugman, 12th, 123-2; Brayden Yoder, 13th, 116-3

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