The Fort Calhoun High School track and field team took part in its first outdoor meet of the season Thursday.
“It's beautiful,” Pioneers coach Mandy Taylor said during the Platteview Invite. “I can't wait for the rest of the day.”
Her daughter, Kaylee Taylor, led FCHS with its lone event win and three more top-five finishes. As a result, the girls finished eighth in the team standings and the boys were third.
The Wahoo boys and the Syracuse girls, meanwhile, claimed first-place results.
Taylor, a junior, won the long jump with a leap covering 15 feet, 10.5 inches. She was fifth in the triple jump, too, and took fourth in her first 300-meter hurdles showing of the spring.
Taylor also teamed with Madi Larrick, Bella McLaughlin and Ari Nelson in a fifth-place 1,600 relay performance. The squad finished its race in 4:29.56.
Calhoun senior Bria Bench added a silver medal in the high jump, clearing a bar set at 5 feet, while Larrick took fifth in the 300 hurdles.
The Pioneers' 400- and 3,200-meter relay teams earned fifth- and sixth-place results, too.
On the boys' side, Matthew Kelly led Coach Taylor's team with two second-place finishes. He took runner-up honors in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.47 seconds and finished the 300-meter race in 43.14.
Michael Maxon (100 dash) and Lawson Tjardes (1,600 run) added individual third-place finishes for FCHS, while Trey King III (300 hurdles) and TJ DeMilt (pole vault) took fourth in their events.
Two Pioneer relays earned silver medals, too. Clay Bohnenkamp, Blake Welchert, Maxon and Preston Johnson combined to finish the 400 relay in 45.06, while Brayden Bessey, Chris Post-Whiteowl, Tjardes and Will Dennis stopped the clock in 8:41.71 during the 3,200 relay.
Altogether, Coach Taylor is appreciative of facilities able to accommodate competition away from the elements at the start of the season, but track and field is best outdoors.
“Indoors is so quick-moving and stressful, and you're overlapping so many events that it's painful and hard to give kids the best chance to compete,” she said. “So, definitely, being outside is nice.”
The Pioneers next compete under the sun 10 a.m. Thursday at Douglas County West in Valley.
Unified athletes perform
Members of Fort Calhoun's Unified track and field team excelled at Platteview, too.
Will Maxon won the 100-meter dash with partner Logan Brewer, and was first with Danny Pawol in the shot put. Maxon and Brewer joined Anna Taylor and Reilly Rauterkus for a second-place 400 relay finish as well.
PLATTEVIEW INVITE No. 1
Thursday at Platteview High School
BOYS
Team standings: Wahoo 114 points, Platteview 74, Fort Calhoun 63, Douglas County West 58, Syracuse 58, Plattsmouth 48, York 31, Milford 30, Lincoln Christian 24, Louisville 12, Nebraska City 11, Auburn 4.
Top-6 FCHS Finishers
100-meter dash: 3, Michael Maxon, 11.56 seconds. 6, Preston Johnson, 11.7.
200 dash: 6, Johnson, 23.95.
1,600 run: 3, Lawson Tjardes, 4:45.3.
400 relay: 2, FCHS (Clay Bohnenkamp, Blake Welchert, Maxon and Johnson), 45.06.
1,600 relay: 4, FCHS (Grayson Bouwman, Maxon, Matthew Kelly and Johnson), 3:43.72.
3,200 relay: 2, FCHS (Brayden Bessey, Chris Post-Whiteowl, Tjardes and Will Dennis), 8:41.71.
110 hurdles: 2, Matthew Kelly, 16.47. 6, Trey King III, 18.8.
300 hurdles: 2, Kelly, 43.14. 4, King III, 45.91. 5, Alex Schuler, 46.07.
Triple jump: 5, Grayson Bouwman, 37-9.75. 6, Kaiden Rodriguez, 36-5.5.
Pole vault: 4, TJ DeMilt, 11-6.
GIRLS
Team standings: Syracuse 101, Wahoo 72.5, York 70, Platteview 66, Plattsmouth 57, DC West 36, Auburn 35.5, Fort Calhoun 31, Lincoln Christian 20, Nebraska City 19, Louisville 12, Milford 7.
Top-6 FCHS Finishers
400-meter relay: 5, FCHS (Ari Nelson, Bella McLaughlin, Sam Brewer and Ali Dill), 55.89.
1,600 relay: 5, FCHS (Madi Larrick, McLaughlin, Nelson and Kaylee Taylor), 4:29.56.
3,200 relay: 6, FCHS (Emily Barta, Harley Schwarte, Rowan Roehr and Brady Work), 12:34.33.
300 hurdles: 4, Taylor, 51.77. 5, Larrick, 53.12.
Long jump: 1, Taylor, 15 feet, 10.5 inches.
Triple jump: 5, Taylor, 31-4.75.
High jump: 2, Bria Bench, 5.
UNIFIED
Top-3 FCHS Results
100-meter dash: 1, Will Maxon and Logan Brewer, 27.6 seconds.
400 relay: 2, Anna Taylor, Reilly Rauterkus, Brewer and Maxon, 1:03.98.
Shot put: 1, Maxon and Danny Pawol, 60 feet, 4.5 inches.
