Cedar boys, girls claim another invite

HARTINGTON — A sweeping wind was fitting weather for the Trojan Invitational as both Cedar Catholic teams swept titles at the Hartington Community Complex on April 11.

Although there was plenty of wind, the temperatures were much higher than previous meets this season, which made for some good times, especially in the shorter distances on the track.

The Trojans outdistanced their neighbors, getting past Hartington-Newcastle 152-94 for the boys’ title and the Lady Trojans turned away Crofton 137-124 for the girls’ championship.

“We finally had our first warm-weather day for a meet, and I think it really took a toll on the kids as the day progressed,” Cedar Catholic coach Chad Cattau said. “We had to really emphasize our water intake and make sure the kids stayed hydrated so they were ready to perform throughout the meet.”

Well, perform they did. The Lady Trojans won five individual gold medals and grabbed one in the relays.

Laney Kathol led the pack with two individual titles in the 800 and for the first time this season she competed and won the high jump with an best of 5-feet even. She ran the 800 in 2:38.62 for that medal while teammate Ava Noecker finished sixth.

Faith Christensen and Grace Reifenrath took care of the sprints with Christensen winning the 100 in 12.94 seconds and Reifenrath breaking the tape in the 200 in 26.98, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Lady Trojans in that event.

“We really feed off of each other on the track,” Christensen said. “We all want to win, but we feel just as good if one of our teammates wins — we really support each other in the meets and during practice.”

Christensen finished second in the 200 while Sophia Reifenrath was third and also placed second in the 100.

The speedy trio were joined by Lauren Bernecker to win the 1,600-meter relay in 4:18.40, nearly 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Crofton.

“I really like the relays,” Christensen said. “We train together all the time so getting to run together and for each other is really great.”

The quartet also combined for a second-place finish in the 400-meter relay and the Lady Trojan 3,200 relay team of Ava Noecker, Claire and Isabel Rolfes, and Bernecker circled the track eight times in 11:17.05 to also finish second.

The Rolfes girls scored some points in the distance races, such as in the 1,600, with Claire taking third and Isabel coming in fourth, after Claire finished second in the individual 3,200 with a time of 14:55.66.

Noecker tacked on some additional points in the 800, placing sixth, and also took fourth in the pole vault.

Lexi Eickhoff won a gold in the shot put with a best of 35-feet-3-inches and placed third in the discus with a toss of 102-07.

Addison Walter placed third in the shot just behind Eickhoff, while teammate Melayna McGregor fell short of a medal in the event by literally one inch.

“It was great to see both of our teams win,” Cattau said. “We were able to score in a variety of events, which really helped us out.”

The Trojans parlayed their three relay teams into 30 points as all three won their respective events.

The 400-meter team circled the track in 46.59; the 1,600-meter squad of Breiton Whitmire, Tyan Baller, Nolan Becker and Carson Arens circled the track four times in 3:44.56 and the 3,200 team of Matthew Loecker, Carson Noecker, Becker and Arens made eight laps in 8:50.89.

Also to show some team depth, the Trojan junior varsity team of Booker Hochstein, Hunter Kuchta, Mason Baller and Loecker placed fifth in the 1,600 relay. The team of Aaron Wortmann, Lukas Wortmann, Kighter Wortmann and Wes Pinkelman was fourth in the 3,200 relay.

Noecker was his usual self, winning the 1,600 and 3,200 and placing second in the open 800 to Arens. To put into perspective his dominance in the 3,200, his time of 9:52.84 would have placed him fifth in the relay race if he traveled the distance carrying the baton by himself.

Arens won the 800 in 2:03.86 and also placed second in the high jump after clearing the bar at 5-10.

James Fischer and Jaxson Bernecker took care of the throws. Fischer won the shot with a heave of 46-09 while Bernecker tossed the discus 153-09 to sweep those events.

Bernecker was also second in the shot with a heave of 4508 and Fischer was third in the discus, flinging it 125-03.

Baller was third in both the 100 and 200. Whitmire was fourth and fifth in the 200 and 100, respectively.

The Cedar Catholic showing in the 800 is noteworthy.

Behind Arens and Noecker, Loecker placed fourth and Lukas and Aaron Wortmann were fifth and sixth, respectively, for the Trojan JV team, which finished the meet with 11 team points.

Becker was fourth in the 400, with Hunter Kuchta right on his heels in fifth and Becker also grabbed a third in the high jump.