‘Cats earn medals at L&C Conf. meet

HARTINGTON — If the Hartington-Newcastle track and field team was going to host the 2021 Lewis & Clark Conference meet, it might as well show up and be accounted for.

Oh boy, did it ever.

On Saturday, the Wildcat boys and girls did just fine in representing themselves as the boys finished fifth with 52 points and the girls brought home 32.5 points themselves as the campaign enters the final three weeks.

The Wildcat boys collected plenty of points thanks to the 4x200 relay (second, 3:43.52), 4x100 relay (third, 46.76), Kobe Heitman (second, long jump, 20-04; sixth, 100 meters, 11.48), Jake Peitz (fifth, shot put, 43- 11.50; fifth, 200 meters, 23.40), Mayson McIntosh (sixth, 200 meters, 25.85; seventh, 300 hurdles, 47.48), Bennett Sievers (sixth, high jump, 5-08),

4x800 relay (seventh, 10:08.41) and Ky Rice (eighth, 110 hurdles, 20.68).

Defending their home turf with strong performances on the girls side were Jessica Opfer (second, 3,200 meters, 13:42.33; fourth, 1,600 meters, 6:19.41), Lauren Howell (third, shot put, 33-10), 4x800 relay (fifth, 12:42.22), Mani Lange (fifth, pole vault, 7-06), 4x400 relay (seventh, 5:02.09) and Kennedy Gotch (eighth, 800 meters, 2:59.98).

“The throwers have been working hard all year,” the Wildcats throw coach Fatima Reyes said. “It seems like everything just clicked. We had one PR after another. They should be proud of themselves and how they did Saturday. We have a couple little things to work on but we are very excited about the next couple weeks.”

Some of the younger competitors are doing very well, Coach Laura Noecker said.

“Watching Lauren Howell, who is just a sophomore, place third in shot was just a great start to our day. She like all of our throwers are gaining confidence.”

Noecker noted the throwers dedication to getting better weekly.

“All in all we scored so many PRS,” Noecker said. “I’m liking Mani Lange’s improvements in the pole vault. Again, another young 10th grader who will only get better because they are committed and willing to spend the time it takes.

“The performance of the day was Jessica’s second-place finish in the mile. She showed a lot of grit on a very hot windy day.”

The Hartington-Newcastle boys coach Blair Kalin was also feeling pretty good about things after his squad finished among the upper half of the field.

“We had one of our best meets this season as far as performances go,” Kalin said. “Kale Korth really performed well in the pole vault. He had a personal best, increasing by one foot and four inches. We had two really good relay performances at the end of the meet running season best times on a very windy day. On those relays were Jake, Bennet, Mayson, Lane and Kobe. If they keep improving that should give us a good shot at District time. I am very pleased with this team. The kids are very coachable and boy they are improving.”

The Wildcats head to the Norfolk Catholic Invitational Thursday.

Girls: 1. Wausa, 110; 2. Tri County NE, 92; 3. Bloomfield, 72.33; 4. Ponca, 64.83; 5. Plainview, 62.83; 6. Wakefield, 57; 7. Wynot, 52; 8. Osmond, 35; 9. Hartingtn-Newcastle, 32.50; 10. LCC, 31; 11. Randolph, 20; 12. Creighton, 16; 13. Homer, 12; 14. Winside, 4.50. 100: 1. Alexandria Eisenhauer, BF, 12.60; 2. Jordyn Carr, TCNE, 12.70. 200: 1. Eisenhauer, BF, 26.13; 2. Carr, TCNE, 26.43. 400: 1. Alli Jackson, TCNE, 1:00.82; 2. Jordan Metzler, WAK, 1:01.76. 800: 1. Jackson, TCNE, 2:37.24; 2. Martinson, WAU, 2:38.31. 1,600: 1. Darla Nelson, WAU, 6:02.84; 2. Cali Gutz, OSM, 6:09.85. 3,200: 1. Nelson, WAU, 13:19.10; 2. Opfer, HNS, 13:42.33. 100 hurdles: 1. Eisenhauer, BF, 16.31; 2. Madison Abbenhaus, BF, 16.60. 300 hurdles: 1. Jordan Metzler, WAK, 49.42; 2. Nelson, WAU, 50.42. 4x100-1. Bloomfield (Abbenhaus, Kate Bruns, Lauren Pinkelman, Eisenhauer) 53.65; 2. Ponca 53.98. 4x400: 1. Tri County Northeast (Jackson, Bousquet, Carr, Mackling) 4:27.09; 2. Wausa 4:30.43. 4x800: 1. Wynot (Kendra Pinkleman, Allison Wieseler, Annika Heimes, Karley Heimes) 11:16.93; 2. Wausa 11:49.34. High jump: 1. Karley Heimes, WY, 4-11; 2. Alexa Cunningham, WAU, 4-11. Long jump: 1. Carr, TCNE, 17- 9.5; 2. Krystal Sudbeck, WY, 16-7.75. Shot put: 1. Morgan Kleinschmit, WAU, 35-2; 2. Berniece McCorkindale, LCC, 34-10. Discus: 1. Anna Lundahl, WAK, 131-4; 2. Taylor Alexander, WAU, 110-4.

BOYS: Wakefield 118; Osmond 81; LCC 64; Ponca 54; Hartington-Newcastle 52; Wausa 46; Bloomfield 43; Creighton 40; Plainview 33; Tri County NE 32; Homer 31; Wynot 30; Winside 23; Randolph 12; Winnebago 3.

110 hurdles: 1. Deagan Puppe, LCC, 15.17; 2. Daniel Puppe, LCC, 15.85. 300 hurdles: 1. Baue, WAU, 43.55; 2. Deagan Puppe, LCC, 44.81. 4x400: 1. Wakefield 3:42.22; 2. Hartington-Newcastle (Bennet Sievers, Peitz, Heitman, Mayson McIntosh) 3:42.22. High jump: 1. Jaxon Claussen, WAU, 6-0; 2. Jack Kuchta, WY, 6-0. Long jump: 1. Cade Hammer, CRE, 20-4.5; 2. Kobe Heitman, HNS, 20-4. Discus: 1. Austin Hall, LCC, 143-3; 2. Logue, PON, 139-10.

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