CCS rolls to Dundy County Stratton Twilight win

This year’s Dundy County Stratton Twilight was a twilight in name only. With concerns of weather moving in later in the day, DCS officials moved the meet’s start time to 9 a.m.
The change in schedule didn’t slow down the Chase County boys track team. The Longhorns continued their winning ways with a 279-111 win over second place Perkins County.
CCS entered varsity and JV athletes in the meet and Longhorns could be found everywhere. Official results only showed varsity athletes, but Chase County dominated in several events.
In the 800-meter run, CCS had six athletes in the top seven, led by Luis Co in second.
Haven Hauxwell won the 3,200-meter run, with three teammates coming in third, fourth and fifth.
Easton Fries won the 110-meter hurdles and four teammates finished in the top six.
CCS also placed five in the top six of the shot put, led by Ray Murillo’s personal best throw that gave him second place.
Noah Rau’s first-place finish in the discus led five Longhorns in the top seven.
Head Coach Carl Zuege said the team’s biggest concern on Friday was to get as many athletes competing as possible.
“Dundy County was very gracious about letting us enter our entire team, so we just wanted to get as many guys going as we could. We did cut down the workload for most of our guys, just trying to fine-tune things for next Thursday at districts,” Zuege said.
Being able to enter plenty of athletes also gave some one last chance to lock down spots at districts.
“I think we have a pretty good idea about what we want to do on Thursday with our entries. We have a couple of relays where injuries and other factors still have us trying to figure out our best course,” Zuege said.
Aside from those injuries, Zuege said the good news is that usually when you’re trying to figure out a relay the issue is you are short of options, which is not the case with CCS.
“We have several different directions we can go, and unfortunately we won’t be able to use everyone that we would like to give an opportunity to,” he added.
Among the top finishes on the day, Thomas Reeves won the 200-meter dash and, despite finishing second, set the school record in the 100-meter dash.
Other wins went to Fries in the 300-meter hurdles, Malachi Christensen in the pole vault and Tucker Mollendor in the long jump.
Chase County’s 400-meter relay, Jonathan Sosa, Mollendor, Reeves and Mason Wallin, just edged DCS. The 1,600-meter relay, Sosa, Tristan Jablonski, Kole Clevenger and Reeves, was also first.
CCS also went 2-3-4 in the triple jump, with James McArthur placing second, followed, respectively, by Tyler O’Neil and Kole Clevenger.
Spencer Kelley placed second in the pole vault, while Jaret Peterson and Cooper Dillan were second and third, respectively, in the discus.
In the shot put, Peterson placed second, followed by Dillan, Rau and Jesus Medina in the top six.
Jensen Olsen claimed second in the 110-meter hurdles and O’Neil and Scott Hoover placed fourth and fifth.
Andrew Wiest, Navy Smith and Kevin Dannatt placed third, fourth and fifth in the 3,200-meter run.
Wiest also finished third in the 800 thanks to a PR, just ahead of Zach Herbert, Krayton Paisley, Brandon Chavira and Brextin Moreno.
With a nice breeze at their backs, the top six in the 100-meter dash each had PRs, including Reeves in second place and Mollendor in fifth.
Overall, CCS set 28 personal bests.
Zuege said coaches were pleased with the number of really good performances despite the weather.
“Thomas Reeves broke his own school record in the 100, running a 10.92. Noah Rau led a group of really good discus throws with a PR of 158’8”, Ray Murillo broke the 49’ barrier in the shot, and I thought James McArthur led a group of really good long jumpers. I thought our younger guys competed well on the track, the conditions just didn’t really set us up for many PR’s in races longer than 200 meters,” Zuege said.
Now the Longhorns can focus on Thursday’s district meet in Bayard.
“I think most of our nagging injuries won’t be much of a problem after we cut way down on the workload this week. I’m concerned about Malachi in the pole vault, but I think he is going to give it a try. We have some uncertainty with Zach Herbert in the 800, but he was able to get out there and compete in one race on Friday. All in all I would say that we are relatively healthy, and I hope our legs are strong and ready come Thursday,” Zuege said.
Joining CCS at the C-9 meet will be Bridgeport, Gordon-Rushville, Hemingford, Hershey, Kimball, Mitchell, Morrill and Perkins County.
The state meet will be May 17-18 in Omaha.
DCS Twilight results
Boys team results—1. Chase County, 279; 2. Perkins County, 111; 3. Dundy County Stratton, 109; 4. Maywood-Hayes Center, 61; 5. Cheylin, 33; 6. Wauneta-Palisade, 22.
Individual Results
100 Meters—1. Laken Wissink, 10.81, Dundy County Stratton; 2. Thomas Reeves, 10.92, CCS; 5. Tucker Mollendor, 11.38, CCS.
200 Meters—1. Reeves, 22.72, CCS.
400 Meters—1. Jerry Ingison, 52.84, Maywood-Hayes Center; 2. Kole Clevenger, 53.94, CCS; 4. Camron Lempke, 54.69, CCS; 5. Brandon Chavira, 56.45, CCS.
800 Meters—1. Mason McGreer, 2:03.26, Perkins County; 2. Luis