RHS athletes compete at L&C Track meet
HARTINGTON — The Randolph High School track teams ventured to Hartington Saturday for the 2021 Lewis & Clark Conference meet and came away with some performances to be proud of.
Overall, the girls finished 11th and the boys took 14th, but the Cardinals and head coach Ted Stubbs finished with plenty to talk about.
The top performances for the Lady Cardinals came by way of Keeley Pinkelman (fourth, 100 meters, 13.21; seventh, 400 meters, 1:06.21; seventh, long jump, 5-04), Ella Scott (sixth, 300 hurdles, 55.41) and 4x100 relay (seventh, 57.24) and the boys were sparked by Justin Haselhorst (fourth, triple jump, 39-08; fifth, 100 meters, 11.45) and Alex Heiman (sixth, 110 hurdles, 18.41).
Not bad after an earlier meet in Creighton also saw Pinkelman continue her torrid senior year.
“Keely Pinkelman scored 32 points in the 100 (first), 200 and 400 (second in each) and long jump (third),” Stubbs said. “It was her first time running the 200 this season. Bailey Beal won her first gold medal of her high school career, winning the long jump with a 15-7.
Stubbs is looking forward to the District meet.
“The postseason will shape up if we can get some extra qualifiers at the District track meet. All of the events we have good marks in-there are several girls ahead of our marks,” he said.
As Pinkelman continues her excellence, Beal has also raised plenty of eyebrows.
So has the freshman Scott who did her fair share of turning heads at the conference meet. Scott competes in the hurdles as well as runs anchor in the 4x100 relay.
“It’s pretty fun, but obviously nerve wracking,” Scott said. “Every meet I get nervous, but then afterward it feels really good. I did these events in junior high too, but then we took a year off last year, obviously.”
Scott noted improvement from her first to second meet and that’s when things began to trend in a positive direction for the young Lady Cardinal. In the 300 hurdles she knocked off over four seconds and that gave her a mark to work from.
“I needed to go faster between the hurdles because that’s what speeds me up and when I can go past people,” Scott said. “Even if my form is not the greatest, I can still keep up because I can keep passing in between.”
Scott credits her older brother, Noah (Class of 2019), who is now at Wayne State University for football.
“He is a big aspect in my athletic life, and he has a lot of meal plans and everything,” Scott said. “He was also a hurdler in high school. Sometimes after practice I will come home, and he’ll take me down to the track to work on my hurdle form.
“Alex is a good help with hurdles too – he helps me with my form and everything. Coach Stubbs is really helpful with everything too. Keely has also really stepped it up and helped me out.”
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