Boys Track Team Brings Home Runner-Up Trophy
by Allisha Melroy
With two individual state champions and several state placers pacing the way, the Northwest boys’ track team ended a nearly perfect season with a Class B Runner-up finish. The team scored 47 points at the State Track Meet to finish second behind Plattsmouth's 58 points.
Head Coach Dave Gee was pleased with his team’s performances, both individually and as a group throughout the year.
“The 2008 track season was very rewarding because we were able to achieve virtually all of our season goals: conference champions, district champions, winning every invite and finishing as the state runner-up,” he said. “With two individual state champions, we were able to showcase our individual talents and team depth during the season.”
Senior Hadley Cooksley propelled the Vikings to a great start Friday morning after winning the shot competition with a toss of 57’7-1/4”. This distance was just four inches short of his record-setting personal best throw from earlier in the year. Travis Englund also competed well on Friday as he placed second in the high jump with a 6’6” personal best effort.
Saturday’s performances picked up where Friday left off, as the 400 relay (Alex Earll, Ethan Stutzman, Gary Shuda and Devin Johnson) placed second and set a new school record with a time of 43.0 seconds. This was just one of three events (100 and 200) that senior Devin Johnson set records in this season.
“It is a great feeling [knowing I have the records] because they’ll be around for a while, or at least I hope so,” Johnson said.
Johnson went on to add a state championship in the 100 to his list of accomplishments. His time of 10.9 seconds in the finals was just short of his record setting performance from earlier in the year at the Central Nebraska Meet.
The Vikings also picked up crucial points from the 3200 relay (Kyre Randolph, Stutzman, Morgan Nason, and Jory Plasterer) after they placed third with a personal best time of 8:05. Plasterer went on to place sixth in the 800 with a 1:58.1 personal best time and Travis Englund placed seventh in the long jump with a leap of 20’5-1/2”.
Other qualifiers were Ben Paige (300 hurdles and 1600 relay), Jay Hahn (400 and 1600 relay) and Scott Gibson (110 hurdles).
On the girls’ side, sophomores Taylor Johnson and Amber Reidy led the way in points scored for the Lady Vikings. Reidy tied for fourth in the pole vault with a height of 10’0” while Johnson placed seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 35’6”. Senior Julie Stoltenberg also brought home individual hardware after placing seventh in the 100 with a time of 12.93.
Other qualifiers were Christi Anderson (pole vault), Megan Pattison (pole vault), and Tori Wieland (400).
