Longhorns set the tone at Perkins County triangular

    The goals were relatively simple for the Chase County boys’ track team at the Perkins County Preseason Triangular.
    Head Coach Carl Zuege said this meet was about getting some times and distances down on paper, and working out some of the nerves of a first meet before the Longhorns go to Ogallala Saturday.
    The early meet also gave coaches some ideas about varsity entries for the Ed Moore Invite, he added.
    Chase County overwhelmed Perkins County and Potter-Dix last Friday, winning 12 events.
    Junior Easton Fries took first place in the 100-meters and both hurdle races.
    Junior Jaret Peterson swept the throws.
    Junior Mason Wallin won the pole vault ahead of senior Carter Leibbrandt, and freshman Tucker Mollendor claimed the long jump win.
    CCS placed four athletes in the top five of four events, the 200-meter dash, 110-meter high hurdles, pole vault and long jump.
    Chase County also won the 1,600, 3,200 and throwers relays.
    Along the way, the Longhorns set or came close to a good number of personal records.
    Zuege said it’s fairly typical to see a jump in overall strength and athleticism between an athlete’s sophomore and junior seasons,
    “I maybe just didn’t expect the marks to be this good this soon in the season,” Zuege said.
    Upperclassmen, Fries, Jensen Olsen, Kade Anderson, Wallin and Peterson each set or came close to setting PRs.
    “All of those guys put in the work that it takes to make that happen, and I think there is still a lot more room for growth for all of those guys this season,” according to Zuege.
    Anderson is healthy after battling a hip flexor injury for most of last year, and Zuege said coaches are looking for improvements from him.
    “Also, having Carter Leibbrandt back pole vaulting this season is huge for us. Carter was a state qualifier as a sophomore, but then missed last season while recovering from ACL surgery. I am very excited to see him get back in his groove,” Zuege said.
    Zuege also expects big contributions from seniors Steven Murray and Dawson Mollendor.
    While he didn’t want to miss anyone, Zuege said there were notable performances from younger Lornhorns, including T. Mollendor in the long jump, Kole Clevenger in the high jump and long and Haven Hauxwell in the 3200,  as well as Navy Smith and Andrew Wiest setting PRs in the 3200-meter run.
Up next
    CCS will head to Ogallala for the Ed Moore Invite Saturday.
    With some many promising performances last week, Zuege said deciding what events in which to enter athletes will be a challenge, especially in the relays.
    As usual, the Ogallala Invite will likely be Chase County’s toughest meet until the state track meet in May.
    “It is loaded with excellent athletes and teams, so it will be really fun to see how the Longhorns stack up. Sidney is defending class B state champions, and teams like Cozad, Gothenburg, Chadron and Ogallala are always tough. Our goal is certainly to go win the meet -- I’m not sure if we can, but we will certainly know more about ourselves when it is done,” Zuege said.
CCS Boys Results:
100 Meters—1. Easton Fries, 11.53, CCS; 3. Dawson Mollendor, 11.69, CCS; 4. Thomas Reeves, 11.87, CCS; 6. Jonathan Sosa, 11.97, CCS; 8. Tucker Mollendor, 12.12, CCS.
200 Meters—1. Sosa, 24.42, CCS; 3. Reeves, 24.76, CCS; 4. D. Mollendor, 24.84, CCS; 5. T. Mollendor, 25.27, CCS; 8. Austin Smith, 25.62, CCS.
400 Meters—1. Casey Hanson, 56.22, PCS; 3. Salvador Venegas, 1:01.69, CCS.
800 Meters—1. Zach Herbert, 2:20.50, CCS; 2. Mason Tyerman, 2:26.68, CCS; 3. Jackson Cyboron, 2:34.74, CCS.
1600 Meters—1. Mason McGreer, 4:40.45, PCS; 2. Krayton Paisley, 5:25.59, CCS; 3. Brayan Reyes, 5:25.77, CCS; 5. Michael McBride, 6:48.28, CCS.
3200 Meters—1. Mason McGreer, 10:32.96, PCS; 2. Haven Hauxwell, 10:51.20, CCS; 3. Navy Smith, 11:51.12, CCS; 4. Andrew Wiest, 11:53.71, CCS.
110m Hurdles—1. Easton Fries, 15.11, CCS; 2. Jensen Olsen, 15.97, CCS; 3. Kade Anderson, 16.39, CCS; 5. Tyler O’Neil, 19.14, CCS; 7. Scott Hoover, 20.02, CCS.
300m Hurdles—1. Easton Fries, 40.45, CCS; 2. Anderson, 44.16, CCS; 4. Scott Hoover, 50.97, CCS.
4x100 Relay—1. PCS, 45.12; 2. CCS (Sosa, Steven Murray, James McArthur, D. Mollendor), 45.25; 3. CCS (T. Mollendor, Camron Lempke, Reeves, Sergio Quintana), 46.44.
4x100 Throwers Relay—1. CCS (Cooper Dillan, O’Neil, Zane Mays, Zach Tarin), 50.96; 2. CCS (Cristobal Tarango, Noah Rau, Ray Murillo, Jesus Medina), 52.95.
4x400 Relay—1. CCS (Fries, Luis Co, Sosa, Murray), 3:38.40; 2. CCS (Tristan Jablonski, Olsen, Quintana, Herbert), 3:46.16.
4x800 Relay—1. CCS (Co, Jablonski, Quintana, Murray), 9:09.97; 2. CCS (Hauxwell, Venegas, Jackson Cyboron, Tyerman), 9:41.66.
Shot Put—1. Jaret Peterson, 45’7, CCS; 2. Dillan, 41’6, CCS; 3. Mays, 38’6.75, CCS; 5. Tarin, 37’4.25, CCS; 6. Medina, 36’ 11, CCS; 8. Murillo, 35’ 7.25.
Discus—1. Peterson, 125’9, CCS; 2. Dillan, 123’6, CCS; 4. Murillo, 117’2, CCS; 6. O’Neil, 102’4, CCS; 7. Medina, 102’2, CCS; 8. Tarin, 100’0, CCS.
High Jump—1. Dawson Tjaden, 5’ 8, PCS; 2. Kole Clevenger, 5’ 6, CCS; 5. Brayan Reyes, 4’ 10, CCS; 6. Jesus Juarez, 4’ 10, CCS; 7. Tyerman, 4’ 8, CCS.
Pole Vault—1. Mason Wallin, 13’0, CCS; 2. Carter Leibbrandt, 12’6, CCS; 4. Malachi Christensen, 10’0, CCS; 5. Westyn Mendenhall, 9’6, CCS; 6. Sean Heermann, 9’0, CCS.
Long Jump—1. T. Mollendor, 19’5.5, CCS; 3. Clevenger, 18’10.5, CCS; 4. McArthur, 18’4.5, CCS; 5. Lempke, 17’7, CCS; 6. Dillan, 17’4.5, CCS; 7. Jablonski, 17’4.
Triple Jump—1. Blake Garner, 41’4.5, PCS; 2. Anderson, 40’6, CCS; 3. McArthur, 38’3, CCS; 5. Murray, 37’4, CCS; 6. O’Neil, 37’3.5, CCS; 7. Clevenger, 36’4.25, CCS; 8. Jablonski, 35’11.5, CCS.