Four Cougars Qualify for State in Track

Tessie Collins and Vanessa Peterson set the pace during the last lap of the 1600M. Photo Credit/Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor.

Lyons -Decatur hosted the D-3 District track meet on May 14 and the Cougars made a good showing as the Boys  finished in fourth place and the Girls took fifth. Northeast  had competitors in seven events qualify for State competition.

Darcy Simonsen made sure of a return to Burke Stadium with a big throw of 125 feet on her second attempt.  This exceeded the automatic qualifying standard by eleven feet.  Darcy held first place until the final round.  She had another good throw of over 124 feet on her final attempt.  Darcey’s second place means a second trip to State for the junior thrower.

After missing out on qualifying as a junior Taylor Fuston was hungry to get back to Omaha.  Taylor took the lead in the Long Jump with a 20 fee 6 inch mark in the prelims.  He was bumped out of the lead in the finals, but came up with a mark of 20 feet 11.25 inches on his last jump just short of first place.

Taylor ran only his second open 400 M dash race at districts.  Though seeded second, the senior used a surge down the homes stretch to claim a win over a HSF runner whose seed mark was two seconds better than Taylor’s.   His time of 53.2 was a personal record.  This is the third time Fuston has qualified in the 400.

Four Cougar athletes qualified for State for the first time.  Kelly Wakeley used the qualifying standards mark to earn her way to the  NSAA meet.  The freshman finished third in the triple jump competition, however, her mark of 34 feet 1.5 inches exceeded the standard by three inches.

Sophomore Libby Henneman threw her best at Districts and beat a Mead thrower who had a two foot advantage in seeding.  Libby had a 35 foot throw.  This personal record was good enough for a second place finish.

Chevy Henneman made his first year of track competition a good one.  The junior runner finished second in the 100M dash.  He was off his best time of the year, but his 11.8 earned his s place at State.  Henneman finished third in the 200M dash in 24.4.

Tessie Collins took the gold in the 1600 M run.  She and Vanessa Peterson carried the pace for three and half laps.  Tessie fought off a challenge from a Scribner-Snyder runner to win in 6:20.6.

Jon Christiansen saved his best for his last attempt in the triple jump.  He moved up to third place with a personal best of 41 feet 4 inches.  Jon’s cousin, Madie Ronnfeldt had a personal best in the girl’s triple jump. She took sixth with a leap of 31 feet 11 inches.

Vanessa Peterson had her best day in the discus.  A toss of 104 feet got her fifth place.  Her sister , Abby, came up with as personal record in the shot.  She won he sixth place medal with a 31 foot 9 inch heave.

Vanessa had a disappointing finish in the 1600M run.  A pace setter through three laps, she faded down the stretch and finished in third place in 6:35.6.

Dylan Hardeman added a third in the 300 hurdles.  His time was 48.2.

Two freshmen earned District medals.  Joey O’Connor took fourth in the 3200M run with time of 11:43.4  Bren Shatto ran 2:30.7 in the 800M and placed in sixth.

The boys had three relays earn points.  A botched handoff cost the 400 relay precious time as they took fourth in 47.30.  Jon Christiansen, Chevy Henneman, David Bishop and Taylor Fuston were teammates.

Henneman, Bishop, Fuston and Dylan Hardeman ran the 4×400 relay in 3:48 and placed second.

Hardeman team with his brother Tyler and Alec Anderson and David Bishop for a second place 4×800 team.  They had as time of 9:39.8.

Final Team Scoring

Boys

HSF                             181

Howells-Dodge            102.5

Scribner-Snyder           78

Lyons-Decatur             71

Cedar Bluffs                 41.5

Mead                           37

Walthill                        8

Omaha Nation              0

Bancroft -Rosalie          0

Girls

HSF                             152

Howells-Dodge            98

Scribner-Snyder           97

Mead                           61

Lyons-Decatur             42

Cedar Bluffs                 33

Bancroft-Rosalie           32

Omaha Nation             0

Walthill                         0