Home meet first for Plainsmen

This year’s track season will kick off Thursday, March 22, when the Plainsmen play host to Chase County, South Platte, Dundy County Stratton and Wauneta-Palisade in a meet set to begin at 3:30 p.m. on the E. Lee Todd track. 

Head Coach Shayne Hite has 25  boys and 10 girls out this season, with nine meets scheduled before districts. Hite will be assisted by Dean Friedel, Paula Wurst and Ryan Boldt. 

Hite coaches the 400, 800, hurdles, sprint relays, long jump and triple jump. Friedel handles the weight events, with Wurst taking care of the high jump, 1600, 3200 and distance relays. Boldt coaches the 100, 200, sprint relays and pole vault.

Boys

Hite returns 21 letter winners and five state qualifiers. 

Charles Johnson and Alex Patrick were among two of the four who qualified for state and won SPVA in the 4x100 relay last season. 

Domonic Wendell was on the 4x400 relay team that won districts and SPVA. 

Evan Sestak and Jaden Dietlien are the only returners who qualified for state in individual events, with Sestak competing in high jump and Dietliein in the 3200. 

Hite said they have six seniors and nine juniors that they’ll look to for leadership and a lot of points this season. All of them are returning letter winners.

 “Our numbers for boys are good for us this year and we’re hoping we can create a little depth in some events. We are a little short handed in the mid-distance area but hopefully we can either move some people around or make up for it in some other areas. If all stay healthy we could be strong come SPVA conference meet and at the district meet,” he said.

Seniors—Colton Heinemann, Jack Kennicutt, Nathan Kemling, Jack Kohl, Charles Johnson, Christopher Terry.

Juniors—Jaden Dietlein, Matthew Hahn, Werner Winkel, Blake Plugge, Emilio Perez, Caden Waitley, Jarin Tines, Domonic Wendell, Spencer Ross. 

Sophomores—Trye Hickey, Caleb Lagler, Matthew McClung, Brenden Pankonin, Alex Patrick, Evan Sestak

Freshman—Bryder Hickey, Brandon Knoles, Irvin Reyes, Keegan Sims. 

Girls

There are four returning letter winners on the girls’ team this season, which includes three seniors, three juniors and four freshman.

“We have some returners that we hope will lead the team and show a lot of leadership for our inexperienced tracksters. 

We return the majority of our point scorers and hope to have some younger athletes contribute soon,” said Hite.

He said their biggest weakness is going to be their lack of numbers and experience.

Seniors—Laura Dreiling, Maggie Earl, Jaci Kurkowski.

Juniors—Emma Schrotberger, Aryn Seiler, Hailey Snyder.

Freshmen—Dani Burge, Rylee Huff, Hannah Kempf, Miah Long, Savannah Schmitt, manager