Boys’ team includes, back row: Kaysen Maertins (left), Hudson Schultze, Hunter Beacom, Bryan Solorzano, Spencer Hille, James Doyle, Hunter Buchanan, Xander Brown, Caleb Miller; middle row: Bradee Gubbels, Owen Severson, Ryan Schmit, Kaden Polt, Matthew

Boys are champs at Neligh-Oakdale; girls fifth

NELIGH — On Tuesday, April 13, Osmond traveled to Neligh for their invitational. Cool and breezy, the usual track meet day so far this season made competition tough, but Tiger tracksters collected nine first places.

Boys and girls won the 1,600 meters and boys also won the shot put, triple jump, 300 hurdles, 400 meters, 800 meters, 3,200-relay and 1,600-relay. In some events, the Tigers placed two or three athletes.

In order of shortest to longest races, Connor Gutz finished second in the 100 meters in a time of 12.0. Kaden Polt placed third in the 110 high hurdles in 18.2. In the 200 meters, Bodie True took fourth place in 24.6 and Zach Huwaldt placed sixth in 24.8 after winning a run-off for the last position in the finals.

In a wild finish to the 300 hurdles, Spencer Hille edged out Kaden Polt for first place after the leader, Derek Hahne of Elkhorn Valley, caught the last hurdle and fell. Spencer’s time was 45.5, Kaden’s time 45.6, while Hahne did place third and Tiger Owen Severson finished sixth in 48.2.

Connor Gutz won the 400 meters in his fastest time of 54.8 and Johnson Chishiba won the 800 meters in 2:13.4 after a rough start where there was a lot of contact on the first curve. Teammate Ryan Schmit finished sixth in his fastest time ever of 2:18.7.

The 1,600 meters was a strong event for the Tigers and probably the event that got Osmond the lead in the team standings for good. Graysen Schultze and Johnson Chishiba took the top spots early in the race, but both sprinted to the finish line. After discussion at the finish, it was determined that Graysen edged Johnson for top spot and Karter Johnson finished fifth. Graysen’s time was 5:11.1, Johnson’s time 5:11.2 and Karter ran his fastest time ever of 5:17.0.

The 400-relay team of Connor Gutz, Brenden Gillespie, Bodie True and Zach Huwaldt placed third in 48.7. The 1,600-relay team won the event in 3:45.5. Team members were Bodie True, Johnson Chishiba, Graysen Schultze and Connor Gutz.

The 3,200-relay team also took first place by nearly 40 seconds. Johnson Chishiba, Ryan Schmit, Karter Johnson and Graysen Schultze covered the distance in 8:58.2.

In the field, Zach Huwaldt won the shot put with a toss of 42 ft., 4 in. Graysen Schultze won the triple jump with a mark of 40 ft., 0 in. and Bradee Gubbels was fifth at 38 ft., .5 in. Spencer Hille was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5 ft., 5 in. and made the finals of the long jump but did not place. Kayson Maertins made the finals of the discus, but did not place.

Grace Gansebom placed third in the 100 meters in 14.2 and finished third in the 200 meters in 29.3. Elisa Herrera finished in fourth place in the 800 meters. Her time was 2:54.2.

Cali Gutz won the 1,600 meters in a nice time of 6:07.6. She again took the lead early and never gave it up. The 1,600-relay team finished in fourth place under the lights. Riley Wagner, Erica Heiman, Grace Gansebom, and Cali Gutz covered the distance in 4:44.1.

Earlier, the 3,200-relay team placed second in a very good race. The team had the lead until the last curve before Elkhorn Valley slipped past the Tigers. Their time was 11:47.5 and team members were Cali Gutz, Riley Wagner, Elisa Herrera and Lexi Beacom.

In the field, Grace Gansebom took third place in the long jump with a leap of 13 ft., 10.5 in. Kiera Moes made the finals but did not place. Kiera did place fifth in the triple jump with a very nice mark of 31 ft., .5 in. Macy Aschoff made the finals of the discus, but did not place.

“We really did a nice job of competing event by event, even though it was breezy, cool and dark by the time the last events were run,” noted Coach Joe Ortmeier. “Our kids show a lot of character and toughness.”

Girls’ Scores

Niobrara-Verdigre................ 118

Plainview............................. 117

Elkhorn Valley.......................97

HLHF....................................63

Osmond.................................46

Neligh-Oakdale.....................46

EPPJ......................................20

Madison.................................17

Boys’ Scores

Osmond...............................131

Elkhorn Valley.....................122