Wildcats win Show Me Showdown track meet

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 6, 2016

Louisburg senior Michael Minster rounds the curve during the 4×800-meter relay at the Leavenworth Invitational on March 29. On Friday, the Wildcat boys team won the Show Me Showdown meet at Belton High School.

BELTON, Mo. – The Louisburg High School track team crossed state lines last Friday as it took part in the Show Me Showdown, which was held at Belton (Mo.) High School.

It was the first time the Wildcats had participated in the event, but they were certainly happy they made the trip – especially on the boys side.

Louisburg finished first in the boys team standings with 167 points in the 12-team meet and held off runner-up Clinton (Mo.), which finished with 161 points.

“I was proud of the way we competed,” Louisburg boys coach Gary Griffin said. “The weather was not good. It was cold and windy and our times were not great, but we competed well and scored enough points to win.”

The meet was a different one for Louisburg as it competed in seven relay events, when normally it is only three. It gave the Wildcats the chance to rack up more points, however.

Louisburg finished first in the 400- and 800-meter medley relays. Will Ridley, Ben Minster, Quinn Rigney and Chris Williams won the 400 medley in 1 minute and 45 seconds, while Brandon Cooper, Minster, Rigney and Williams ran a 4:17 in the 800 medley to come out on top.

The Wildcats also had a pair of runner-up finishes in the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays. Cooper, Minster, Rigney and Williams came in second in the 4×100 in 47.24, while Ridley, Michael Minster, Rigney and Williams finished second at 1:40 in the 4×200.

Austin Moore, Scott Murphy, Kennedy Unthank and Jonathon Ventre came in third in the 4×400 in 4:02. Tanner Belcher, Ben Hupp, Michael Minster and Wyatt Reece also took third in the 4×800 in 9:16.

Ridley, Michael Minster, Murphy and Owen Staver came in fourth in the distance medley with a time of 13:30. All seven relays provided Louisburg with key points in its team victory.

Louisburg also racked up a lot of points in the individual track events.

Ben Minster (11.66) and Brandon Cooper (11.91) finished third and fifth, respectively in the 100-meter dash. Reece came in third in the 3,200-meter run in 12 minutes and teammate Devyn Small (12:45) was fifth. Reece (5:17) also took fourth in the 1,600-meter run.

Ventre, a freshman, ran a time of 46.29 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles to take fourth. Hupp came in right behind him in fifth. Eddie Murphy (2:29) and Austin Raetzel (2:30) rounded out the point-getters on the track as they finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 800-meter run.

The Wildcats also had a lot of success in the field events.

Junior Jacob Jensen won the javelin with a throw of 135-4 and teammate Dustyn Rizzo was second with a toss of 114-8.

Fellow junior Andrew Goff also earned top high jump honors after he cleared 5-8 and his teammate Chris Light was second with a clearance of 5-6.

Senior Jarod Woodward also stood out in a tough shot put competition as he took second. Woodward set a new personal record for the second time in a week as he recorded a toss of 50-8, more than a foot farther than his first toss of the season at the Leavenworth Invitational.

“Woody had another good day,” Griffin said. “I think he can get even better when the weather warms up and I believe he can get an even bigger throw.”

Teammate Bradley Trageser also had a toss of 44-3.5, which was good for fourth. Sophomore Garrett Lowry came in sixth in the discus with a toss of 110-10.

A pair of freshman also scored points for the Wildcats in the pole vault. Ian Combs and Blue Caplinger came in second and third, respectively, after both cleared 9-6.

“Our young kids like Chris Williams, Austin Moore, Ian, Blue, Brandon and Tanner Belcher have all competed well so far and they are not intimidated by being in a varsity meet,” Griffin said.

Girls finish strong at Belton

The Louisburg girls track team also had their fair share of highlights Friday as the Lady Cats finished fifth in the team standings with 96 points and won two events.

One of those events came in the relays when Reilly Alexander, Julianne Finley, Megan Lemke and Mikayla Quinn won the 4×400-meter relay in 4:43.

“I really believe our 4×400 is our best relay,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “The girls are all strong in the 400 meter race. I was pleased with our competitive effort. I wish I could have taken the full team, but understand girls have choices to make during spring seasons. Otherwise, I think we could have had a chance to win the meet.”

The other victory for Louisburg came in the pole vault as sophomore Isabelle Holtzen made a big improvement from just three days earlier in her first meet. Holtzen cleared 8-6 to win the event.

“I think Isabelle is a great competitor and will only get stronger as the season continues,” Darrington said. “I also think I will have some freshman jumpers that will help score points as the season continues.”

In other field events, sophomore Sophie McMullen came in second in the javelin with a toss of 90-09 in her first outing of the year and junior Zoie Gilliland took third with a toss of 80-02. McMullen also scored points in the discus with a throw of 92-11 to take third and fellow sophomore Lexie Reece was fifth at 89-03.

Junior Chloe Renner came in fourth in the high jump after she cleared 4-6 and Finley was sixth with a clearance of 4-4. Lemke finished fourth in the long jump with a mark of 13-5.5.

On the track, Quinn ran a 1:08 in the 400-meter dash to take fourth and later went on to take fifth in the 200 dash in 31.36. Freshman Shaylor Whitham scored points in the 800 (2:53) and 1,600-meter run (6:27) to take fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Lady Cats also finished strong in several other relays.

Carson Buffington, Finley, Holtzen and Klara Riester came in runner-up in the 800 medley relay in 5:04, while Buffington, Finley, Jordon Leach and Riester were fourth in the 400 medley in 2:14.

Alexander, Buffington, Leach and Lemke took fourth in the 4×200 relay (2:05). Quinn, Alexander, Leach and Leach took sixth in the 4×100 relay (58.5) to round out the point-getters.

Louisburg returns to action at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday in Paola for the Paola Relays.

Other Wildcat results are:

Boys

200 dash: Owen Staver, seventh, 27.09; Dustyn Rizzo, eighth, 27.23

400 dash: Austin Moore, seventh, 1:00

Discus: T.J. Dover, seventh, 107-04

Long jump: Andrew Goff, 10^th, 16-00; Chris Light, 13^th, 13-9.5

Triple jump: Tanner Belcher, 12^th, 33-6.50; Brandon Cooper, 15^th, 33-0.25

Girls

100 dash: Jordon Leach, 10^th, 14.59; Reilly Alexander, 15^th, 15.61

100 hurdles: Klara Riester, 9^th, 19.94