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Strong Saturday effort lifts Bison boys to third at state track
OMAHA, Nebraska -- It might be hard to compile a highlight film for the McCook High School boys and girls track and field teams from the 2011 Nebraska State High School Track and Field Championships.
Not hard to find a long list of highlights, but rather which highlight or highlights to use to open, or end, the presentation.
The Bison squads enjoyed a successful trip to Omaha Friday and Saturday, May 20-21, in competition in the Class B divisions at the state meet at Burke High Stadium.
The McCook boys finished third in the final team standings, their best finish since a runner-up effort in the 2006 state Class B team standings, according to head coach Tom Sughroue. The Bison also claimed an individual Class B gold medal, as junior Matt Chitwood won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 9 inches.
Boys Town, as expected ran away with this year's Class B boys title, scoring 65.5 points. Aurora was second with 46 points, five points ahead of the Bison. Blair was fourth with 30 points, and McCook's southwest Nebraska rival Gothenburg was fifth with 29 points.
The McCook boys had a struggle Friday in the preliminary running events. Senior Cody Goltl missed berths in the finals in both hurdle races, and sophomore Jake Schlager was called for a false start in the 100-meter dash, missing a chance to run for a spot in Saturday's finals.
Austin Cherry did qualify for the 400 finals, and the sophomore got the Bison off to a strong start in what would prove to be a bright Saturday for McCook.
Competitors are placed in heats for state meet races by virtue of their respective performances in the six Class B districts meets held a week earlier.
Cherry battled a tough wind on the home track May 13 in the B-6 District 800-meter run, and he ran several seconds slower than his season-best time of 1 minute, 58.4 seconds. That placed Austin in the slow heat for Saturday morning's state 800.
All Cherry did Saturday was run the second-fastest 800 in McCook school history, winning the heat in 1:56.194, with a push from Richard Burke of Mitchell who was second in 1:57.024. Austin just missed the McCook school record of 1:55.38 set by his older brother, former Kansas State place kicker Josh Cherry, set at the 2006 state meet.
Austin sweated through the second heat of the 800. The clock wound past 1:50 as Anton Rice of Omaha Gross ran down the homestretch. Rice was timed in 1:56.047, just nipping Cherry for first place. Austin settled for second, and Burke of Mitchell was third overall.
Early boost Saturday morning
Bison head boys coach Tom Sughroue said Cherry's run likely gave the rest of his teammates a boost in Saturday's competition.
It just seems like we've done that all year long," Sughroue said. "We've had a little success in one place, and it's kind of a domino effect into the next events."
That success continued on the track in the 400-meter relay. The McCook quartet of Schlager, Chitwood, Brad Baumbach and Cody Goltl ran seventh in 44.082 seconds.
Senior Kyle Craw and Chitwood also earned medals in a tough pole vault event. Craw cleared 14 feet, 10 inches, just short of his school record mark of 15-0, to place third. Chitwood matched his career best by clearing 14 feet even and placed eighth.
Craig Driver of Minden went 15-6 to win the Class B vault, and Beau Simmons of Aurora went 15-2 for second place.
Cherry went to the track again Saturday afternoon in the 400-meter dash finals. He qualified with a time of 50.793 seconds in Friday's prelims, then he ran a 51.064 Saturday to place sixth.
Pate's great run
Sophmore Trevor Pate later turned in one of the best 1,600-meter run times in Bison history. Pate stayed with the leaders all four laps of the race, and he crossed the finish line on the fourth and final lap with a time of 4 minutes, 32.536 seconds to place fifth. Coach Sughroue said Pate's time was over 10 seconds better than his previous personal best.
Chitwood had a strong series in the long jump competition late Saturday afternoon. He had several jumps over 22 feet, and claimed first place with his best mark of the day, 22-9, about four inches under his career-best.
Chitwood finished the year unbeaten in the long jump.
"Every time he jumped he won," Sughroue said. "That doesn't happen very often."
Schlager also earned a long jump medal with his sixth-place mark of 21 feet, 1 1/4 inches.
Strong relay run
The Bison ended the day with another strong run in the 1,600 relay. The team of Cody Wudtke, Chitwood, senior Brad Baumbach and Cherry finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:26.343. Cherry and Sidney's Chase Frerichs battled down the stretch in the second heat, as Frerichs outleaned the Bison sophomore at the line. Sidney's third-place time was 3:26.257.
Grand Island Northwest and Lexington, running in the first heat, went 1-2 with respective times of 3:25.249 and 3:25.955.
Goltl ran 15.799 seconds in the 110 high hurdle prelims Friday, not fast enough to make Saturday's finals. He also ran a 41.295 in the 300 hurdles, 10th fastest in the prelims to just miss a Saturday finals berth.
Austin Bishop, a senior, competed in the discus. His best effort of 139 feet, 4 inches was 14th overall in Class B.
Strong again next year
Sughroue will say goodbye to a strong group of seniors. But he knows there is a wealth of talent returning next year.
"You hate to see seniors go," he said. "You've worked with them for so many years to get them to that particular point and you want to see them finish that way. When you let them go, they move on, and you hope your younger kids step up and fill those roles.
"Right now, it looks like we have a lot of young kids that are going to step up and fill some awfully big holes for us, and I think we're going to be a very competitive team again next year."