Wildcat track teams finish in top 3 at Belton

By Andy Brown
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: April 5, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Senior Chloe Renner lands in the long jump pit during the Show-Me Showdown Invitational on Friday at Belton High School. Renner finished with three medals on the day, including a first-place finish in the high jump.

BELTON, Mo. – It may have been just the second meet of the season, but the Louisburg High School boys and girls track and field teams took a big leap forward.

During the Show-Me Showdown Invitational on Friday at Belton High School, the Wildcat boys finished second in the team standings with 156 points behind champion St. James Academy, which had 209 points.

The Wildcats won six events and 13 individuals or relays finished in the top three to earn medals.

“I was very pleased with the way we competed,” Louisburg boys coach Gary Griffin said. “We had some good performances and some not so good, but the way we competed was great to see.”

On the girls’ side, the Lady Cats also put together a strong performance as they finished third overall with 102.5 points behind champion St. James Academy (207.5) and runner-up Holden, Mo. (182.5).

Louisburg took first in two events and the Lady Cats finished in the top three six times.

“I was very pleased with our overall performance,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “To finish third out of 10 teams was good for us. We have a lot to work with as a team and I am very excited for some nice weather to see how we compete throughout the season.”

Senior Ben Hupp and sophomore Chris Williams each finished with three gold medals – one individual and two on relays.

Williams won the 400-meter dash in 52.45 seconds and was the anchor leg on the 4×400-meter relay that finished first in 3:42.62, just .01 seconds ahead of runner-up St. James. Hupp, Blue Caplinger and Tanner Belcher each got the relay off to a good start.

Wyatt Reece, Williams, Hupp and Belcher also teamed up to win the 4×800-meter relay in 8 minutes and 48 seconds. Later on, Hupp won the 300-meter hurdles for the first this season in 43.65 seconds.

“Ben is one of the hardest workers on the team in all sports and it is nice to see him reap the rewards of his hard work,” Griffin said. “We stuck a lot of relays together and did not have a lot of time to work on exchanges, so overall I was happy with the way they all ran. We scored good points in all of the relays.

Senior Ben Hupp clears the final hurdle during the 300-meter hurdles Friday in Belton. Hupp won the event in 43 seconds.

“The 4×400 was really exciting. Chris kind of let up at the end, but we still pulled it out. He learned that you can’t let up until the race is over.”

The sprint medley relay team of Austin Moore, Jackson Ewalt, Quinn Rigney and Blue Caplinger also won first in 1:45.

The 4×200 relay of Will Ridley, Ewalt, Moore and Rigney finished in 1:38.92, while Caplinger, Ewalt, Rigney and Moore took third in the 4×100 relay in 46.65 seconds.

Following his run in the 4×800, Reece had a strong performance in the 1,600-meter run as he won in a time of 4:55 – his best of the season.

“We have been waiting for Wyatt to break out for a while and hopefully this is a springboard for the rest of the year,” Griffin said. “He ran really well in both of his races.”

Also on the track, Rigney ran a time of 11.55 seconds to finish second in the 100-meter dash that featured cool, windy conditions.

In the field events, pole vaulters Frankie Hurst, Blue Caplinger and Trent Martin finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Hurst came up big after he cleared 11 feet, while Caplinger and Martin, recorded a height of 10-6, and 10-0, respectively.

“The vaulters scored big points for us and they will keep getting better as the year goes on,” Griffin said. “Frankie made a huge step up from the last meet and Blue no-heighted on the last meet so what he vaulted was great.”

Junior Wyatt Reece leads a pack of runners in the 1,600-meter run. Reece won the event with a time of 4:55.

In the throws, senior T.J. Dover finished runner-up in the discus with a throw of 138-8. Matt Holloway also finished second in the javelin with a throw of 112-1.

Chloe Renner had a big day on the girls side as she finished the day with three medals, including a gold in the high jump. The Louisburg senior cleared 4-10 to win the event and later finished third in the long jump (16-0) and triple jump (31-2).

Junior Isabelle Holtzen also came out on top in the pole vault. Holtzen made a big improvement off her last meet and finished first after she cleared 9-0.

“I thought Chloe had a great day and if she can keep working hard and take full advantage of her potential she could have a very good year and win some medals at state,” Darrington said. “I was very happy with Isabelle and she showed how tough she is mentally by performing well in some adverse conditions.”

Louisburg’s Jordon Leach takes off during a relay Friday in Belton.

On the track, the Lady Cats also took second in a pair of events.

The 4×400 relay of Kaitlyn Gaza, Kaitlyn Urban, Mikayla Quinn and Holtzen finished runner-up to end the meet with a time of 4:35.

Freshman Sydni Keagle led Louisburg in the 100-meter hurdles as she took second in 17.69 seconds.

“I am very excited about Sydni and Haley Cain both in the 100 and 300 hurdles,” Darrington said. “It has been a couple of years since we have had some girls competing at a high level in the hurdles. I like the fact that we have three young girls, including Kristen Bell, competing and practicing the hurdles.”

Other results are:

BOYS