Holt County Tracksters Earn Medals At State Meet

​Several Holt County track athletes brought home some hardware from this past weekend’s state track and field meet at Omaha Burke Stadium.

The West Holt boys, along with sophomore girl Kevona Brown, had a solid showing at the state meet.

The boys squad tied for fifth in the team standings with 26 points.

The Huskies opened Friday’s action by taking second in the 4x800 relay. The team of Kooper Jelinek, Aaron Kraus, Ben Thiele and Jordan Tasler finished with a time of 8:15.61 - a tenth of a second behind state champion Freeman (8:15.51).

“This was my first year running at state and I was super excited,” Thiele stated. “Kooper Jelinek PR’ed (personal record) with a 2:07 (in his leg), and that was great for him. That was super encouraging and watching us move up from there. We got the school record too. We’ve wanted that for a long time. It was the oldest record in our school. It’s super exciting.”

Tasler and Thiele then finished 1-2 in the triple jump. Tasler captured the state crown with a leap of 42-11.75, while Thiele went 41.10.5.

“It feels good,” Tasler noted. “It was a let down my first few years. I was fourth and third at districts and couldn’t quite make it here. It feels good to do it my last year. Coach said don’t be shy, hit the board and be aggressive. That’s what I did.”

“Getting to jump with Jordan this year, it was super exciting going one and two with him,” Thiele added. “Coaches have always stuck by us and have done a great job with us. I think they’re more excited than us right now.”

For the Lady Huskies, Brown placed in all three events she qualified for. The sophomore placed fourth in the 200 (26.29), sixth in the 100 (12.88) and seventh in the 400 (1:01.10).

“It was very nice,” Brown commented. “Last year, I came down in three (events) and medaled in two. It’s nice to be in three events and come away with three medals.”

Brown’s three medals at this year’s meet brings her total to five state medals over the past two seasons.

“It’s nice to know I’m up there with them (the top girls in the state) and can keep up with them,” Brown continued.

Other participants for the Huskies were Logan Wieneke in the 110 hurdles (16.10), Tasler in the 400 (52.97), Leighton Mlady in the discus (120-4), Carlie Wetzel in the 3200 (13:18.79) and the 4x400 relay team of Rumen Rentschler, Thiele, Kraus and Tasler (3:32.91).

In Class D, St. Mary’s junior Abby Everitt earned three medals this past weekend, placing second in the high jump after clearing 5-3, fifth in the 200 with a time of 26.85 and sixth in the long jump with a leap of 16-9. Everitt also finished ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 33-8. Sophomore Faith Williamson finished third in the 800 with a time of 2:27.27 and was ninth in the 1600 (5:45.2). On the boys’ side, Cole Rosenkrans was ninth in the discus with a toss of 119-2, Grant Winkelbauer ran a 2:11.91 in the 800 and Grady Semin ran a 52.49 in the 400 and a 23.84 in the 200.

Chambers/Wheeler Central’s Taylor Peter finished fifth in the discus with a toss of 114-6. Peter also participated in the shot put and was 12th with a heave of 33-2.5.  

Ewing’s Tiana Thramer placed seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 33-10.75. Sidney Stallbaum ran a 49.46 in the 300 hurdles.

For Stuart, the 4x100 relay team of Jeff Kunz, Grant Pease, Wade Paxton and Wyatt Paxton finished seventh in the event with a time of 45.77. 

Other Bronco participants included Grant Pease in the 100 (11.73), Wyatt Paxton in the 400 (53.65) and 200 (23.68), Austin Dvorak cleared 5-8 in the high jump, Kira Dickau ran in the 3200 (13:33.4) and 1600 (6:15.17), and Reaghan Engel participated in the 100 (13.16), 400 (1:02.36) and 200 (27.47).

In Class B, O’Neill’s Kolby Dean tied for fifth in the pole vault after clearing 13-6 and Meg Schluns was eighth in the long jump after going 16-2.5. 

For the Eagles, Lauren Young finished 10th with a jump of 15-9.5 and 11th in the triple jump at 34-2.5, Blair Gutshall crossed the finish line at 16.0 in the 100 and 26.87 in the 200, Andrew Alder competed in the pole vault, Francisco Perez ran a 23.56 in the 200, while the 4x400 relay squad of Gutshall, Schluns, Claire Morrow and Alyssa Eichelberger was 12th with a time of 4:14.66.