CCS claims boys title at SPVA meet

The finish line of the regular season is in sight for the Chase County boys track team.
The Longhorns won the SPVA meet last week and took part in the Best of the Midwest Tuesday. Junior varsity team members also competed in the North Platte JV meet Monday.
Now all that stands between CCS and the post season is Friday’s Dundy County Stratton Twilight.
The C-9 district will be next Thursday at Bayard. Also attending will be Bridgeport, Gordon-Rushville, Hemingford, Hershey, Kimball, Mitchell, Morrill and Perkins County.
This week will be spent on fine-tuning and getting themselves ready for the district meet, Head Coach Carl Zuege said.
“Our goal now is to stay healthy, work to get our legs strong, and use this week to build our confidence heading into the postseason,” according to Zuege.
CCS had a successful SPVA meet, winning five events on its way to the team title.
Top finishes went to Thomas Reeves in the 200-meter dash, and Jonathan Sosa, Tristan Jablonski, Reeves and Easton Fries winning the 1,600-meter relay.
Field events were especially strong with wins going to Mason Wallin in pole vault, Noah Rau in discus and James McArthur in triple jump. All three had personal best performances.
Wallin’s vault of 15’0” tied the CCS school record and lands him in a tie at the top of the season’s all-class chart. Wallin did it while using a Sutherland pole.
“Mason had kind of been in between poles this season, as he had outgrown the pole he won state on last year. It is pretty routine for schools to exchange poles to match the needs of their current vaulters, so I met with Coach Jesse Saner from Sutherland on Saturday last week and exchanged a couple of poles with him,” Zuege said.
One of the borrowed poles has obviously been a fit for Mason, Zuege continued.
“He was able to tie our school record by making 15’0’ at the conference meet. He also still has the option of a bigger pole that we bought this year, so he may still change poles again before the year is over.,” Zuege said.
McArthur’s jump of 42’0.5” won the conference, but Kole Clevenger and Tyler O’Neil placed second and third, respectively, in the event, as well.
O’Neil added a second place finish in the 300-meter hurdles and a fourth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Longhorns also got runner-up finishes by Reeves with a PR in the 100-meter dash, Fries in the 400-meter dash and 110-meter hurdles, Haven Hauxwell in the 3,200-meter run, Jaret Peterson in discus and Tucker Mollendor in the long jump.
In addition, Ray Murillo led CCS shot putters with a third place finish, one spot ahead of Peterson.
Zuege said Murillo is a guy who has just continued to put in work over his four years in our program.
“He has continued to work hard in the weight room, and I know football and wrestling have also been part of Ray’s development. He is a guy with great strength and he and Coach Lenners have put a lot of work into him getting to this point. The thing is, he just continues to get better, so we know there is still the possibility for Ray to continue to make big jumps over the next few weeks,” Zuege said.
He also highlighted the Longhorns’ throwers for their consistency in terms of their effort and the points they provide for the team.
“Jaret, Cooper (Dillan), Ray, Jesus (Medina), and Zane (Mays) have not only been major contributors for us, but they have also provided a great deal of leadership for our team,” Zuege said.
Throw in sophomore Rau and all he has accomplished already, and you can see that this is a special group, Zuege added.
Chase County relays placed second in the 4x4 and third in the 4x8.
Runners in the 400-meter relay are Sosa, Mollendor, Reeves and Walling. In the 3,200-meter relay, Luis Co, Jablonski, Sosa and Clevenger were on the track.
Zuege said the Longhorns had some really good marks come out of the SPVA meet.
Reeves continues to roll in the sprints, Zuege pointed out, saying Reeves has been really consistent and dependable this year.
“Our hurdlers put in another great day, and I thought our distance runners did a great job, as well. Haven running 10:20 in the 3200 in that wind was one notable effort of the day. I thought Luis Co ran a really nice 800 to take fourth, with Krayton Paisley right behind him in fifth,” Zuege said.
Other long distance guys like Andrew Wiest, Trevin Moreno, and Navy Smith all ran well, Zuege continued, also noting Camron Lempke has really begun to come on in the 200 & 400, which just adds to an already deep group.
CCS won the team title 188.5-148 over North Platte St. Pat’s.
A chunk of that came from Chase County’s jumpers, Zuege pointed out. Besides going 1-2-3 in triple jump, the Longhorns placed three in long jump. Behind Mollendor’s second place finish were Clevenger in fourth and McArthur in seventh.
“All in all, it was a really good day for our team. One of our main goals at the beginning of every season is to win the SPVA meet. The boys side of the conference is absolutely loaded this year, so it was a great meet to win. I have said it already, but I totally expect to see three SPVA schools right around the top five teams at the state meet” Zuege said.
Tuesday, CCS sent athletes in 12 events to the Best of the Midwest.
Fries won the 300-meter hurdles and placed second in the 110-meter hurdles.
Wallin won the pole vault while the Longhorns swept the top three spots in discus. Rau placed first, Peterson was second and Dillan took third.
The 1,600-meter relay once again took first and the 400-meter relay placed second. Reeves didn’t compete Tuesday. Lempke filled in for the 4x1 and Clevenger stepped up in the 4x4.
CCS also got a second-place finish from Hauxwell in the 3,200-meter run.
SPVA meet
Team results—1. Chase County, 188.5; 2. North Platte St. Patrick’s, 148; 3. Perkins County, 58.5; 4. Hershey, 58; 5. Bridgeport, 31; 6. Kimball, 26; 7. Sutherland, 17.
Individual results
100 Meter—1. Jaxon Knisley, 11.07, NPSP; 2. Thomas Reeves, 11.08, CCS; 4. Mason Wallin, 11.33, CCS.
200 Meter—1. Reeves, 22.97, CCS; 8. Camron Lempke, 24.47, CCS.
400 Meter—1. Chase Moorhead, 50.26, Hershey; 2. Easton Fries, 51.09, CCS; 3. Lempke, 54.17, CCS; 6. Jackson Cyboron, 56.44, CCS.
800 Meter—1. Mason McGreer, 2:03.59, PCS; 4. Luis Co, 2:11.64, CCS; 5. Krayton Paisley, 2:12.57, CCS.
1600 Meter—1. McGreer, 4:42.08, PCS; 3. Haven Hauxwell, 4:50.43, CCS; 6. Andrew Wiest, 5:00.90, CCS; 7. Trevin Moreno, 5:07.95, CCS.
3200 Meter—1. McGreer, 10:17.28, PCS; 2. Hauxwell, 10:20.07, CCS; 7. Wiest, 11:12.96, CCS.
110m Hurdle—1. Knisley, 13.9, NPSP; 2. Fries, 14.4, CCS; 3. Jensen Olsen, 15.0, CCS; 4. Tyler O’Neil, 16.1, CCS.
300m Hurdle—1. James Heirigs, 43.26, NPSP; 2. O’Neil, 43.73, CCS; 5. Scott Hoover, 45.68, CCS.
4x100 Relay—1.NPSP, 44.01; 2. CCS (Jonathan Sosa, Tucker Mollendor, Reeves, Wallin), 44.10.
4x400 Relay—1. CCS (Sosa, Tristan Jablonski, Reeves, Fries), 3:35.92.
4x800 Relay—1. NPSP, 8:30.1; 3. CCS (Co, Jablonski, Sosa, Kole Clevenger), 8:49.8.
Shot Put—1. Boone Snyder, 54’1, Sutherland; 3. Ray Murillo, 48’5, CCS; 4. Jaret Peterson, 46’10, CCS.
Discus—1. Noah Rau, 155’10, CCS; 2. Peterson, 155’9, CCS; 5. Cooper Dillan, 143’0, CCS.
High Jump—1. Logan Winder, 6’0, NPSP; 6. James Bomba, 5’4, CCS; 8. Cesar Valencia, 5’4, CCS.
Pole Vault—1. Wallin, 15’0, CCS; 5. Malachi Christensen, 11’6, CCS; 7. Tate Hubbard, 10’6, CCS.
Long Jump—1. Jackson Roberts, 22’4, NPSP; 2. Mollendor, 20’10, CCS; 4. Clevenger, 20’6SR, CCS; 7. James McArthur, 20’1.5, CCS.
Triple Jump—1. McArthur, 42’0.5, CCS; 2. Clevenger, 41’0, CCS; 3. O’Neil, 41’0, CCS.
Best of the Midwest
100 Meters—1. William Kulhanek, 10.55, Overton; 5. Mason Wallin, 11.39, CCS.
200 Meters—1. William Kulhanek, 22.33, Overton; 7. Camron Lempke, 24.57, CCS.
3200 Meters—1. Coltan Ham, 10:10.67, NPSP; 2. Hauxwell, 10:11.31, CCS.
110m Hurdles—1. Knisley, 13.84, NPSP; 2. Fries, 14.68, CCS; 8. O’Neil, 15.98, CCS.
300m Hurdles—1. Fries, 39.74, CCS;; 8. O’Neil, 44.21, CCS.
4x100 Relay—1. NPSP, 43.89; 2. CCS (Sosa, Mollendor, Lempke, Wallin), 44.12.
4x400 Relay—1. CCS (Sosa, Jablonski, Clevenger, Fries), 3:29.88.
Shot Put—1. Boone Snyder, 54’3.25, Sutherland; 3. Peterson, 48’2.5, CCS; 6. Murillo, 47’3.5, CCS.
Discus—1. Rau, 154’4, CCS; 2. Peterson, 153’8, CCS; 3. Dillan, 146’8, CCS.
Pole Vault—1. Mason Wallin, 13’7, CCS; 3. Christensen, 13’1, CCS.
Long Jump—1. Zavier Mitchell, 22’3.5, Alma; 4. Mollendor, 21’4, CCS; 7. Clevenger, 20’0.5, CCS.
Triple Jump—1. Coby Higgins, 45’0, Sandhills/Thedford; 4. McArthur, 41’9.75, CCS; 6. O’Neil, 40’7.5, CCS; 7. Clevenger, 40’1, CCS.