Cougar Track Teams Post Person Bests

April 29, 2014 Leave a comment


By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

The Tiger Invite was held during one of the best weather days of the spring season and the Cougar track teams took advantage of it to post several personal bests.  The boys and girls both placed seventh with 26 points by the girls and 30 by the boys.

 

After a disastrous Cougar Invite, Darcey Simonsen threw a career best at Tekamah.  At the home meet last week,  the junior had no measurable throws in the prelims with a foul and two out of bounds tosses.  Darcey was the class of the field last Tuesday with a winning toss of 118 feet 4 inches.  The mark is among the top distances in Class D.

 

Freshman Jon Christiansen was the winner in the boy’s triple jump.  He broke through the forty foot barrier at the meet.  He got a leap of 40 feet 8 inches in the early jumps.  In the finals he followed that with the winning distance of 41 feet even.

 

Taylor Fuston ran his first open 400 meter dash of the year.  Fuston picked up a second place with as time of 54.6.  The senior also placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet 9.25 inches.

 

Chevy Henneman earned two medals in the sprints.  He placed fourth in the 100 M in 11.6  and sixth in the 200 M in 24.6.

 

Joey O’Connor had an improvement of over twenty seconds in the 3200 M run.  The freshman took fifth in 12:07.5.  David Bishop added a sixth in the 800 M with a time of 2:19.4.

 

Libby Henneman followed up her big throw at the Cougar Invite with another solid effort.  She heaved the shot put 33feet 11.24 inches.  Libby placed third.

 

Kelly Wakeley added a fourth place in the girl’s triple jump.  She had a best jump of 31 feet 7 inches.

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35th Cougar Invite

April 22, 2014 2 Comments


By Clare Wiltse

Sports Contributor

The Thirty-fifth Annual Cougar Invitational Track Meet ended with Oakland-Craig winning both the boys and girls divisions.  The Northeast boys had an eighth place finish in the fourteen team contest.  They scored 38.5 points.  The Lyons-Decatur girls placed tenth with 18 points.

 

It took until the final event for the Cougars to claim a Gold Medal.  The  Northeast boys had a come from behind victory in the 4×400 relay.  The Cougars battled with he Knights of O-C.  David Bishop and Chevy Henneman rang the first two legs.  Freshman Benny Estrada handed to anchor Taylor Fuston with O-C leading by thirty meters.   The senior runner chased down the Knight and pulled out  two second win in 3:50.6.

 

Madie Ronnfeldt and David Bishop were the top individual finishers for Northeast.  Madie took third place in the 300 M hurdles.  Her time was 54.0.  Bishop ran the 800M in 2:17.9, also for third.

 

Libby Henneman took fourth in the shot put.  She had a two and a half foot improvement in the event.  The sophomore threw 34 feet 11.5 inches.

 

Freshman Jon Christiansen had a personal best in the triple jump.  He leaped 39 feet 11 inches for fourth.  For the girls Kelly Wakeley took  fourth with 31 feet 11.75 inches and Madie Ronnfeldt leaped 31′ 4.5 inches for eighth.

 

In the sprints the boys got points from Taylor Fuston and Chevy Henneman.   Chevy ‘had a seventh in the 100 and fourth in the 200.  His times were 11.6 and 23.9. Fuston ran 11.6 in the 100 for sixth.

 

The 4×100 relay saw Northeast place fourth in 47.4.  Fuston and Henneman  teamed with Benny Estrada and Jon Christiansen.

 

Taylor Fuston had an off day in the long jump.  He tied for seventh.

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Tough Track Meet for LDNE

April 18, 2014 Leave a comment


Northeast’s track team took on some stiff competition at the Cadet-Tiger Meet held at West Point on April 8.  They were the only Class D team of the nine competing squads.   Arlington won the boys division and North Bend Central took the girls’ side.  Northeast settled for a ninth in the boys race with 13 points and the girls scored 17 points for an eighth place finish.

 

“We had some very good efforts,” said Coach Steve Hosch. “We did not score a lot of points against the big schools,  but we had some very good marks.”

 

The team had one first place.  Madie Ronnfeldt won the 300M hurdles.  She ran a time of 53.30.

 

“Madie was seeded in fifth for the race,” said Hosch.  “There was less than two seconds between top runners so we told her to go for it. She had the lead going into the last hurdle and was determined to win.  She kept her stride going over the last hurdle to hold off a challenger.”

 

The boys had a ten second improvement in the 4x400M relay.  They took second place in 3:36.40.  Team members were David Bishop, Tyler Hardeman, Benny Estrada, and Taylor Fuston.

 

Chevy Henneman lowered his personal best in the 100M to 11.60.  He placed fifth.

 

Darcey Simonsen took sixth in the discus.  She had a toss of 104 feet 3 inches.

 

In the girls’ triple jump the Cougars had two placers.  Freshman Kelley Wakeley took fourth with distance of 31 feet 9.5 inches.  Madie Ronnfeldt placed fifth on a 31 feet 7.5 inch effort.

 

Taylor Fuston placed in the long jump.  He had a best leap of 19 feet 8 inches.  The senior earned a fifth place.

 

Fuston led off the 4x100M relay.  It placed sixth in 48.10.  Chevy Henneman, Benny Estrada,  Dylan Hardeman were the other team members.

 

Boys Team scores:  Arlington 89, Bergan 87, Fremont JV 85, NBC 60, Wahoo 56, West Point-Beemer 51, Central Catholic 48, Logan View 38, Northeast  13.

 

Girls Team scores:  NBC 127,  Wahoo 118,  Central Catholic 73,  Fremont JV 56,  West Point-Beemer 55,  Arlington 49,  Logan View 24,  Northeast 17,  Bergan 7.

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Cougar Basketball Wrap-Up

March 31, 2014 Leave a comment


By Clare Wiltse

Sports Contributor

Four years ago a new coach took over at Northeast. He inherited at team that had graduated seven seniors. There were only two players with extended varsity playing time. It was a definite rebuilding job and meant using four freshmen. The team struggled and finished with a 6-17 record.

 

The next season the four sophomores were joined by two more classmates and helped propel the Cougars to an 11-12 record.

 

The last two season the team has been a .500 team in spite of playing in one of the toughest conferences in Nebraska. The EHC Elkhorn Division has had a State Champion team in 2013 and 2014. The team did not have the physical attributes, mainly height, but made up for that with true grit. They had a 12-12 record in 2013 and finished this season with an 11-11 mark.

 

“We had a chance to post the first winning record since 2004,” said Coach Derek Lahm. “In the last two games we were just not ourselves. It should not take away from our season and the great effort the team gave each game.”

 
The seniors have put their mark on the Cougar Top Ten List. Alex Brehmer eclipsed All-Stater Bret Kroger’s records in games played and steals. He is second to Kroger in career assists with 216. His 78 assists in 2014 is tied for fourth. His 50 steals in ninth best for a season.

Dakota Riecken, an undersized post player, did not let size deter him. His 62.4% shooting is second to 6′ 7″ Brett Sailors’s 67%. For his career he converted 57.9%, again second to Sailors. His 78 and 173 free throws is fourth best for season and fifth best for career at NHS. He is tied for third in career offensive rebounds (173) and ninth in total rebounds (395).

Bobby Simpson put his name on the list as a three point shooter. He had 42 which places him in sixth place. His career total of 101 is fourth best. He is eighth in free throw percentage for a season at 78.1%.

Junior Chevy Henneman broke into the top ten with 35 three pointers this season. He is tied with Derek Haskell.

The class of 2014 has three 500 career point players. Dakota Riecken finished with 571 points. Bobby Simpson score 519 points and Alex Brehmer had 510.

Taylor Fuston had career marks of 43 points, 42 rebound and 19 steals to go with 16 assists. He was on varsity for three seasons.

David Bishop scored 77 points and grabbed 77 rebounds in this three seasons. He also had 26 steals and 12 assists.

The 2014th season saw the Cougars finish in a tie for fourth in the Elkhorn Division with a 3-4 record. The co-champions Bancroft-Rosalie won State and Dodge-Howells took third in Lincoln.

Despite their .500record the Cougars won all the statistical categories exception rebounding. Their tough man-to-man defense held opponents to 49.2 point per contest and forced 356 turnovers. They had 213 steals. The opposition had a 35 rebound advantage in rebound.

Northeast will have four returning players with experience on the varsity level. Chevy Henneman will be the top returning scorer with an 8.7 average. Sophomore Marcus Hegy averaged 7.2 ppg and was third best in rebounding with 92. Sophomore Alec Anderson was a valuable reserve with a 1.6 ppg average. His season was cut short by a hand injury.

Freshman Montana Riecken gained varsity experience in 2014. He will have the tough job of replacing Alex Brehmer at point guard next year.

 

 

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LDNE Boys and Girls Lose Tough Games in EHC

February 5, 2014 Leave a comment


By Clare Wiltse

Sports Contributor

Being the smallest school in a sixteen team conference has its problems like trying to get respect from the big schools.  When the brackets are drawn up for the annual EHC basketball tournament, L-D’s wins over small schools does not rate too high.  They ended up with a 12th and 14th seed.

 

The two teams showed that they can play with the top teams as it took four quarters to decide the winners in the East Husker tournament.  The girls lost to third seeded Howells-Dodge 44-35.  The boys’ game went to the last minute before fifth seed, Twin River, assured themselves a 59-53 win.

 

Dodge-Howells got off to a great start on their home court.  After Haley Bacon opened the scoring the Jaguars made three of their next four shots.  The Cougar hung in their with Darcey Simonsen and Vanessa Peterson scoring.  An 8-2 run made for a 16 to 8 lead for  H-D at the quarter.

 

The next two quarter saw the Cougars outscore the Jaguars 21-16.  Lexie Bacon’s five points in the second quarter made it as four point game, 15-19.  After her sister, Haley, made a free throw it was down to three points.  Howells-Dodge rallied with eight points to take a 27-20 half  time lead.

 

The Cougars outscored H-D  by 7 to 2 when the second half resumed.  Darcey Simonsen ‘and Vanessa Peterson  scored goals before a trey by Tessie Collins pulled the Cougars to within two points with three minutes left in the quarter.  Vanessa Peterson added two free shots with 40 second left in the quarter.  A late free shot gave the Jaguars a 32-29 lead.

 

H-D created some breathing room early in the fourth quarter.  They made only two of ten shots, but used their height advantage to grab four offensive boards with two going for put backs.  Northeast struggled to put up points as six turnovers hampered their offense.  Darcey Simonsen got them going with six points, but the Jaguars relied on six free throws to claim a nine point win.

 

Darcey Simonsen and Vanessa Peterson led the Cougars with ten points each.  The Jags were led by Faith Molacek with 12 and Leah Grovijohn with 9.

 

“You cannot find any fault with the effort tonight,” said Coach Cronin.  The girls played their hearts out.”

 

L-D      8          12        9          6          -35

H-D     16        11        5          12        -44

 

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Madie R           0          0          0/0       1          4          0

Darcey S          5          0          0/0       8          4          10

Haley B            3          0          1/3       4          2          7

Tessie C           0          1          0/0       2          1          3

Lexie B            0          1          2/2       0          1          5

Vanessa P        4          0          2/2       9          3          10

Abby P            0          0          0/0       3          0          0

Team                12        2          5/7       27        15        35

H-D                 17        0          10/23   035      12        44

 

 

With four senior starters back from the Tournament Runner-up team of 2013, Twin Rivers was a very creditable opponent with a 14-4 record.

 

The Titans opened in a zone defense as they tried to neutralize the offense of Cougar post man  Dakota Riecken.  They succeeded in slowing Riecken, but the Cougar guards made them change their minds.  Simpson and Henneman found openings to launch threes while Alex Brehmer and Marcus Hegy slashed the lane for deuces.  Twins River made 9 of 12 shots and led 19-17 at the end of one period.

 

Twin River went to man-to-man defense in the second quarter.  Brehmer tied the score with his patented floater from the lane.  Riecken used his spin move to answer a Titan score and keep L-D and TR even at 21.

 

Twin River used a 6-0 run to put a clamp on the lead.  Scores by Riecken, Hegy and Brehmer could not match the Titan’s output as the half ended with the Cougars trailing

34-26.

 

Northeast found themselves down by twelve points early in the half. After an opening basket by Riecken the Titans ran off six straight. Dakota scored two more times to bring the lead down to eight, 40-32.  Brehmer’s leaner with 4:15 completed a 6-0 run as the Cougars were back to a six point deficit. Another 6-0 run by Twin river was ended by a Taylor Fuston put back.  The Cougars trailed by ten with a quarter to play.

 

Northeast’s never say die attitude kept the Titans on edge during the fourth period.   An opening score on a put back by TR’s Crowell would be the Titans last basket.  Brehmer had two scores from the lane and Simpson found his mark from outside the arc.  Free throws kept Twin River alive as they made 5 of 8  to lead by ten.  The Cougars made their charge in the last four minutes as Hegy and Riecken were perfect from the line and Chevy Henneman hit the trifecta to make it a 54-50 game.

 

Forced to foul,  the Cougars gave back four points  before Henneman connected again with 18.2 to play.  A quick foul and two misses gave the Cougars life, but there was no more magic as Northeast could not connect on two three pointers and Twin River escaped with a 59-53 win.

 

Northeast had three in double figures.  Dakota Riecken had 14,  while Chevy Henneman and Alex Brehmer had 12.

 

“We re playing really well right now,” Said Coach Lahm   “Twin River has a nice team and we gave it  our all; we just came up a little bit short.  Lahm said he is  looking forward to playing Scribner  who has won only 2 of 9 games since Christmas.

 

 

L-D      17        9          10        17        -53

TR       19        15        12        13        -59

 

 

 

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Chevy H           0          4          0/0       2          5          12

Alex  B 6          0          0/0       2          0          12

Bobby S           0          2          0/0       1          3          6

Taylor F           1          0          0/0       4          4          2

Dakota R         6          0          2/2       9          4          14

Marcus H         2          0          3/4       5          4          7

David B            0          0          0/0       1          1          0

Team                15/31   6/16     5/6       29        18        53

Twin River        20/39   1/3       18/24   21        11        59

 

 

 

 

The Cougars will be playing consolation games this week.  The Ladies will be matched against Clarkson/Leigh  in a 6:00 p.m. game on Thursday at Clarkson.  The Men get another shot at Scribner-Snyder on Friday.  They have a 7:45 p.m. game at Humphrey.

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