By Con Marshall
After a year-long absence, the high school track and field season was launched in western Nebraska again Saturday during the Chadron State College High School Indoor Meet in the Nelson Physical Activity Center.
Everyone seemed pleased that their sport was front and center again.
“A year ago, we were sitting at home really disappointed that the season wasn’t going to happen because of the COVID,” said Scottsbluff Head Coach Shelby Aaberg, “But today, we are all happy that we’re back at it again.
“Even with all the precautions we’re having to adjust to, the athletes are hungry to compete again and are glad we could have this meet,” Aaberg added. “There were some really good performances. Some of the best athletes in the state were here today. It was great.”
Chadron Coach Blakelee Hoffman had similar words.
“We’re thrilled to death to be back in action,” Hoffman said. “I was worried about how things might go since there was no season last year, but the kids did so well today. Everybody was having fun. I think it’s going to be an exciting season.”
Nine teams and perhaps 300 athletes participated in the meet, which had taken place every year since the Nelson Activity Center opened in 1987 except last year when nearly all sports were shut down around the world in early- to mid-March.
About all the teams at Saturday’s meet had some athletes who stood out. There were three double winners in the individual events.
Chadron junior Tatum Bailey was among those who got the meet off to a positive note when she cleared 5-foot-6 in the high jump to tie the Cardinals’ school record. And, as the meet was winding down about seven hours later, she also won the triple jump by going 32-6. In between, she was sixth in the long jump.
Scottsbluff senior James Bruner also won two jumps, the high jump at 6-foot even and the long jump at 20-8 ½ despite skipping the finals to go high jump. In between, he was sixth in the 60-meter dash that drew 46 contestants. Bruner’s exploits pleased both Scottsbluff and Chadron fans because it was announced last week that he has signed a letter of intent to continue his track and field career at Chadron State.
Another Bearcat, Anselmo Camacho, swept both the 60 and 200-meter dashes to become the meet’s third double winner. There were 46 entries in the 60 and 37 in the 200.
Another Chadron Cardinal also had an extra good day. Junior Chayton Brynes was the runner-up in all three of his events–the long, triple and high jumps. His triple jump was 40-8 ½, just three-fourths of an inch shy of the winning mark.
Hoffman said she knew Brynes is energetic athlete and is talented, but she never anticipated he’d do so well at his first meet this season. Then she remembered, “He’s grown six inches and added about 30 pounds since he was a freshman, the last time he competed.”
Chadron’s other event winners included senior Emily Beye, 60 dash; junior Mackenzie Anderson, 3200; and freshman Kyndall Carnahan, 800; along with three boys–Malichi Swallow,400; Carter Ryan, 800; and Rhett Cullers, high hurdles.
Beye also was third in the 200.
Gering’s Logan Andrews in the 1600 and Peyton Seiler in the 3200 captured the boys’ distance races while Scottsbluff’s Nick Maag was the shot put winner and teammate Aaron Price won the pole vault.
Chadron’s Cody Hall was the shot put runner-up at 44-7.
In the girls’ competition, Scottsbluff’s Kymber Shallenberger won the shot put and Sabrina Harsh the long jump and freshman Paige Horne led the way in the high hurdles.
Gering’s state cross country champion last fall, Madison Seiler, ran side-by-side with Brooke Holzworth of Scottsbluff in the girls’ 1600, before finally taking the lead.
Other individual winners among the girls were Dianna Kollars of Alliance, 200; Mia Skinner of Hay Springs, 400; and Raven Johnson of Kimball, pole vault. Skinner also was the runner-up in the 200 that had 32 entries.
Scottsbluff won both the girls’ and boys’ 4×400 relay races and Gering took both of the sprint medley titles by holding off serious challenges from Chadron.
Girls’ Results
60 meters–1.Emily Beye, Chad, 8.15; 2, Elle Ravenscroft, C-K, 8.22; 3, Victoria Bogus, SB, 8.30; 4, Dani Harter, Bay, 8.40; 5, Ember Diers, Chad, 8.50; 6, Madison Still, SB, 8.50.
200–1, Dianna Kollars, All, 28.5; 2, Mia Skinner, HS, 28.8; 3, Emily Beye, Chad, 29.2; 4, Elle Ravenscroft, C-K, 29.5; 5, Kenna Montes, All, 29.7; 6, Amauri Browning, All, 29.8.
400–1, Mia Skinner, HS, 1:04.7; 2, Macaiah Fuller, Chad, 1:09.8; 3, Demi Ferguson, Chad, 1:10.2; 4, Jazzy Munyiri, Chad, 1:14.5; 5, Haylie Winter, All, 1:15.1; 6, Keressa, All, 1:20.4.
800–1, Kyndall Carnahan, Chad, 2:43.0; 2, Kierra Miller, Bay, 2:44.0; 3, Fayth From, C-K, 2:45.0; 4, Grace Pyle, Chad, 2:49.0; 5, Makinley Fuller, Chad, 2:49.2; 6, Jamisyn Howard, SB, 2:50.0.
1600–1, Madison Seiler, Ger, 5:41; 2, Brooke Holzworth, SB, 5:48; 3, Grace Pyle, Chad, 6:00; 4, Kylee Charbonneau, SB, 6:01; 5, Shailee Patton, Ger, 6:28.; 6, Emme Parker, Ger, 6:37.
3200–1, Mackenzie Anderson, Chad, 13:28.0; 2, Emma Witte, Chad, 13.44.0; 3, Shailee Patton, Ger, 14:03.0; 4, Aspen Graves, Chad, 14:22.0; 5, Ava McKillip, HS, 16:00.0.
60 high hurdles–1, Paige Horne, SB, 9.60; 2, Payton Burda, SB, 10.0; 3, Macala Hood, All, 10.5; 4, Grace Greenwood, CV, 10.8; 5, Kristin Rasmussen, Chad, 11.0; 6, Abby Nelson, HS, 11.1.
4×400 Relay–1, Scottsbluff (Paige Horne, Sabina Harsh, Jamesyn Howard, Brady Laucomer,) 4:28.10 2, Chadron, 4:33.9; 3, Alliance, 4:37.4; 4, Scottsbluff B, 4:42.0; 5, Scottsbluff C, 4:43.7; 6, Hay Springs, 4:45.0.
1500 Sprint Medley Relay–1, Gering (Jinn Aguilar, Jenna Davis, Jade Schlothauer, Madison Seiler), 4:02.0; 2, Chadron, 4:07.0; 3, Chadron B, 4:11.0; 4, 4, Hay Springs, 4:12.0; 5, Alliance, 4:13.0; 6, Gering B, 4:14.9.
Shot put–1, Kymber Shallenberger, SB, 34-3; 2, Olivia Knapp, All, 30-7; 3, Abi Donner, C-K, 27-9; 4, Kyndal Paterakis, All, 27-6; 5, Piper Ryschon, SB, 26-9; 6, Annalise Busenitz, C-K, 26-7.
Long jump–1, Sabrina Harsh, SB, 16-9; 2, Mariyah Avila, SB, 15-11 ¾; 3, Kenna Montes, All, 15-8 ¼; 4, Amauri Browning, All, 15-0; 5, Tatum Bailey, Chad, 14-10 ¼; 6, Brady Laucomer, SB, 14-5 ¾.
Triple jump–1, Tatum Bailey, Chad, 32-6; 2, Brady Laucomer, SB, 32-2; 3, Jayrah Ngoi, Chad, 31-9 ½; 4, Marly Laucomer, SB, 31-5 ½; 5, Mariyah Avila, SB, 31-5; 6, Elle Ravenscroft, C-K, 31- ½.
High jump–1, Tatum Bailey, Chad, 5-6; 2, Sabrina Harsh, SB, 5-4; 3, Jaelynne Clarke, All, 4-10; 4, Jazzy Munyiri, Chad, 4-10; 5, Grace Pyle, Chad, 4-8; 6, Jaleigh Kumm, Ger, 4-6.
Pole vault–1, Raven Johnson, Kim, 8-6; 2-3, Carlee Todd, SB, and Victoria Mannel, Ger, 8-0; 4, Anna Ossian, Ger, 8-0; 5, Victoria Washington, All, 7-0; 6, Megan Kicken, Ger, 6-6.
Boys Results
60 meters–1, Anselmo Camacho, SB, 7.12; 2, Ransen Wilkins, SB, 7.13; 3, Hunter Lund, SB, 7.16; 4, Alex Galindo Longoria, SB, 7.19; 5, Preston Anderson, SB, 7.23; 6, James Bruner, SB, 7.24.
200–1, Anselmo Camacho, SB, 24.4; 2, Devin Hughes, All, 24.5; 3, Garrett Reece, Chad, 24.7; 4, Nolan Nagaki, All, 25.5; 5, Landon Amundson, SB, 25.7; 6, Michael Sorenson, Chad, 25.8.
400–1, Malachi Swallow, Chad, 55.5; 2, Devin Hughes, All, 56.2; 3, Tanner Gartner, Ger, 56.7; 4, Lance Isaacs, Ger, 57.0; 5, Ryan Cullers, Chad, 57.2; 6, Carson Bair, All, 57.7.
800–1, Carter Ryan, Chad, 2:17.5; 2, Daniel Wellnitz, Chad, 2:18.2; 3, Tyson Klein, SB, 2:19.0; 4, Lucas Moravec, Ger, 2:19.3; 5, Brett Pszanka, Ger, 2:20.0; 6, Alec Caraveo, CV, 2:22.4.
1600–1, Logan Andrews, Ger, 5:04.4; 2, Hans Bastron, SB, 5:10.3; 3, Eli Marez, Ger, 5:124.9; 4, Ben Roberts, SB, 5:23.6; 5, James Adams, SB, 5:24.5; 6, Ben Cassatt-Reina, All, 5:25.0.
3200–1, Peyton Seiler, Ger, 11:02.0; 2, Nathan Burch, Chad, 12:17.0; 3, Jarhett Anderson, HS, 12:28.0; 4, Wes Jacobs, HS, 12:56.0; 5, Nate Barker, Bay, 13:51.0.
60 high hurdles–1, Rhett Cullers, Chad, 9.08; 2, Jackson Ceplecha, SB, 9.31; 3, Josiah Mobley, SB, 9.90; 4, Garrett Reece, Chad, 9.93; 5, Karter Halverson, Bay, 9.95; 6, Tyler Garrett, Ger, 10.7.
4×400 Relay–1, Scottsbluff A (Ransen Wilkins, Alex Galindo-Longoria, Jackson Ceplecha, Avery Wicker), 3:44.8; 2, Gering, 3:46.5; 3, Chadron, 3:51.3; 4, Alliance, 3:54.4; 5, Gering, 3:54.4; 6, Scottsbluff B, 4:00.1.
1500 Sprint Medley Relay–1, Gering A, 3:25; 2, Chadron, 3:26; 3, Gering B, 3:32; 4, Alliance, 3:35; 5, Chadron B, 3:36.; 6, Hay Springs, 3:37.
Shot put–1, Nick Magg, SB, 45-3; 2, Cody Hall, Chad, 44-7; 3, Isaiah Martinez, All, 43-11; 4, Randall May, SB, 39-10; 5, Oakley Hodges, CV, 39-1; 6, Sebastian Boyle, Ger, 38-5.
Long jump–1, James Bruner, SB, 20-8 ½; 2, Chayton Brynes, Chad, 19-7; 3, Charles Twarling, HS, 18-9 ¼; 4, Hunter Lund, SB, 17-11; 5, Hayden Heine, SB, 17-10 ¼; 6, Jackson Howard, SB, 17-4 ¾.
Triple jump–1, Jonah Amill, All, 40-9; 2, Chayton Brynes, Chad, 40-8 ½; 3, Trent Davis, Ger, 38-5 ¾; 4, Jayce Wilkinson, SB , 38-4 ½; 5, Eli Thompson, Ger, 33-3 ¼; 6, Jaxon Bair, All, 33-2.
High jump–1, James Bruner, SB, 6-0; 2, Chayton Brynes, Chad, 5-10; 3, Daemon Avilez, Bay, 5-10; 4, Trent Davis, Ger, 5-8; 5-6, Cadell Brunsch, HS, and Keegan Grant, All, 5-6.
Pole vault–1, Aaron Price, SB, 12-6; 2, Keegan Grant, All, 11-6; 3, Kaleb Hessler, Ger, 10-6; 4, Ty Robles, SB, 9-6; 5, Ben Cassatt-Reina, All, 8-6; 6, Taylor Deveau, SB, 7-0.