Longhorns return to top at SPVA track

    After winning seven straight SPVA track team titles, the Chase County boys’ track team finished second last season to eventual Class D state champion North Platte St. Pat’s.
    The Longhorns started a new streak last week and asserted their dominance over the conference, winning the team title by 57 points over second place NPSP.
    Easton Fries led the way for Chase County with wins in the 400-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles and 300-hurdles. Fries also teamed up with Jonathan Sosa, Tristan Jablonski and Steven Murray on the winning 1,600-meter relay.
    CCS went 1-2-3 in the 110-hurdles. Jensen Olsen placed second and Kade Anderson was third. Fries’ time of 14.46 set a new SPVA record. The old record was held by Brad Bauer of Chase County in 1986 and Dane Carlini  of NPSP in 2005 of 14.8.
    In the 300-hurdles, Anderson was second and Olsen was sixth.
    Head Coach Carl Zuege said the Longhorns’ hurdlers continue to improve and score a lot of points.
    “Our three guys in the 110’s all qualified for the state track meet last year, and we discussed at the very start of this season our goal of getting all three guys to finals at state,” Zuege said. While he  thinks that is something that is totally possible, Fries, Olsen and Anderson have to keep improving, he added.
    CCS also placed three runners in the 1,600-meter run. Haven Hauxwell placed third, a duplicate performance to the 3,200, followed by Brayan Reyes in fifth and Andrew Wiest in sixth.
    “The 1600 was a nice surprise, and that came from two sophomores and a freshman,” Zuege said.
    Hauxwell has been working to get his time under five minutes, Zuege said, and he was within a few tenths of a second from doing so.
    “Brayan Reyes and Andrew Wiest also both set PRs, so that is really exciting,” he added.
    Chase County also placed three in the 400. Behind Fries was Sosa in third and Sergio Quintana in fourth, both with PRs.
    While Zuege likes his team’s consistency across all events, especially hurdles, he added throws, relays and pole vault to the Longhorns’ list of strengths. When healthy, sprinters join the list.
    In pole vault, Mason Wallin set a PR of 14’1” and won the event.
    Jaret Peterson was second in shot put and discus, Jesus Medina fifth and Ray Murillo eighth in the shot put, while Cooper Dillan was fourth and Tyler O’Neil seventh in the discus.
    The Longhorns also added a win in the 3,200-meter relay. Team members were Luis Co, Jablonski, Murray and Zach Herbert.
    Herbert was second in the 800 with a PR and Anderson was second in the triple jump. Finishing third was Dawson Mollendor in the 100,
Up next
    The Longhorns took part in the Best of the Midwest Tuesday in Sutherland. Results will be available in next week’s Republican.
    Only one more regular season meet remains on Chase County’s schedule, the Dundy County Stratton Twilight Friday in Benkelman. Events will begin at 12:30 p.m.
    Now that SPVA is in the books, Zuege said it is time for CCS to begin to fine tune and to begin to really sharpen their performances.
    “We begin a training cycle where workouts are shorter but intense, and we now use the upcoming meets to get ready for districts in 10 days,” he said.
    Tuesday’s Best of the Midwest allows the Longhorns to see some excellent competition, he added, and then at the Dundy County meet, Chase County will lessen the workload on several of its athletes in anticipation of the district meet.
    This year’s C9 district will be in Perkins County next Thursday with Bayard, Bridgeport, Gordon-Rushville, Hemingford, Kimball, Mitchell, Morrill and Perkins County.
    Boys’ pole vault will begin at 9:45 a.m. with boys’ discus and long jump, as well as girls’ high jump, shot put and triple jump starting at 10 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., first session running events will begin with the 3,200-meter relay, followed by prelims of the 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash then finals of the 400-meter dash and 3,200-meter run. The first session of running events will end with the 200-meter dash prelims.

SPVA Track Championships
Boys team results—1. Chase County, 178; 2. NPSP, 121; 3. Hershey, 95; 4. PCS, 76; 5. Sutherland, 23; 6. Bridgeport, 21; 7. Kimball, 9.
Individual results
100 Meters—1. Jaxon Knisley, 11.13, NPSP; 3. Dawson Mollendor,  11.47, Chase County; 8. Austin Smith, 12.09, Chase County.
200 Meters—1. Jaxon Knisley, 22.98, NPSP; 6. Tucker Mollendor, 24.42, Chase County; 7. Smith, 24.75, Chase County.
400 Meters—1. Easton Fries, 52.61, Chase County; 3. Jonathan Sosa, 53.38, Chase County; 4. Sergio Quintana, 55.33, Chase County
800 Meters—1. Mason McGreer, 2:05.70, PCS; 2. Zach Herbert, 2:07.45, Chase County; 5. Luis Co, 2:17.16, Chase County.
1600 Meters—1. McGreer, 4:41.51, PCS; 3. Haven Hauxwell, 5:00.36, Chase County; 5. Brayan Reyes 5:07.70, Chase County; 6. Andrew Wiest 5:11.32, Chase County.
3200 Meters—1. McGreer, 10:18.06, PCS; 3. Hauxwell, 10:30.67, Chase County; 6. Wiest, 11:13.66, Chase County.
110m Hurdles—1. Fries, 14.46, Chase County; 2. Jensen Olsen, 15.45, Chase County; 3. Kade Anderson, 15.71, Chase County.
 300m Hurdles—1. Fries, 40.38, Chase County; 2. Anderson, 41.88, Chase County; 6. Olsen, 45.72, Chase County.
4x100 Relay—1. Hershey, 44.39; 3. Chase County (Sosa; T. Mollendor, Smith, D. Mollendor), 45.28.
4x400 Relay—1. Chase County (Sosa, Tristan Jablonski, Steven Murray, Fries), 3:34.72.
4x800 Relay—1. Chase County (Co, Jablonski, Murray, Herbert), 8:45.17.
Shot Put—1. Boone Snyder, 49’0, Sutherland; 2. Jaret Peterson, 46’2, Chase County; 5. Jesus Medina, 41’7, Chase County; 8. Ray Murillo, 39’0, Chase County.
Discus—1. Cooper Hill, 156’0, Hershey; 2. Peterson, 147’10, Chase County; 4. Cooper Dillan, 142’11, Chase County; 7. Tyler O’Neil, 129’11, Chase County.
High Jump—1. Leo Carnine, 5’11, Bridgeport; 6. Kole Clevenger, 5’5, Chase County; 7. Mason Tyerman, 5’3, Chase County.
Pole Vault—1. Mason Wallin, 14’1, Chase County; 4. Carter Leibbrandt, 12’1, Chase County.
Long Jump—1. Zarek Branch, 20’4.75, NPSP; 5. Clevenger, 18’1.5, Chase County; 6. T. Mollendor, 17’10.5, Chase County; 7. Camron Lempke 17’4 Chase County.
Triple Jump—1. Branch, 42’0.75, NPSP; 2. Anderson, 40’8, Chase County; 3. James McArthur, 39’11.5, Chase County; 5. O’Neil, 39’1, Chase County.

North Platte JV Invite
Boys JV team scores—1. North Platte, 157; 2. McCook, 125; 3. Chase County, 96.5; 4. Cozad, 75.5; 5. Lexington, 40; 6. Gothenburg, 2.
Individual results
100 Meters—1. Joe Barenburg, 11.69, McCook; 2. Austin Smith, 11.88, Chase County; 4. Cesar Valencia, 12.19, Chase County.
200 Meters—1. Barenburg, 23.70, McCook; 2. Smith, 24.11, Chase County; 6. Valencia, 25.39, Chase County.
400 Meters—1. Alex Landry, 55.40, McCook; 7. Jackson Cyboron, 58.87, Chase County.
800 Meters—1. Izayah Plunk, 2:15.02, North Platte; 4. Krayton Paisley, 2:17.83, Chase County.
1600 Meters—1. Luke Tegtmeier, 4:56.76, North Platte; 7. Brayan Reyes, 5:16.44, Chase County.
3200 Meters—1. Oban Sandoval, 11:24.23, North Platte; 2. Navy Smith, 11:49.14, Chase County.
110m Hurdles—1. Dreu White, 17.86, Cozad; 2. Scott Hoover, 19.15, Chase County.
300m Hurdles—1. Kenny Smith, 47.17, North Platte; 3. Hoover, 50.37, Chase County.
4x100 Relay—1. McCook, 46.51; 5. Chase County (Sean Heermann, Malachi Christensen, Westyn Mendenhall, Jason Nelson), 50.26.
SMR 1600m—1. North Platte 4:01.81; 2. Chase County (Smith, Camron Lempke, Krayton Paisley, Mason Tyerman), 4:10.46.
Shot Put—1. Tyree Smith, 40’7.5, Cozad; 2. Ray Murillo, 39’10.5, Chase County; 5. Zach Tarin, 38’3, Chase County; 7. Noah Rau, 37’0.5, Chase County.
Discus—1. Smith, 137’10, Cozad; 3. Rau, 135’7, Chase County, 5. Tarin, 114’11, Chase County; 6. Zane Mays, 114’1, Chase County; 8. Ray Murillo, 113’0, Chase County.
High Jump—1. Dreu White, 5’8, Cozad; 7. Cesar Valencia, 5’2, Chase County.
Pole Vault—1. Lathan Huntsman, 11’3, North Platte; 2. Christensen, 10’9, Chase County; 5. Heermann, 9’9, Chase County.
Long Jump—1. Miles Pollmann, 18’4, McCook; 5. Camron Lempke, 17’4.5, Chase County.
Triple Jump—1. Camden Bussinger, 36’8, Cozad; 3. Brayan Reyes, 36’4, Chase County; 5. Ben Skeels, 35’10, Chase County; 6. Camron Lempke, 35’9, Chase County; 8. Jesus Juarez, 35’2, Chase County.