BAYARD, Neb. – The Lingle-Fort Laramie boys track team secured a seventh-place finish in the team race at the Bayard CD Invitational on Thursday, with the Lady Doggers finishing 18th.
“The weather was not as nice as we had hoped it would be, so performances suffered a bit from that,” coach Mike Lashley said. “We were a bit shorthanded, as we held some of our athletes out this meet.”
Landen Fuller had a solid weekend for the Doggers. He picked up the silver in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.35 seconds, just behind fellow Goshen County runner Chase Lovercheck (Southeast), who had a time of 51.89 seconds. Fuller secured the third-place finish in the 800, clocking a time of 2:03.43.
Rhett Greenwald also snagged a silver on the day, clearing 11 feet in the pole vault to take second. On the track, he finished eighth in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 19.60 seconds. In the 1600, Kelly Peterson finished with a time of 5:13.10, earning him sixth.
“I was pleased that, on an individual basis, we did have a handful of athletes record solid performances in the blustery weather,” Lashley said. “Landen and Rhett scored well for the second consecutive week and Kelly Peterson ran a pretty solid 1600.”
Hayden Hill was the final individual to finish in the top-eight, dropping his prelim time of 12.60 seconds in the 100 to 12.10 seconds in the finals, earning seventh.
L-FL’s 400-meter relay team picked up the bronze in Bayard, with Greenwald, Cooper Hill, Hayden Hill, and Clay Colton combining to finish in 48.18 seconds.
The Dogger boys piled up 29 team points to finish seventh, narrowly edging out both Cody-Kilgore (26) and Garden County (25). Pine Bluffs won the top spot with 97 team points, ahead of Bridgeport’s 82 points. Bayard rounded out the top-three with 51 points.
Girls
Cora Frederick, Jenny Manus, Shelby Heilbrun and Jenna Kaufman combined for the best finish among the Lady Doggers, posting a time of 11:55.38 in the 3200-meter relay, finishing sixth.
“We were also pleased with our girls 4x800 time, considering it was their first race of the season,” Lashley said.
In L-FL’s other relay, Kaylan Maez joined forces with Kaufman, Heilbrun and Manus to take seventh in the 1600-meter relay with a time of 4:56.80.
Maez had a solid day on the track, finishing eighth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 56.68 seconds. She just missed the top-eight in both the 100-meter hurdles and pole vault.
Heilbrun and Jordyn Gaspers rounded out the Lady Doggers to find the top-eight, tying for seventh in the high jump after both of them cleared 4 feet, 6 inches.
L-FL’s 3200-meter relay team picked up the one point in the team standings to tie the Lady Doggers with Garden County for 18th place in the team race. Pine Bluffs took the lady’s team crown with 75 points, while Bridgeport and Bayard had a tight race for second and third, finishing with 59 and 53 points, respectively.
The Lingle-Fort Laramie track team reconvenes on the track Thursday for the Mitchell, Neb. Invite, before heading to the Wheatland Invitational on Saturday.
“As a team, we felt that we left several points out on the track that we should have scored,” Lashley said of last week’s action. “I think that all of our athletes would agree with me, and I am confident that we will hit the track this week with a renewed resolve. These kids have a tremendous work ethic and a great attitude. We will be a much better team in a few weeks.”
Others to compete but miss the top-eight include:
Boys
100-meter dash – 36, Cooper Hill, 14.57.
200 – 15, Clay Colton, 27.29; 21, Hayden Hill, 27.85.
Shot Put – 18, Rayden Alonzo, 34-5.5; 29, Elias Dodson, 30-8.
Discus – 41, Rayden Alonzo, 67-1; 44, Elias Dodson, 65-6.
Long Jump – 10, Hayden Hill, 18-2.5.
Girls
1600-meter run – Cora Frederick, 6:44.21.
3200 – Jenny Manus, 15:50.37.
100-meter hurdles – 9, Kaylan Maez, 20.40.
Shot Put – 11, Savannah Mirich, 29-4; 30, Emily Hatch, 21-11; 31, Kalli Nichol, 21-9.
Discus – 35, Emily Hatch, 52-4; 37, Shelly Ann Sorrick, 51-0.
High Jump – 13, Kalli Nichol, 4-0.
Pole Vault – 9, Kaylan Maez, 6-0.
Long Jump – 11, Jordyn Gaspers, 13-4.5.
Triple Jump – 14, Jordyn Gaspers, 28-5.
