Washington County track and field athletes won 11 events Thursday during the Wahoo Invite.
Arlington, Blair and Fort Calhoun were all in attendance at Waverly High School —which filled in as the meet's host due to issues with the Warriors' track — with the Eagles securing four victories, the Bears getting two and the Pioneers producing a county-best five.
The FCHS boys also earned the county's best team finish, third, while the AHS girls claimed fourth. Seward, however, swept the invite's team titles with 240 total points.
All three Washington County coaches shared their highlights from Thursday's showings. The Pioneers' Mandy Taylor, for example, noted the school-record efforts of Kaylee Taylor, Madi Larrick, Bella McLaughlin, Maelie Nelson and Afton Byelick. While the latter broke her own mark in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet, 6 inches for second, Taylor, Larrick, McLaughlin and Nelson won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:11.89.
“Their performance showed them how strong they are,” Coach Taylor said of the relay team's gold medal win. “They're all very competitive, so I'm sure they'll continue to push themselves.”
Arlington's Whitney Wollberg broke her own school record in the pole vault, too, highlighting the Eagles' day, according to coach Kyle Buckingham.
“I know it's something she has been working hard on, and been wanting to beat since she set it last year,” he said.
Wollberg cleared the bar set at 10 feet, 3 inches, while Blair's Hayden Daggett won the boys high jump with a 6-4 effort. It was one of two event wins for the junior, who highlighted the Bears' day in coach Bryan Soukup's eyes. The coach also noted the 400 relay effort of Jacy Schueth, Brynn Lundgren, London Larsen and Mia McClain, who stopped the clock in 51.93 seconds Thursday.
“To break 52 seconds was a good sign,” Soukup said.
Daggett, notably, won the 200-meter dash in 21.91 seconds, too, while Fort Calhoun's Michael Maxon earned first in the 100. The latter wasn't a win in school record time like the aforementioned 1,600 relay team's, but it did come in just 10.94 seconds.
Maxon was a member of the victorious FCHS boys 400 relay lineup with Alex Schuler, Clay Bohnenkamp and Kaiden Rodriguez, too. They crossed the finish line 43.56, while the 3,200 relay team of Seth Waters, Chris Post-Whiteowl, Merritt Olberding and Will Dennis won in 8:37.91.
In addition to her own relay win, Kaylee Taylor also took first in the triple jump, gliding to 35-1 in victory.
Hayley Arp added an Arlington field event win along with Wollberg's, claiming a gold medal in the discus with a 121-foot, 1-inch effort. Senior Hailey O'Daniel, meanwhile, won the 800 run in 2:25.7 on the same day Dallin Franzluebbers stopped the clock in 40.62 seconds for a 300-meter hurdles victory.
The Waverly meet wrapped up the weeks of both the Eagles and Fort Calhoun, but Blair — which used a limited lineup Thursday — continued onto Lawrence, Kan., on Friday and Saturday for the Kansas Relays.
Bears compete at KU
The sprint medley relay team of Colin McCabe, Chase Cottle, Daggett and Declan McCabe led BHS during their KU Relays stay in Lawrence with a seventh-place finish. Competing against teams from across the region, the Bears finished the race of two 200s, a 400 dash and an 800 run Saturday in 3:43.04. They also ran the 1,600 relay in 3:29.11 a day earlier.
Blair's 3,200-meter relay team of Jade Wickwire, Jordan McGill, Lainey Bilau and Kate Wulf added a team-best time of 10:22.52 during the two-day meet, while Daggett, notably, finished 15th during the individual 400 dash. Colin McCabe and Hailey Roewert also competed in individual events during the meet.
WAHOO INVITE
Thursday at Waverly High School
BOYS
Team standings: Seward 113 points, Wahoo 91.5, Fort Calhoun 62, Wahoo Neumann 52, Ashland-Greenwood 51, Omaha Concordia 42.5, Blair 35, Douglas County West 28, Arlington 22, David City 18, Raymond Central 11.
Top-6 Washington County Placers
100-meter dash: 1, Michael Maxon, Fort Calhoun, 10.94 seconds. 6, Clay Bohnenkamp, FC, 11.13.
200 dash: 1, Hayden Daggett, Blair, 21.91. 3, Maxon, FC, 22.23. 5, Dallin Franzluebbers, Arlington, 22.52.
400 dash: 3, Colin McCabe, B, 51.26.
800 run: 2, Declan McCabe, B, 2:02.42. 3, Seth Waters, FC, 2:02.59.
3,200 run: 2, Kolby Tighe, A, 10:54.97.
400 relay: 1, FCHS (Alex Schuler, Bohnenkamp, Kaiden Rodriguez, Maxon), 43.56.
3,200 relay: 1, FCHS (Waters, Chris Post-Whiteowl, Merritt Olberding, Will Dennis), 8:37.91. 5, AHS (Tighe, Gus Burns, Landon Shada, Ashton Vollmer), 9:12.78.
110 hurdles: 3, Matthew Kelly, FC, 16.54. 4, Trey King, FC, 16.61.
300 hurdles: 1, Franzluebbers, A, 40.62. 6, Schuler, FC, 44.27.
Long jump: 5, Maxon, FC, 20 feet, 10 inches. 6, Gaige Bolton, B, 20-2.75.
High jump: 1, Daggett, B, 6-4.
Pole vault: 3, TJ DeMilt, FC, 13.
GIRLS
Team standings: Seward 127 points, Wahoo 89, Neumann 77, Arlington 49, Ashland 45, Fort Calhoun 45, David City 34, Concordia 27, Blair 22, Raymond Central 8, DC West 4.
Top-6 Washington County Placers
100-meter dash: 5, Brynn Lundgren, Blair, 12.7 seconds.
400 dash: 4, Kate Wulf, B, 1:03.83. 6, Jade Wickwire, B, 1:05.09.
800 run: 1, Hailey O'Daniel, Arlington, 2:25.7. 4, Corinne May, A, 2:36.65.
400 relay: 6, BHS (Jacy Schueth, Lundgren, London Larsen, Mia McClain), 51.93.
1,600 relay: 1, Fort Calhoun (Maelie Nelson, Bella McLaughlin, Madi Larrick, Kaylee Tyalor), 4:11.89.
3,200 relay: 3, AHS (Whitney Wollberg, May, Kelise Krivholavek, O'Daniel), 10:24.6. 4, BHS (Nadia Davey, Emma Himes, Ryleigh Schroeter, Lainey Bilau), 10:48.56.
100 hurdles: 6, Emma Ammon, B, 16.59.
300 hurdles: 5, Taylor, FC, 49.23. 6, McLaughlin, FC, 50.01.
Long jump: 2, Taylor, FC, 16 feet, 9.25 inches. 6, McLaughlin, FC, 15-10.
Triple jump: 1, Taylor, FC, 35-1.5. 6, Anna McMahon, FC, 33-4.25.
High jump: 4, Emilee Thayer-Mencke, FC, 5. 5, Ammon and Larsen, B, 4-10.
Pole vault: 1, Wollberg, A, 10-3. 2, Afton Byelick, FC, 9-6. 3, McClain, B, 9-6. 6, Rylie Kyllo, A, 8.
Shot put: 3, Hayley Arp, A, 36-7.
Discus: 1, Arp, A, 121-1. 5, Britt Nielsen, A, 105-6.
