Tigers compete for just third time this spring

Falls City High School’s girls and boys track teams, competing for just the third time since practice began February 27, each finished in sixth place last Thursday at the 11-team Hiawatha, KS, Invitational.

Sabetha High School (KS) dominated the girls division with 170 points, which was 70 points better than second place Holton, KS. Riverside (KS) was third with 74 points, followed by Hiawatha (64), Pleasant Ridge, KS, (49), and the Lady Tigers (44).

Hosts Hiawatha tallied 135 points to claim the boys division. Sabetha was second with 97 points, followed by Riverside’s 92 points and Holton’s 84.5. Falls City earned 55.5 points.

Individually for the Lady Tigers, senior Claire Poppe had the best day as she captured gold in each of the girls’ hurdle events. Poppe held off Tyler Prine of Holton by 5-hundreths of a second in the 100-yard hurdles and then crossed the finish line in just over a half second faster than Syvannah Williams of Pleasant Ridge to win the 300 hurdles.

Senior Hailey Baxter took home third in the shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 10.5 inches; Lainey Larsen finished sixth in both the 1600 and 3200; Courtney Chapple earned fourth in the discus (90 feet, 11 inchtes), as did Hailey Cochran in the long jump (14 feet, 11.75 inches); Krystal Samqua was fifth in the pole vault (6 feet, 6 inches) and Allyson Scholl took home sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 31 feet.

The Lady Tiger’s throwers relay team consisting of Baxter, Chapple, and Morgan and Jordan Phroper finished third with a time of 1:08.37.

Tiger senior Cord Huettner earned the lone gold for the boys with his first-place finish in the shot put. Huettner’s heave of 47 feet, 9.25 inches was nearly two feet better than Trey Dishon of Horton. Zach Jordening finished third in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 8 inches. Huettner and Jordening were each state qualifiers in these events a year ago.

Lucas Kirkendall finished third in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles; Mitchell Harling (39 feet, 9.5 inches) and Lee Huettner (39 feet, 8.6 inches) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the triple jump; Morgen Valentine tied for fourth in the pole vault (8 feet, 6 inches); Tucker Merz finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 122 feet, 4 inches and Jordy Stoller was fifth in the 200 with a time of 25 seconds even; Jeremy Robinson was sixth in the 300 hurdles (49.77).

All four relay teams earned points for the Tigers with the throwers 400-meter team of Merz, Reese Hogue, Payton Adams and Lee Huettner taking home the best finish – third – of the four. The 3200-meter team (David von Behren, Trenton Pentecost, Brandon Gibson, Brenden Heckenlively) was fourth; the 1600-meter team (Robinson, Stoller, L. Huettner, Harling) was fifth and the 400-meter team of Harling, Stoller, Cord Huettner, and Tyler DiGiacomo finished in sixth place.

Inclement weather has really hampered the Tiger track team’s schedule this spring. Falls City hosted a quad on Mar. 26 and prior to the Hiawatha Invite, the Tigers had not competed since the Nebraska City Invite back on April 2.

All told, the Tigers have competed against just three of the schools in their district – Plattsmouth, Nebraska City and Syracuse – and will see a fourth, Auburn, this Friday in the final meet of regular season at Auburn. Falls City traveled to the Ashland-Greenwood Invite today, which was postponed from Mar. 26.

The Tigers district meet will be held Thursday, May 9 in Auburn with the State Track Meet set for the following weekend at Burke High in Omaha.

HIAWATHA INVITATIONAL
April 25 @ Hiawatha

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
Sabetha     170
Holton     100
Riverside     74
Hiawatha     64
Pleasant Ridge     49
Falls City     44
ACCHS     32
Maur Hill     24
Horton     22
Troy    10
Immaculata     7

INDIVIDUAL GIRLS
100-yard dash – 1. B. New, Holt., 13.27.
200 – 1. B. New, Holt., 27.92.
400 – 1. C. Strader, Holt., 1:00.08.  
800 – 1. J. Puvogel, Hia., 2:24.3.
1600 – 1. J. Puvogel, Hia., 5:21.8; also, 6. L. Larsen, FC, 6:22.4.
3200 – 1. J. Puvogel, Hia., 12:14; also, 6. L. Larsen, FC, 13.36.11.
100 hurdles – 1. C. Poppe, FC, 17.9.     
300 hurdles – 1. C. Poppe, FC, 52.17.         
400-yard relay – 1. Sabetha, 52.43.
Throwers 400-yard relay – 1. Riverside, 59.55; also, 3. FC (M. Phroper, J. Phroper, H. Baxter, C. Chapple), 1:08.37.
1600-yard relay – 1. Sabetha, 4:31.17.
3200-yard relay – 1. ACCHS, 10:33.3.
High jump – 1. M. Garrett, Sab., 4-10.
Pole vault – 1. C. Meyer, Sab., 7-06; also, 5. K. Samqua, FC, 6-06.
Long jump – 1. C. Schultz, Riv. 16-07.75; also, 4. H. Cochran, FC, 14-11.75.
Triple jump – 1. C. Schultz, Riv., 3602.5; also, 6. A. Scholl, FC, 31-00.  
Shot put – 1. E. Gartner, Hia., 39-06.5; also, 3. H. Baxter, FC, 35-10.5.   
Discus – 1. K. Miller, Holt., 111-03; also, 4. C. Chapple, FC, 90-11.
Javelin – 1. H. Heiniger, Sab., 144-03.

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS
Hiawatha     135
Sabetha     97
Riverside     92
Holton     84. 50
Horton     58
Falls City     55. 50
Pleasant Ridge     50
ACCHS     15
Maur Hill    14
Immaculata     6
Troy     1

INDIVIDUAL BOYS
100-yard dash – 1. D. Chilcoat, Hia., 11.3.     
200 – 1. D. Chilcoat, Hia., 23.8; also, 5. J. Stoller, FC, 25.00.
400 – 1. D. Colhouer, 54.7.     
800 – 1. C. Bigham, Hia., 2:07.62.
1600 – 1. T. Weber, PR, 4:50.08.
3200 – 1. T. Weber, PR, 10:24.86.  
110 hurdles – 1. B. Hampton, Holt., 15.74; also, 5. L. Kirkendall, FC, 26.93.
300 hurdles – 1. A. McGaughy, Riv., 43.96; also, 3. L. Kirkendall, FC, 47.64; 6. J. Robinson, FC, 49.77.           400-yard relay – 1. Holt., 45.3; also, 6. FC (C. Huettner, T. DiGiacomo, M. Harling, J. Stoller), 46.67.
Throwers 400 relay – 1. Troy, 50.74; also, 3. FC (R. Hogue, P. Adams, T. Merz, L. Huettner), 52.45.
1600-yard relay – 1. Holt., 3:40.2; also, 5. FC (J. Robinson, J. Stoller, L. Huettner, M. Harling), 4:01.9.
3200-yard relay – 1. Hia., 8:45.77; also, 4. FC (D. von Behren, T. Pentecost, B. Gibson, B. Heckenlively), 9:54.14.
High jump – 1. C. Bigham, Hia., 5-10; also, 3. Z. Jordening, FC, 5-08.
Pole vault – 1. D. Logston, Riv., 10-00; also, T4. D. Colhouer, Holt., & M. Valentine, FC, 8-06; 6. T. Pentecost, FC, 8-06.
Long jump – 1. M. Platt, Hort., 19-06.5.
Triple jump – 1. A. McGaughy, Riv., 41-06.25; also, 4. M. Harling, FC, 39-09.5; 5. L. Huettner, FC, 39-08.5.  
Shot put –  1. C. Huettner, FC, 47-09.25.
Discus – 1. Q. Overdick, Hia., 136-08; also, 5. T. Merz, FC, 122-04.
Javelin – 1. J. Hinkle, Hia., 147-05.