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Trojan, Tigers coach talk about team victories
BENKELMAN, Neb. — Change in her pockets and an afternoon puzzle are more than enough to keep Margo Kent entertained during most track-field meets.
“We have all the pieces to the puzzle,” Kent declared about the Cambridge High girls. “And they are fitting well together.”
Indeed. Grab a cup of coffee, stand back and watch the Cambridge girls connect for an awesome 209 team points on Tuesday.
The Trojans more than doubled top contender Sutherland (101) while winning their second invite of this early 2021 spring season.
Team scores and top four area placers at the Dundy County-Stratton Track-Field Invitational on Tuesday.
“We won the Wilcox-Hildreth Invite (recently) with only two first place finishes, but a plethora of fourth, fifth and sixth places,” the coach explained. “We talk often about ‘nickel and diming’ our way into team honors and individual awards.”
Yet there wasn’t much small change on Tuesday as the Trojans captured NINE event victories.
Paige Sickels showed why Kent calls her “a top-notch sprinter” with 100 and 200-dash titles.
Freshman Jalen Kent won the 800 while Trojans owned those 1600, 1600-relay and 3200-relay races.
“The key to our success comes down to two things: the girls’ work ethic and our ability to cover multiple events,” coach Kent confirmed.
Perhaps there’s no better example of Cambridge versatility than junior Autumn Deterding.
A.D. ran her fastest 300-meter hurdles then also won the pole vault and triple jump.
Coach praised all her Trojans for contributing to this strong effort.
Brenna Deterding, Leah Downer, Breelle Miller, Kori Koeppen and Megan tenBensel were all part of Trojan championships on Tuesday.
“We are small on numbers, but have a well-rounded team which is adding to our success,” she concluded.
Chloe Besler, Ali Webb and Jordan Cross are among other Trojans to watch during these upcoming invites.
Results from DC-S were all posted on mccookgazette.com Wednesday and also appear in today's McCook Gazette print edition.
New DC-S boys coach Sam Cahow also provided these remarks about his Tigers' championship on Tuesday. They scored 150 points to outdistance Cambridge (130) and Southwest (128) among the six schools competing.
:Travis (Sandberg) and Serbando (Diaz) did well in their hurdles- Serbando getting a season record in the 300 hurdles and Travis a season record in the 110 hurdles. Serbando got a little rest yesterday as we filled our relays with mostly Sophomores (which is quite the sprightly group) and one junior, which allowed him to focus his energy on the hurdles and 100 meters which he took second.
Travis earned himself a personal best yesterday in pole vault where he vaulted 11' 6". This is quite the feat for him as he's only been able to practice vault once or twice per week, with no true pole vault coach to assist him here in the early season. I will try to help him, but I am continuing to learn all the intricacies and nuances of the event. A lot of it is him using film and past experiences to make the necessary corrections to get where he's needed and thankfully, he did have a vault coach yesterday.
Lincoln (Waters) had a great day yesterday in both the open 400 and open 800. He has also been a regular on our 1600 and 3200 meter relays, so taking a break from that has allowed him to showcase his talents in those races. Wind was a huge factor as we were completing these races yesterday as the wind was constantly blowing 20-30 MPH so that had a big impact on times. Lincoln still got out there and left it all on the track in those races taking 3rd and 1st respectively. The same story goes for Corbin (Horner) in the 400. He's such a powerful runner, I believe that really helped him against those winds on the back stretch of the track.
The relays were interesting as we switched our order around and added some new people to the relays. A couple of the handoffs were a little shaky and almost got DQ'd on the 4x1, but were still able to pull it off!
One other thing I would like to mention is the number of personal bests we have had this year. There is only a small handful of students, if any, who have not yet achieved a personal best. Additionally, most of these students have had multiple bests over the course of the season so far, some getting a personal best at practically every meet. The kids are grateful to have a track season and are ecstatic for the opportunity to get out and compete, especially since COVID took our season last year. These are a great group of athletes and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season with these kids and hopefully a trip to Burke!"