Bison teams rule at Hoehner Invite track meet

Monday, April 4, 2011
Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Matt Collicott of McCook just brushes the bar on this high jump attempt at 6 feet, 4 inches at the April 1 Hoehner Invitational track and field meet in McCook. Collicott won the event with a personal-best leap of 6-3 --three inches higher than his previous best mark. Both Bison boys and girls won team titles in the annual early-spring prep track competition.

Track and field fans probably hear the letters PR from their respective coaches during the season.

Those two letters -- short for personal records -- are perhaps the favorite sounds to come out of a track and field coach's mouth every spring.

McCook High School track and field faithful have heard those letters many times early in this spring campaign, especially on the Bison boys team. There was a long list of PR's by McCook athletes at the annual Leroy Hoehner Invitational Friday, April 1, at the McCook High School stadium.

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Veronica Bair (left) of McCook takes the baton from teammate Emilyne Nichols in the girls 3,200-meter relay at the Leroy Hoehner Invitational track and field meet April 1at the McCook High School stadium. Bair and Nichols teamed with Kelsea Geschwentner and Jessa Sughroue to win the event with a time of 10 minutes, 22.4 seconds, 17 second ahead of the second-place team from Lexington.

Boosted by several meet record and personal-best efforts, both McCook teams claimed team championships in the six-team field.

The Bison boys scored 170 points to easily win the team title, with Lexington a distant second with 107 points. The Cambridge boys finished third, three points behind Lex. Dundy County-Stratton was fourth with 78 points, and Southern Valley managed just 11 points in the boys division.

The McCook girls totaled 138.5 points to top Colby, Kansas, runner-up with 113.5 points. Dundy County-Stratton's girls were fourth with 81 points, followed by Southern Valley with 48 points and Cambridge with 35.

Mitch Collicott of McCook gets ready to release the shot put April 1 at the Hoehner Invite. Collicott placed fourth.

Where to start, coach?

McCook boys head coach Tom Sughroue had trouble starting to describe the top efforts of his Bison athletes, as there were several noteworthy performances.

Perhaps none better than the boys long jump, where the duo of Matt Chitwood and Jake Schlager turned in more outstanding marks. Chitwood, a junior, cracked the Bison all-time top 10 chart with his winning leap of 22 feet, 1/2-inch. Schlager, a sophomore, was close behind in second, with a personal-best jump of 21 feet, 9 inches -- one inch from the Bison top 10.

Chitwood also added a personal-best mark of 13 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault.

Sophomore Matt Collicott also put his name in the Bison top 10 record books with his winning mark and best-ever leap of 6 feet, 3 inches in the boys high jump. Collicott improved his previous best jump by three inches, and he had one good effort at 6-4 but missed when his back barely brushed the bar.

Austin Cherry, another Bison sophomore, continued his strong runs with a personal-best time of 51.8 seconds to win the boys 400-meter dash. Cherry then broke the Hoehner Invitational meet record in the 800-meter run with his time of 2:04.0, eclipsing the old record set by Ed Thompson of Cambridge set back in 1995.

"He's following some awfully good half-milers who have been through here (Hoehner Invite) and didn't break that record," Coach Sughroue said of Cherry's effort. "We're looking for more great things to come from Austin."

Senior hurdler shines again

Senior Cody Goltl wouldn't let the underclassmen grab all the glory. Golth bettered his best-ever times in winning both boys hurdles events. Goltl ran a 15.2 in the 110-meter hurdles, beating Gus Petersen of Cambridge by nearly a second.

Cody then ran the 300 intermediates in 41.2, topping Aaron Baney of DCS by nearly three seconds.

"Cody Goltl had a stellar day in the hurdles, running against some pretty good hurdlers, and he just blew them away," Sughroue said.

The Bison head coach said he is not surprised by the amount of strong early-season performances by his team.

"To me it is great to watch those kids perform and have great success and do what they are able to do," he said. "That's what really makes a coach smile. As a coach you watch them practice, practice, practice and you know that's it's there. And then to watch them actually accomplish what you've seen there, however long, that's good for the kids.

"That's what really makes me smile, to watch them succeed at the events they are doing."

Girls relay records fall

McCook's girls also broke a pair of relay records that had stood for 12 and 20 years, respectively.

The Bison 1,600-meter relay team of Kelsea Geschwentner, Molly Sughroue, Emilyne Nichols and Jessa Sughroue combined for a winning time of 4:13.1. That broke the old meet record of 4:13.9 set by Lexington in 1999.

The McCook 3,200 relay quartet of Geschwentner, Nichols, Veronica Bair and Jessa Sughroue also set a new record with their first-place time of 10:22.4, breaking the old mark of 10:24.1 by Lex in 1991.

Fast, but second

Sughroue improved her PR time in the girls 1,600-meter run with her time of 5 minutes, 30.3 seconds, but Colby, Kansas standout Emilea Finley was a few seconds better.

Finley won the EP Bruth Award for the meet's most outstanding female athlete after Finley won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 events. Finley set a new meet record in the 1,600 at 5:27.9. The old mark of 5:31.0 set by Shelly Block of Gothenburg has lasted since 1982.

Happy head coach

McCook girls head coach Steve Clapp was pleased with his team's effort, with a long list of PR's on the girls side.

"I think our athletes, both on the JV and the varsity, all seemed to step up with the nicer weather," Clapp said. "We had some really good performances.

"All in all, I think we were real happy with the effort; a lot of PRs and a lot of improvement. Weather was a little bit nicer for sure, and that added to that. It's just awful nice to have the girls perform as a team and help each other out. It was a good meet for us. It was the type of meet that not only did we see improvements, but we saw a lot more team camaraderie, the girls starting to unite a little bit and help each other out and cheer for each other."

Freshman Molly Sughroue was a double-event winner for the McCook girls. Sughroue won the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:00.3, a tenth of a second off the meet record, and good enough for the Bison girls' all-time top 10. Molly also won the 200 meters at 27 seconds flat.

Erin Premer of McCook also won the girls discus with a toss of 118 feet, 6 inches.

Area standouts

Some of the top efforts from Gazette area teams Friday included: Nicole Hearon of Dundy County-Stratton, a double winner n the girls 100-meter dash and 100 hurdles; Gus Petersen of Cambridge with a strong early-season mark of 43 feet, 3 3/4 inches in the boys triple jump; Mike Shoff of Cambridge, boys shot put winner with a throw of 51-11

Alex Hovey of Lexington swept the boys sprints and anchored Lex's winning 400 relay team, as Hovey was presented the Junior Mollring Award for the meet's most outstanding male athlete.

The McCook boys were missing one of their top performers, senior Kyle Craw, who missed the meet due to a slight ankle sprain. Craw is expected back in action this week. Kyle has pole vaulted 14 feet already this season.

The Bison teams head north Friday, April 8, to compete in the Broken Bow Invitational starting at 2:30 p.m.

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