Carpenter-Ross breaks school record; Lady Cats win home meet

It might not have been the best weather for a track meet, but that didn’t stop the Louisburg girls from putting together a strong performance in their lone home event this season.

Louisburg won eight events, was runner-up in three others and broke a school record in the process. That all added up to a first place team finish Thursday at the Louisburg Invitational.

The Lady Cats racked up 125.5 points and edged Prairie View (118) for the title at the 7-team meet.

“This has been a challenging season to say the least,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “Weather has been an issue more than not, but the girls continue to compete well. It is always nice to win our home meet and this year was no exception as the team put together a strong performance.”

One of those performances came thanks to Maddy Carpenter-Ross. The Louisburg senior didn’t let the cool weather stop her from putting her name in the Wildcat record books.

Carpenter-Ross won the pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet, 7 inches and broke the school record. The old record of 11-6 was set by Isabelle Holtzen in 2018.

“Maddy breaking the school pole vault record was awesome,” Reece said. “We hope to see her continue her strong performances and finish out her high school track career strong.”

The Lady Cats also won a pair of other field events and it started in the javelin. Senior Katie Elpers won the event with a throw of 121-10, which was just two inches away from her personal best.

In the shot put, sophomore McKenna Lohse had her best throw of the season as she recorded a toss of 36-5.5 to take gold.

On the track, senior Maddy Rhamy took first place in the 3,200-meter run in 13 minutes and 7 seconds. In the sprints, sophomore Kendall Crossley was first in the 400 dash in 1:06.42, and later took second in the 200 dash in 28.03 seconds.

Louisburg also had a pair of relays take first as the 4×800 team of Adelyn Moore, Emma Vohs, Erin Apple and Rhamy won in 11:14.

The Lady Cats closed the meet out in style as the 4×400 team of Vohs, Moore, Presley Yows and Crossley won in 4:30.13.  Crossley leaned at the finish to edge second place Prairie View.

Freshman Caroline Apple also took gold in the 300-meter hurdles in 51.88 seconds. She was fourth in the 100 hurdles in 18.04 seconds, while senior Kate Frederick was fifth in both races.

Moore finished runner-up in the 800 run in 2:44, while Rhamy was fourth in the 1,600 run in 6:19. Also on the track, sophomore Addi Mallett took fifth in the 200 dash in 28.86 and Yows was sixth in the 400 dash in 1:09.

In the field events, Hanna Veres took the runner-up spot in the triple jump with a mark of 30-11.

Lohse also scored points in the discus with a throw of 88-11 to take fourth, while Caroline Apple was sixth in the high jump at 4-6. Freshman Kinley Scott was fifth in the shot put at 32-10.5.

Other results are:

100 dash: Maliya Collins, 9th, 14.31; Tessa Crooks, 18th, 16.37

200 dash: Collins, 14th, 30.28

800 run: Erin Apple, 10th, 3:03

1,600 run: Apple, 9th, 6:54

High Jump: Breck Nielsen, 8th, 4-4; Annmarie Walton, 10th, 4-2

Long Jump: Jocelyn Burk, 11th, 13-0; Madison Hill, 13th, 12-7.5; Walton, 15th, 12-6; Hanna Veres, 19th, 10-7.5

Triple Jump: Hill, 7th, 27-1.5; Walton, 8th, 25-4.5; Burk, 10th, 23-10

Discus: Talen McMurray, 7th, 71-11; Cora Wulfkuhle, 10th, 70-9; Maddie Yoder, 15th, 64-9; Kinley Scott, 16th, 62-4

Javelin: Adelyn Moore, 7th, 91-6; Kenna Lohse, 9th, 88-7; Hill, 12th, 80-5; Scott, 19th, 65-6

Shot Put: Yoder, 9th, 29-11.5; McMurray, 11th, 28-9.5; Wulfkuhle, 15th, 25-6