Wildcats win three events at Leavenworth Invite

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 2, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg’s Blue Caplinger hands the baton off to teammate Ben Wiedenmann on Tuesday during the 4×100-meter relay at the Leavenworth Invitational. The 4×100 relay team finished second overall, while the boys finished fifth in the team standings and the girls took fourth.

LEAVENWORTH – In the midst of a gloomy, windy and cold day, the Louisburg High School track and field teams hand plenty of positives shine through in their first meet of the season.

Louisburg competed in the Leavenworth Invitational on Tuesday that featured several Class 5A and 6A programs and both Wildcat teams more than held their own. They recorded three first place finishes and the Wildcats placed 13 in the top three.

It was a strong day on the girls’ side as the Lady Cats won two events and finished fourth in the team standings with 59.33 points. Mill Valley won the girls title with 138.33 points and St. James Academy was second with 121.83.

“The girls did a great job for the first meet,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “They all competed well for the cold, wet conditions that we had. We had several girls score those important points from second to sixth place and that makes a huge difference in the team scores.”

Sophomore Sydni Keagle got the Lady Cats started in the 100-meter hurdles as she won with a time of 17.57 seconds to score 10 points.

Louisburg continued that success in the pole vault as senior Isabelle Holtzen cleared 10 feet, 6 inches to win her first competition of the season. Holtzen just missed on clearing 11-2 in her next attempt, which would have broken her school record of 11-1.

Louisburg sophomore Sydni Keagle gets out to a lead in the 100-meter hurdles Tuesday in Leavenworth.

It was a 1-2 finish in the pole vault for the Lady Cats as sophomore Avery Graham cleared 9 feet to grab the runner-up spot.

“Isabelle picked up where she left off from last year and vaulted great,” Reece said. “She will be fun to watch this year. Avery also vaulted well and will score points all season for us.”

Sophomore Carlee Gassman also provided the Lady Cats with a spark on the track and in the field events. Gassman put together a strong race in the 300-meter hurdles as she took second in 49.19 seconds.

Gassman also came through in the field events as she finished third in the long jump with a mark of 15-2.

“Carlee had a great 300 hurdle race from lane 8,” Reece said. “She was on her own until lane 4 caught up and gave her someone to compete against. She is already moving in on the school record and with more races will put up some great times. She can and will be used in many different events as we make our way through the season.”

The Wildcat boys also provided some bright moments and some of those were in the pole vault. Senior Frankie Hurst tied for first with Topeka High’s Connor Harris after he cleared 12 feet and teammate Trent Martin was third after he cleared 11-6.

Louisburg senior Frankie Hurst clears a height in the pole vault Tuesday.

“It was very cold and the little bit of a head wind made it difficult to jump,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “Frankie had a rough start, but after overcoming the conditions, he made some adjustments and finished strong. Everyone at the meet had the same conditions, so I was proud of how Frankie just went out and competed.”

As a team, the Wildcats finished fifth overall with 61.50 points. Mill Valley won the team title with 138.5 and Leavenworth was second with 91.

“Even though the weather wasn’t the best, it was nice to start competing in track meets,” Wright said. “The guys did a good job competing, but we aren’t satisfied, and we know there is still some work we need to do as a team to get better.”

Louisburg had a pair of relays that finished toward the top as the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays each came in runner-up.

The 4×100 team of Charlie Koontz, Blue Caplinger, Ben Wiedenmann and Brandon Cooper was second in 45.08 seconds, while Caplinger, Justin Collins, Wiedenmann and Chris Williams helped the 4×400 squad do the same in 3:37.39.

“Competing against some good programs and finishing second in both relays was a great way for us to start the season,” Wright said. “We still need to work on some of our exchanges, and improve our running shape for the 4×4. Both relays did just go out and compete, and that’s what I was looking for in the first meet.

Cooper also had a pair of strong finishes in the sprints as he finished third in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. He ran a time of 11.36 in the 100 and 23.79 in the 200.

Williams also finished third in two races as he performed in the 400-meter dash and 800-meter runs. He ran the 400 in 52.93 seconds and recorded a time of 2:10 in the 800.

Louisburg returns to action Thursday when it competes in the Paola Invitational. Events are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other results from the meet are:

GIRLS

100 meter dash: Kaitlyn Urban, 11^th, 14.00; Andrea Gaza, 22^nd, 15.28

200 dash: Gaza, 21^st, 32.16

400 dash: Mikayla Quinn, 5^th, 1:09

800 run: Payton Shaffer, 9^th, 2:52; Shaylor Whitham, 11^th, 3:03

1,600 run: Shaffer, 15^th, 6:33

100 hurdles: Kristen Bell, 9^th, 21:37

300 hurdles: Sydni Keagle, 9^th, 58.57; Bell, 16^th, 1:09

4×100 relay: Urban, Isabelle Holtzen, Keagle, Carlee Gassman, 4^th, 51.32

4×400 relay: Quinn, Holtzen, Urban, Gassman, 4^th, 4:35

4×800 relay: Quinn, Whitham, Kennady Wilkerson, Shaffer, 6^th, 11:43

High jump: Eileen Benne, 4^th, 4-8

Triple jump: Urban, 4^th, 30-8

Shot put: Lexie Reece, 12^th, 24-11.75; Shea O’Hara, 13^th, 23-2; Aiyana Penca, 14^th, 22-6.5

Discus: Reece, 6^th, 87-11; Melia Rice, 12^th, 70-8; Kody Lowry, 14^th, 63-11

Javelin: Lowry, 12^th, 49-10; Lakin Cunningham, 13^th, 49-4.5; Rice, 14^th, 45-11.5

BOYS

100 dash: Charlie Koontz, 15^th, 11.99; Justin Collins, 16^th, 12.00

200 dash: Ben Wiedenmann, 5^th, 24.04; Koontz, 10^th, 24.95

400 dash: Blue Caplinger, 9^th, 55.04; Michael Waldron, 24^th, 1:01

High jump: Waldron, 7^th, 5-2

Long jump: Koontz, 6^th, 17-11; Collins, 11^th, 17-2; Caplinger, 12^th, 17-1

Shot put: Kiefer Tucker, 13^th, 37-4.5; Brayden White, 14^th, 37-3; Matt Holloway, 14^th, 37-3

Discus: Tucker, 5^th, 113-3; John DePriest, 11^th, 98-9; Hunter Day, 15^th, 84-4

Javelin: Waldron, fifth, 137-9.5; Holloway, 8^th, 126-8.5; Austin Moore, 11^th, 121-7.25

Reece wins steeplechase at Baldwin Invitational

Louisburg senior Wyatt Reece competed on his own Thursday at the Baldwin Invitational and won gold in an event, while scoring points in another.

Reece won the 2,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 6 minutes and 45 seconds. He also had a strong performance in the 800-meter run as he took fifth in 2:07.