McCook boys track team 3rd at GNAC

COLUMBUS -- McCook High School brought home five league titles from the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference track meet Saturday on a rainy, cold day at Columbus.

The Bison boys claimed four league titles, including two by Carl Fritz, who won the long jump and triple jump.

Fritz long jumped 21 feet, 3 1/2 inches and triple jumped a career-best 43-11 3/4 -- good fourth on the state track chart.

He outperformed a trio of Kearney athletes ranked toward the top of Class A.

McCook also won the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays. The 4x100 relay of Trent Lyons, Ben Klug, Krae Dutoit and Brendan Liess was clocked at 44.7 seconds.

The 4x400 relay of Derek Ruppert, Liess, Dutoit and Klug was clocked in 3 minutes, 32.46 seconds.

Lisa Friehe brought home the Bison girls' lone league crown with a first-place finish in the discus. She posted a mark of 127-9.

Kearney won the GNAC boys title for the 17th time in 18-year history of the conference.

The Bearcats scored 183 points, followed by Norfolk 111, McCook 74, Lexington 49, Scottsbluff 48, Columbus 25, North Platte 24 and Hastings 13.

Norfolk ran away with the girls team title with 157 points. Second-place Lexington placed second with 88, followed by Kearney 86, Scottsbluff 61, Columbus 56, North Platte 36, McCook 27 and Hastings 16.

In addition to the 4x100 gold medal, Lyons equaled his season-best mark in the pole vault. He cleared 13 feet to place fifth overall.

"Trent did an outstanding job filling in on the 400-meter relay as Kyle Bedore was once again experiencing some leg problems," said McCook boys track coach John Gumb. "We really put him on the spot and he came through for us big time in a very difficult situation.

"In the 4x400 relay, senior Krae Dutoit (who ran the third leg) took the baton with a 10-meter deficit staring at him in the face.

"But he ran what I felt was his strongest leg of the season as he made up the distance and handed the baton off to anchorman Ben Klug with a five-meter lead.

"Ben was more than up to the task as held off the Scottsbluff runner to preserve the win. Ben and Krae certainly showed their maturity and determination today.

"They took care of themselves in the bad weather throughout the day and when it was their turn to compete, they were really ready."

The GNAC meet always seems to bring out the best in the athletes despite the weather, Gumb said.

Last year, McCook's Aaron Plas set a state record in the high jump by clearing 7-2.

Kearney High School's Colby Wissel astounded the wet and frigid crowd as he ran the 3200 meters in a time of 9:03.09, which is the fastest time ever run by a Nebraska high school athlete.

"It was in a downpour and you could see every breath he took due to the cold conditions," Gumb said.

All three Bison 3200 runners established season-best marks for the second meet in a row. Jeremiah Herron, Andrew Yeager and Shawn McMurtrey placed 3-5-7 with times of 9:59.7, 10:00.2 and 10:11.6.

Senior Nolan Brown finished third in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.62.

Liess, a freshman, finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a season-best mark of 22.7 seconds.

Liess and Bedore finished 4-6 in the 100-meter dash with times of 11.11 and 11.34.

Ruppert was fourth in the 400 with a time of 52.5.

Yeager was sixth in the 1600 with a time of 4:45.19.

Stuart Frazier and Nate Reicks placed 7-8 in the discus with throws of 141-7 and 141-5.

Ross Jones placed eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.42.

In addition to Friehe's first-place effort in the girls discus, the McCook girls 4x100-meter relay of Heather Goff, Katherine Morell, Michelle Gaunt and Denae Owens placed third with a time of 52.98.

Placing fourth were Sunee Haney, pole vault (10 feet) and Maggie Jones, 400 (63.96).

Placing sixth were Amanda Bennett, high jump (5 feet); the 4x800 relay of Meghan Ecker, Julia Lyons, Rebecca Rawlings and Monica Horkey (11:15.79) and Morell, 200 (27.16), Placing seventh were Goff, 200 (28.37); Bennett, 300 hurdles (51.14) and Courtney Moore, high jump (4-10).

Melissa Ankersen placed eighth in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 32-1.

Posting personal-best efforts, but not placing were Rawlings, pole vault (8-0); Horkey, 1600 (6:18) and Kristi Corder, 100-meter high hurdles (17.6).

"Besides having more competition than any meet all season, the weather really didn't cooperate," said McCook girls track coach Jim Steinke.

The Bison boys and girls track teams will compete at the Class B-6 District Meet Thursday at Ogallala.