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McCook jumpers cap strong season with medals at Class B state track meet
OMAHA, Nebraska -- McCook High School track and field coaches had an unknown quantity this spring in Matt Chitwood.
The junior had never competed in the long jump before this season. But when Chitwood stepped on the approach, he came out victorious in the event, in every meet.
Chitwood capped an undefeated season with his Class B gold medal performance in the long jump at the state track meet May 21 at Omaha Burke Stadium. Chitwood turned in the best jump in the Class B competition at 22 feet, 9 inches to win the state title by nearly eight inches over second-place Sam Shaw of Aurora, who went 22-1 1/2.
"Every time he jumped, he won -- that doesn't happen very often," said Bison head coach Tom Sughroue, on Chitwood's long jump success.
Chitwood won the boys long jump in every meet he entered this spring. He continually climbed the McCook High School all-time chart throughout the season. Matt recorded the second-best long jump in Bison history - 23 feet, 1 1/4 inches -- when he won the Class B-6 District title on the home track in McCook May 13.
Chitwood now trails only school record holder Chris Hoehner, who long jumped 23 feet, 7 inches at the 1981 Big Ten Conference track meet.
Chitwood had a goal of hitting that 23-foot barrier at state. The event was one of the last in the meet Saturday afternoon, and the Bison junior fell just short of his goal. But the state title more than makes up for any disappointment on the sub-23 foot jump.
"I was hoping for 23-something, mid-23s, but I didn't get that," he said. "I only went 22-9, but I guess the gold medal's good. I wanted the gold (first place), that what I wanted, that's what I came for."
Aiming for school record next spring
Chitwood will set his sights on Hoehner's school record next spring.
"Only being a junior's nice -- I've got my whole senior year, and I think I'll just improve," Chitwood said. "I think I'll jump 22s at the start of the year and hopefully get better, then hit 23s and break the school record, who knows?"
Dueling Bison
Chitwood's chief competition in the long jump this season shared the runway every day in practice. McCook sophomore Jake Schlager finished second to Chitwood in the long jump in every meet this year, except for state. Schlager placed sixth in Omaha with a mark of 21 feet, 1 1/4 inches.
Schlager also cracked the Bison all-time chart. He hit a career-best mark of 22 feet, 3 1/2 inches in the district meet in McCook May 13.
"We improved every meet, we went one-two in every meet, except down here at state," Chitwood said of the Bison duo.
Chitwood said the competition from his younger teammate in every meet this spring was a big reason for Matt's long jump success.
"It was nice for (Jake) to push me all year long," he said. "I kind of wish he would have beat me once or twice, but I guess not.
"He's probably thinking, 'Wait till next year, I'll beat you every meet.'"
Pole vault, relay legs
Chitwood was one of the leaders on the Bison boys team this season. He also competed in the pole vault, recording a career-best mark of 14 feet even several times, including last weekend at the state meet. Chitwood first went 14-0 at the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference meet at Columbus May 6, tying him for seventh on the all-time Bison vault chart.
Chitwood also gave a little bit of pole vault competition to a teammate this year. Senior Kyle Craw set a new McCook school record by clearing 15 feet at the GNAC meet. Craw finished third at state as he cleared 14-8.
Matt was happy with his eighth-place pole vault medal from the state meet.
"I came in wanting to place and I ended up getting eighth, which is not the greatest, but I tied my personal best on the year and got a medal," he said. "So it's pretty awesome."
Chitwood also competed on two McCook relay teams that earned Class B state meet medals last weekend. Matt, Schlager, seniors Brad Baumbach and Cody Goltl finished seventh in the 400-meter relay with a time of 44.082 seconds.
Chitty, Baumbach and sophomores Cody Wudtke and Austin Cherry also finished fourth in the 1,600 relay with a Bison chart-busting time of 3 minutes, 26.343 seconds.
The Bison 1,600 relay quartet is ninth on the McCook all-time chart.
Chitwood ran the second leg on the 1,600 relay, and he put Baumbach in the lead in the second heat of the state event. Cherry ran the final leg, and he dueled with Sidney's Chace Frerichs down the homestretch as the Sidney runner held off Austin's charge to beat the Bison by just over a tenth of a second.
"It's an awesome feeling -- I wish (Austin) could have got him, but we didn't do it," Chitwood said of Cherry's anchor leg. "He was really close. He really kicked it in -- he was a ways back, and he came back and almost won it."
Looking forward to football
Chitwood was the starting quarterback for another strong McCook football team last fall. Matt enjoyed a strong football campaign until he suffered an elbow injury late in the season.
Chitty will likely be under center running a potent Bison attack again next fall, and he is anticipating another potent McCook edition. He'll likely have his long jump running mate right behind him again, as Schlager will be a leading candidate to start at running back.
"Football's going to be a blast this year. we got a lot of kids coming back and we've got a lot of talent it's going to be fun. I think we could be really good next year."