Warriors finish fifth, eighth at Hesston
The Marion High School boys' and girls' track teams finished fifth and eighth Thursday at the Hesston Invitational track and field meet. The boys compiled 47 1/2 total points, outpacing six other teams including the host team, while the girls snagged 15 points to out-distance three other teams.
"It was great to have another meet after having the last two meets rained out," said Marion head coach Grant Thierolf. "We had some very good performances at Hesston and we had some events in which we still need to learn to compete when we are in big meets."
Marion's 3200-meter relay team of Jason Hett, Luke Bowers, Brandon Watson, and Gavin Moore took second place with a time of 9:16.87, falling seconds short of outdistancing Halstead, who won the event with a time of 9:13.68. The Warriors defeated Hillsboro, who trailed the Marion team by about 16 seconds.
Tyler Smith's toss of 154-3 1/2 in the discus helped solidify the boys' fifth-place finish, as well as earn the senior a second-place medal from the event. Steven Boone finished fifth with a mark of 151-6 1/2 in the same event. The two senior throwers also nabbed honors in the shot put. Smith and Boone finished fifth and sixth in the shot put with throws of 45-7 1/2 and 44-7 1/2 respectively. Boone finished sixth in the javelin with a throw of 148- 1/2.
"We were very happy with the performance of our throwers," Thierolf said. "All of the discus throwers had either season bests or personal records. Our shot putters threw pretty well and the javelin chuckers had a good day at the meet. Tyler really came through when he needed to, throwing over 154 feet on his last throw to move into second place in the event."
Moore finished second in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:06.26, while his teammate Daniel Goentzel finished sixth with a time of 11:25.29. Moore and Hett finished fifth and sixth in the 1600-meter run with times of 5:04.32 and 5:05.75. Sophomore Jeremy Vondenkamp continued his surge in the hurdle events grabbing a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.26 seconds and a fourth-place finish in the 110s with a time of 16.22 seconds.
"On the track we had our good moments and not so good," Thierolf said. "Jeremy continues to be solid in the hurdles. He has improved tremendously since last year. Gavin came back after vacation and competed well. His times were not outstanding, but he competed hard and will be ready for regionals."
Ben Leppke's leap of 40-1 1/2 in the triple jump landed the freshman a fifth-place finish in the event. Pole vaulter Casey Nelson cleared 12-6 in the event to finish sixth.
"Ben Leppke, Casey Nelson, and Josh Smith led our jumpers," Thierolf said. "Ben competed very well in a very difficult field of triple jumpers. Josh had a good series while attempting the long jump for the first time. Casey vaulted pretty well in what will be the same competition he sees when we go to the regional meet at Cheney."
The Marion girls' 4x800-meter relay team finished fourth with a time of 11:26.86. The team consisted of Katie Hett, Danielle Cope, Hilary Regalado, and Jessica DeForest. DeForest also nabbed fourth-place honors in the 3200-meter run. The senior ironclad finished seven seconds in front of Regalado with a time of 13:41.75. Regalado finished with a time of 13:58.26.
Cope added a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:47.83. According to her coach, her improvement throughout the season has been positive.
"Danielle ran very well in the 800 meters and looks to improve this week," Thierolf said.
Sarah Regier's toss of 112- 1/2 was enough to hand the senior a fifth-place finish at the meet. The senior slinger also grabbed sixth place in the shot put with a throw of 33-1 1/2.
Tedra Eis leaped her way to a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Eis jumped 31-1 1/2 to claim sixth.
