Relays medal; school record bested at Norfolk Classic

NORFOLK — Thursday, April 29, was the 27th running of the Norfolk Classic Track meet. The Osmond Tigers were well represented and competed at a high level.

The boys’ relay teams ran the first event and the last event of the meet. The last race, the 1,600-relay, was an exceptional race. Osmond needed to reshuffle their line-up in part because of a leg injury to season-long lead-off man Bodie True.

Connor Gutz, the anchorman, started the race and had the Tigers in second or third place and Johnson Chishiba took the baton, running well and hanging on to fifth place in a pack as he handed off to new relay leg Spencer Hille.

Spencer ran a fine leg, keeping the team in contact with the pack, handing off to new anchorman Graysen Schultze.

On the final strait, Graysen passed Norfolk High and Norfolk Catholic runners to finish in fifth place in a time of 3:36.06.

This time bettered the 2016 mark of 3:36.97 set by Curtis Kralicek, Cole Moes, Brett Simmons and Caleb Krohn.

The first relay of the day did not have the suspense of the final race. Osmond’s leadoff runner, Johnson Chishiba, set the tone, sprinting out to an early second or third place, handing off to Ryan Schmit. Ryan got out very well and extended the lead over fourth place, handing off to Karter Johnson.

Karter ran a strong leg before passing the baton to Graysen Schultze, who closed the gap on second place Battle Creek, but could not run them down. The Tigers’ third-place time was 8:47.73, a season’s best.

Freshman Cali Gutz competed in the 1,600 meters for the Tigers. She ran a strong race, holding her own against the best runners in northeast Nebraska. Cali ran her best time ever of 5:57.85 for ninth place. She was just 2 seconds and change behind seventh and eighth place.

The first Osmond athlete to compete was Bradee Gubbels in the triple jump. Bradee’s best effort was 38 ft., 0 in. for eighth place. He was looking for something closer to his best mark of 40 ft., 5 in., but not on this day.

“I was very proud of all of our kids’ efforts,” noted Coach Joe Ortmeier. “Our kids compete against the top runners all season, so when we get to a big competition like this, they fit right in.”

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