Cougars Qualify Eight for State Track

By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

Cougar Track and Field will have eight representatives at the State Track Meet next Friday at Burke Stadium in Omaha.  “It was a very competitive meet as the teams had to battle a brutal wind,” said Coach Hosch. The Lady Cougars finished in third place with 71 points.  They trailed Allen who scored 124 and Wynot with 86  points.  The boys finished in fourth with 55 points. Wausau was the winner with 133 points followed by Randolph with 84.

Three Athletes are making a return trip to Burke Stadium.  Darcey Simonsen is going back for the third time.  She placed third last year in the discus..  Chevy Henneman and Kelly Wakeley are competing in different events this year.  Chevy moves up from the 100M to the 400 M.  Kelly switches from the triple jump to the long jump.

The girls got a big boost from the discus competition.  Northeast throwers took the top two positions.  Abby Peterson was a surprise winner.  She had been battling illness all week, but came through with a personal best by eight feet to take the gold.  Her winning mark was 119 fee 3 inches.  Darcey Simonsen took the other qualifying position with a toss of 113 feet 6 inches.

Brianne Haskell fought the wind and a B-R runner down the stretch in the 400 M dash.   She got the edge with fifteen meters left and held on to place second place in 1:07.1. After sitting out last year because of a basketball injury it was a sweet feeling to qualify for the first time.   In the boys’ race, Chevy Henneman found himself  behind coming off the final curve.  He battled to the lead coming down the stretch, loss it, and surged at the end to take a photo finish win in a slow time for him of 55.4.

Jon Christiansen made up for the disappointment of taking third in the triple jump as a freshman.  He had a career best of 41 feet 8 3/4 inches to place second to one of the best jumpers in the state from Wausau.

Dylan Hardeman raced to a second place finish in the 800 M run.  It was a three man race to finish and the senior had the fortitude to claim the second qualifying position with a time of 2:13.2.

The boys’ relays had one victory and one disappointment.  After a disastrous first hand off the 4×400 team had to play catch up to the team from Allen.  A strong  anchor leg by Chevy Henneman got the team the lead with 60 meters to go.  They won in  3:44.0.  The team  included Jon Christiansen, Benny Estrada, and Dylan Hardeman.  The same foursome had lined up the race before, the 4×100,  and lost to Randolph as the Cardinal anchor edged out Chevy by one tenth of a second.   The Cougars’ time was 47.4.

Northeast had several place in non qualifying places.  Madie Ronnfeldt took fourth in the 100M with a time of 13.3.  Cierra French took fifth in the 400M in 1:09.4 and added a fifth in the 200M with clocking of  28.7.  In the 1600M, Sophia Henneman placed fourth in 6:25.9 and Tessie Collins added a fifth with a 6:38.1.  The 4×100 Relay took third in 55.3.  French, Haskell, Ronnfeldt, and Wakeley made carries.

The shot put supplied eleven points  with Darcey in third with a 33 feet 10 1/4 inch toss.  Libby Henneman got fourth with a 33 feet 4 inch effort, and Abby P added a sixth at 32 feet 9 inches.  Kelley Wakeley placed third in the triple jump with a best mark of 31 feet 9 inches.

The Cougar boys got a third in the 400 M by Benny Estrada.  He timed at 59.2.  Jon Christiansen took fourth in the 200M with a 24.4   Joey O’Connor added a sixth in the 3200m run.  His time was 12:17.4