Wingfield’s record vault highlights Wildcat track at De Soto

DE SOTO — Louisburg pole vaulters have had a lot of success in recent years, which has included three state titles and a runner-up finish.

Reaching new heights would be quite the feat for the Wildcat vaulters, but junior Cooper Wingfield did something no Louisburg vaulter has done before.

Wingfield broke the school record Monday at the De Soto Invitational as he cleared 15 feet 7 inches to win the event going away. The old mark of 15-6 was set by Jacob Albright in 2012.

Wingfield tried for 15-9 and just narrowly missed the mark on his third attempt.

“We had an excellent day for vaulting, and it showed,” Louisburg coach Andy Wright said. “Cooper has been working very hard, and got the right conditions to go over 15 feet and he made it happen. I don’t think he is done, and I am excited to see him keep climbing.”

As for the Wildcat teams, they completed in their most challenging meet of the season as they went up against schools from across the Kansas City area in the 17-team meet.

The Louisburg boys finished seventh in the team standings as the Wildcats recorded 36 points and Piper won the meet with 113.

“It was our biggest meet of the year,” Wright said. “We wanted a meet of nice weather and tough competition, and in this meet we got both. I really thought the boys came out, competed, and stepped up among tough competitions. 

“Although we didn’t place very many in the top 4 of the event, we had a lot of personal bests. It was a good measure of where we are, and where we need to be. I am encouraged that we are going to be peaking at the right time.”

The Louisburg girls recorded 34 points on the day as they took 12th overall. The Lady Cats got 10 of those points from senior Maddy Carpenter-Ross as she won the pole vault after clearing 11 feet.

“At a tough meet, we had some great performances that might not have scored a point,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “We had several out for other school activities. But the girls continue to work hard and the end of the season should bring some positive performances as we peak at the right time.”

Junior Gavin Lohse also had a big performance on the boys side as he recorded a mark 21-7.75 in the long jump to medal second overall. 

Junior Jacob Brown also scored points for the Wildcats in the pole vault as he cleared 12-6 to take fourth overall, while Jaymes Melton had a personal best throw in the shot put of 45 feet to take eighth.

On the track, the Wildcat boys also scored points in a pair of relays. The 4×400 team of Aiden Meyer, Emmett White, Hunter Heinrich and Blaise Vohs took fifth in 3:29.97, while the 4×100 team of Josiah McCaskill, Lohse, Caleb Feldkamp and Heinrich was sixth in 44.39.

Heinrich also earned a fifth place finish in the 400 dash in a personal best time of 51.99 seconds, while Vohs was eighth in the 800 run in a best of 2:04.08.

On the girls side, the Wildcats scored points in a pair of field events, that included two personal bests. 

Freshman Adelyn Moore recorded a personal best throw of 121-7 in the javelin to finish fourth overall, while senior Katie Elpers was fifth at 117-7.

In the shot put, sophomore McKenna Lohse recorded a personal best toss of 36-11 I the shot put to finish fifth overall.

On the track, sophomore Kendall Crossley also recorded a personal best. In the 400-meter dash, Crossley took fifth in 1:02.27.

Senior Maddy Rhamy ran well in the 3,200-meter run as she took fifth in 12:40, while sophomore Suzanna Dansel was sixth in the 100 dash in 13.24.

Louisburg is back in action Friday as it travels to Wellsville for the Redbud Relays. Events begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other results are:

GIRLS 

High Jump: Caroline Apple, 9th, 4-8

Long Jump: Madison Hill, 30th, 13-6.5; Hanna Veres, 34th, 12-5.25

Triple Jump: Veres, 11th, 31-8; Hill, 17th, 30-3

Discus: McKenna Lohse, 12th, 95-2; Cora Wulfkuhle, 31st, 70-7

Shot Put: Wulfkuhle, 32nd, 25-6

Javelin: Lohse, 16th, 97-4

100 Hurdles: Kate Frederick, 10th, 17.96; Caroline Apple, 12th, 18.31

300 Hurdles: Apple, 11th, 52.59; Frederick, 18th, 55.01

800 Run: Adelyn Moore, 13th, 2:40

200 Dash: Kendall Crossley, 10th, 27.47; Addi Mallett, 17th, 28.39

BOYS

Long Jump: Wyatt Holland, 27th, 18-6

Triple Jump: Tasen Ellison, 21st, 35-0.75

Discus: Johnny Hendrickson, 20th, 119-0; Jaymes Melton, 24th, 115-2

Javelin: Brayden Yoder, 14th, 143-5; Lane Cunningham, 17th, 139-7; Ellison, 19th, 136-2

Shot Put: Ben O’Bryan, 16th, 41–9; Miles Meek, 24th, 39-9

100 dash: Gavin Lohse, 13th, 11.41; Gage Feldkamp, 28th, 11.57; Josiah McCaskill, 34th, 11.79

1,600 Run: Jerynce Brings Plenty, 14th, 4:44; Noah Cotter, 18th, 4:52

400 dash: Emmett White, 11th, 52.91; Aidan Meyer, 14th, 53.30

300 Hurdles: Jay McCaskill, 16th, 44.62

800 Run: Colton Blue, 12th, 2:06

200 Dash: Caleb Feldkamp, 14th, 23.22

3,200 Run: Noah Cotter, 9th, 10:32