String of firsts lifts Bison boys track to Zorn title

GOTHENBURG -- Through the first 10 events at the Dutch Zorn Invitational Saturday at Gothenburg, the McCook High School boys track team had not yet garnered a first-place finish.

However, the Bison reeled off six wins in the final seven events to easily outdistance the host Swedes 161-104.

Chase County-Imperial was third with 85 points.

The McCook girls placed third with 90 points. Lexington won the girls team title with 188 points, followed by Gothenburg with 102. Chase County was sixth with 36 points.

"From top to bottom I felt that our kids really stepped it up, and of course the great weather really contributed to our improvements," said McCook boys track coach John Gumb.

"We once again were trailing Gothenburg after the morning session just like last week in Broken Bow."

The 1-2 finish in the 110 Meter High Hurdles by Jeremy Young and John Swanhorst to start the afternoon session pretty much erased the morning deficit.

That was followed by another 1-2 finish by Brendan Liess and Tony Purvis in the very next event -- the 100 meter dash.

"From there, our lead just kept increasing with good depth and solid performances by our sprint, hurdle and distance crews," Gumb said.

For the second week in a row, a McCook athlete won a special award.

The Zorn Invitational gives a special medal to the winner of the 200-meter dash in memory of former Swede Danny Nichols.

This week senior Derek Ruppert took that medal home for the Bison in a winning time of 23 seconds flat.

Ruppert also ran a career best time of 51.3 seconds in the 400 meters to finish second to Chase County's Matt May, who won the race with a time of 50.7.

All three Bison relay teams posted season-best marks.

The 400 relay consisting of Liess, Purvis, Jeff Klug and Ruppert broke the meet record with a time of 43.3 seconds.

The 1600 relay won easily with a Class B leading time of 3:28.0, led by Liess who "set the track on fire" with his finishing split of 49.3 seconds.

He was joined in his efforts on that relay by sophomore Craig Fritz, Purvis and Swanhorst.

Seniors Ted Chancellor, Brandon Park and Jeff Lyster all recorded personal bests in their respective events at Gothenburg.

Josh Cherry was the final event winner for the Bison.

He won the 1600 meter run in a season-best time of 4:41.2 against an outstanding field of runners.

"We just had so many kids do well this week that it is hard to do them all justice in the time and space that we have here," Gumb said.

Also posting a first-place effort for the Chase County boys was Scott Ohlson, who won the 3200 with a time of 10:10.3. He was also third in the 1600 at 4:45.

Placing second for the Longhorns were Abel Hinojosa, shot put, 51-4; Trey Boggs, 800, 2:07.7; and the 1600 relay, 3:34.

Placing third were the 3200 relay, 8:35.6; Nathan Gaswick, 300 hurdles, 42.1; and the 400 relay, 45.9.

Rebecca Rawlings brought home the lone first-place medal for the Bison girls. She won the 1600 race with a time of 5:53.6.

Kim Miller placed second in the shot put at 37-7 and discus at 119-1. She moved up to fourth on the school's all-time list in the shot put.

Sarah Craw cleared 8-6 in the pole vault for second place, and moved into second place on the school's all-time list.

Also placing second were Katherine Morell, 200-meter dash, 26.7; and the 4x100 relay of Amy Beckenhauer, Morell, Brianna Ward and Austin Wilson, who were clocked at 52.4.

Placing third were Ashlee Huffman, discus, 112-6; the mile medley relay team of Erica Clapp, Ward, Adrianna Hagan and Julia Lyons, 4:44.8; and the 4x400 relay of Jillian Bryant, Courtney Carter, Meghan Ecker and Rawlings, who posted a personal record of 10:57.1.

Beckenhauer was fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.6.

Allison Smith finished sixth in the shot put with a personal record of 34-8.

Bryant was sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 31-8.

"Highlights of the meet were a number of our athletes who improved by leaps and bounds," said McCook girls track coach Steve Clapp.

"Leading the list was Rebecca Rawlings, winner of the 1600 meters, who after three years of running finally won a distance event in a major invitational.

"Rebecca broke through the pain barrier and improved by 25 seconds.

"This was a major step for our distance crew in our goals for improvement in this area.

"Other major improvements were freshman Sarah Craw in the pole vault, Kim Miller and Allison Smith in the shot put, Amy Beckenhauer in the 200 and our 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams who all recorded PRs for the day.

"As we move into the last half of our season, we are starting to become competitive in a lot more areas."

Placing first for the Chase County girls was Jamie Lines, who won the 3200 with a time of 13:01.2.

Third-place finishers for the Longhorn girls were Nicole Longan, 13:06.7; and Tiffany Regier, triple jump, 32-11 1/2.

Friday, the Bison JV will compete in the Hayes Center Invitational.

The varsity teams will travel to Kearney for a 10 a.m. start in the Don Bader Invitational Track Meet.

DUTCH ZORN INVITATIONAL

Gothenburg

Saturday, April 16

McCook and Chase County results

BOYS TEAM SCORES

McCook 161

Gothenburg 104

Chase County 85

Kearney JV 72

Lexington 72

Ogallala 67

Kearney Catholic 6

Long jump

4.Brandon Park MHS 19-3 1/2

Discus

5.Zach Volquardsen MHS 133-8

6.Jeff Lyster MHS 133-0

3200

3.Chase County 8:35.6

4.McCook 8:42.3

Pole vault

2.Mason Pohl MHS 13-0

5.David Swisher 12-0

400

1.Matthew May CC 50.7

2.Derek Ruppert MHS 51.3

4.Taylor May CC 53.1

6.Rony Sieperda CC 56.6

3200

1.Scott Ohlson CC 10:10.3

3.Shawn McMurtrey MHS 10:19.4

Shot put

2.Abel Hinojosa CC 51-4

Triple jump

2Ted Chancellor MHS 40-10 1/2

5.Brandon Park MHS 38-10

6.Gabe Lenners CC 37-4

High jump

3.Michael Sinclair MHS 5-11

Mile medley relay

4.McCook 3:58.9

5.Chase County 4:05.3

100 hurdles

1.Jeremy Young MHS 15.5

2.John Swanhorst MHS 15.7

5.Gabe Lenners CC 16.2

6.Michael Sinclair MHS 16.4

100

1.Brendan Liess MHS 11.0

2.Tony Purvis MHS 11.1

6.Cole Fitzke CC 11.7

800

2.Trey Boggs CC 2:07.7

4.Steven Hanna CC 2:09.3

6.Austin Fagot MHS 2:10.7

300 hurdles

2.John Swanhorst MHS 41.4

3.Nathan Gaswick CC 42.1

4.Michael Sinclair MHS 42.5

5.Jeremy Young MHS 43.7

200

1.Derek Ruppert MHS 23.0

3.Craig Fritz MHS 23.8

5.Jeff Klug MHS 24.0

1600

1.Josh Cherry MHS 4:41.2

3.Scott Ohlson CC 4:45.0

4.Shawn McMurtrey MHS 4:45.3

1600 relay

1.McCook 3:28

2.Chase County 3:34

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

Lexington 188

Gothenburg 102

McCook 90

Kearney Catholic 69

Ogallala 51

Chase County 36

Kearney JV 33

Long jump

6.Celeste Pankonin MHS 4-9

Shot put

2.Kim Miller MHS 37-7

6.Allison Smith MKS 34-8

3200 relay

4.McCook 10:57.1

6.Chase County 12:00.4

3200

1.Jamie Lines CC 13:01.2

3.Nicole Longan CC 13:06.7

Triple jump

3.Tiffany Regier CC 32-11 1/2

4.Katherine Morell MHS 32-11 1/2

5.Sybil Carman CC 32-7 1/2

6.Jillian Bryant MHS 31-8

Discus

2.Kim Miller MHS 119-1

3.Ashlee Huffman MHS 112-6

6.Marie Sieperda CC 109-0

Mile medley relay

3.McCook 4:44.8

6.Chase County 5:06.3

100 hurdles

4.Amanda Poppe CC 17.1

100

2.Katherine Morell MHS 12.7

Pole vault

2.Sarah Craw MHS 8-6

200

2.Katherine Morell MHS 26.7

5.Amy Beckenhauer MHS 28.6

1600

1.Rebecca Rawlings MHS 5:53.6

400 relay

2.McCook 52.4

6.Chase County 56.3

1600 relay

3.McCook 4:22.3