Lady Vikes claim L&C Conference track title
HARTINGTON — The Wausa Lady Viking track team captured the Lewis and Clark track title Saturday.
You name it, the Wausa girls did it. They won. several events, earned several. runner-up finishes and when the day was over Wausa had earned a ton of medals and the championship trophy.
The Vikings squads left Hartington Saturday and the site of the Lewis & Clark Conference meet with the girls capturing the championship with a dominant 110 points while the nine-person boys teams secured a respectable sixth place with 46 points.
The champions Lady Vikings were spearheaded by point-scoring performances by Darla Nelson (first, 1,600 meters, 6:02.84; first, 3,200 meters, 13:19.10), Morgan Kleinschmit (first, shot put, 35-02; third, discus, 98-02), Alexa Cunningham (second, high jump, 4-11; fourth, long jump, 16-00.50; fifth, 200 meters, 28.04), Abrielle Nelson (second, 300 hurdles, 50.42; fifth, 400 meters, 1:04.12; fifth, 100 hurdles, 17.86), Christina Martinson (second, 800 meters, 2:38.31; sixth, 400 meters, 1:06.06; seventh, 1,600 meters, 6:35.32), Taylor Alexander (second, discus, 110-04), 4x400 relay (second, 4:30.43), 4x800 relay (second, 11:49.34) and Brooke Kumm (fifth, high jump, 4-06).
Lest not forget the boys who were carried to a strong finish with results from Tyler Baue (first, 300 hurdles, 43.55; third, 110 hurdles, 16.20), Jaxson Clausen (first, high jump, 6-00; sixth, long jump, 18-08), 4x400 relay (fourth, 3:49.20), Brandon Kristensen (third, 40-02.50, triple jump; seventh, 400 meters, 55.58; seventh, high jump, 5-06) and Cade Wakeley (eighth, 3,200 meters, 12:14.31) 4x100 relay (eighth, 49.14).
“What stood out positively is that both teams competed hard and found ways to score points,” Wausa head coach Greg Conn said. “For our girls, our depth really helps us, we may not win a lot of events but we score a lot in lower places that all adds up. Our boys do the same thing, we just find ways to score and then today end up in the top six.
“With only two weeks left in the season before the state track meet, I like where we are because we are scoring well in tough conditions and it really doesn’t seem to matter, we just keep improving or finding ways to score.”
The breakout performances continue to pop up for Conn as the junior Nelson continues her massive growth in the arena.
“Darla has really come to her own and in the last week or two she has really put in some solid performances and her confidence is sky high at this point in the season,” Conn said. “On Thursday, she qualified for the Northeast Nebraska Classic.
“Darla came in as the 12th qualifier in the 3,200 and finished fourth in a personal best time of 12:26.00 knocking off 32 seconds of her previous best.
“(At conference) winning both the 3,200 and 1,600 just gave her more confidence as it was extremely windy and 90 degrees.”
Addison Smith is one of the ‘Magnificent Nine’ Vikings boys who continue to give it their best despite the odds. He noted that the responsibility to step up is different since more events are needed to excel in to give the team a chance.
“We do more workouts and then there is the thought of how the team is doing,” Smith said. “There is a bigger focus in track because we have 17 events compared to just one in a sport like cross country.
“I think we are going to do pretty good if the guys keep their minds set on it and our attitudes stay the same.”
1) Wausa, 110
2) Tri County NE, 92
3) Bloomfield, 72.33
4) Ponca, 64.83
5) Plainview, 62.83
6) Wakefield, 57
7) Wynot, 52
8) Osmond, 35
9) Hartingtn-Newcstle 32.50
10) LCC, 31
11) Randolph 20
12) Creighton 16
13 ) Homer 12
14) Winside 4.50
Stay in the know!
To get news alerts on your cell phone, get the Cedar County News app in the ITunes store or in the Google Play Store.
