Perkins County Plainsmen kick off track season with home invite

By Emmalee Parsley Stevens

Grant Tribune Correspondent

For some, spring means warmer weather, but for Plainsmen it means the start of track season. Perkins County Plainsmen have begun their 2025 track season. Head Coach Shayne Hite is looking forward to seeing his athletes improve as the season goes on. “Track getting started. I just love to see how much individuals change from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. It’s awesome to see how they progress,” he said. 

This year, the varsity track team plans to have a total of ten varsity meets, including the district meet. To prepare for districts, the team uses a twelve week program that pushes them, but also allows them a chance to rest. This helps Hite to achieve his goal of helping everyone to peak at the District Meet so that the team has a chance to qualify for State Track. Hite said, “We have a twelve-week program that we use to get them in shape and ready by the District Meet. We have training days where we push the athletes hard in running workouts. Then the next day we follow up with a recovery day to let the muscles recover. We usually do our field events on these days. Then the next day we come back to a training day where we push them again. If we don’t let the muscles recover then they just fatigue more. If we let them recover we can push them harder.” 

The Plainsmen Track Teams first meet was held at Perkins County High School on Thursday March 27, 2025. Multiple schools attended including Chase County, Maywood-Hayes Center, South Platte, Wallce, Potter Dix, and Waunera Palisade. 

Girls

Lady Plainsmen were successful during the first meet. They placed third overall as a team with 112 points total. The winner of the girls track meet was Chase County with 290 points. 

In the 100 Meter Relay, Sophomore Anley Sauder placed fourth with a time of 13 seconds. 

Junior Tessa Uehling fourteenth in the 200 Meter Relay.

Libby Cole, Senior, took first place in the 400 meter relay with a time of 1 minute and 4 seconds. Senior Kenna Busick placed sixth followed by Hannah Bishop, Junior, in seventh place. Haylea McGreer took the ninth place spot and Kam Klockman, freshman, took fourteenth place. 

Senior Emily Cornelius earned fifth place in the 800 Meter Relay with a time of 2 minutes and 48 seconds.

Sophomore Savannah Miller earned sixth place in the 3200 Meter relay with a time of 14 minutes and 52 seconds. 

In the 100 meter hurdles, Ella Homan, Sophomore, took the fourth place spot with a time of 17 seconds and Morgan Day, Freshman, took the ninth place spot  with a 20 second time. Both girls also placed in the 300 meter hurdles. Homan took second place at 51 seconds and Day took ninth at 58 seconds. 

In the 4x100 meter relay, the Perkins County A team took fifth place with a time of 56 seconds. On this team was Olivia Gengenbach, Shyne Hickey, Ava Seger and Uehling. Perkins County B team took tenth place with a time of 1 minute and 4 seconds. 

Jordin Lenhart, Emily Lenhart, Lexie Fisher and Jacquline Gloy competed in the 4x100 Throwers Relay. The team earned the first place spot with a time of 1 minutes and 7 seconds. 

Two teams competed in the 4x400 Meter Relay. Perkins County A team, made up of Cole, Hannah Bishop, Homan, and Busick, achieved second place at 4 minutes and 28 seconds. Perkins County B team, made up of McGreer, Addison York, Clockman, and Cornelius, placed sixth with a time of 4 minutes and 52 seconds. 

 In the 4x800 Meter Relay, Busick, H. Bishop, Miller, and McGreer achieved the fourth place spot with an eleven minute and 15 second time. 

 Gloy, Junior, placed third in the shot put competition. She threw a distance of 31 feet and 1 inch. She also competed in the Discus competition and held the first place title with her distance being 95 feet and 10.5 inches. 

In the High Jump, Cole placed second, jumping 4 feet and 10 inches. Clockman placed sixth, jumping 4 feet and 6 inches. 

Gengenbach, freshman, and McGreer, Sophomore tied with Chase County’s Kadence Wallin for sixth place in the pole vault division jumping 6 feet 6 inches. Hickey placed ninth jumping at 6 feet even. 

In the Long Jump, Sauder placed eighth jumping 13 feet and 6 inches. Zoe Hansen, a freshman, and Sophomore Lauren Bishop. tied for tenth place  jumping 13 feet and 4 inches. 

 In the Triple Jump, L. Bishop earned 5th place at 31 feet and a quarter inch. Sophomore, Karina Morales placed 13th.

Boys

Plainsmen Boys were also very successful on Thursday. They earned 141 points for second place, falling to the top competitor Chase County with 262 points. 

In the 100 Meter Relay Freshman Carson Green placed twelfth running a time of 12.11 seconds. Green also competed in the 200 Meter Relay and earned seventh place running a 24.92 second race. 

In the 400 Meter Relay, Perkins County had 3 competitors in the top 5. Senior Brock Tines, Junior Cooper Kroeker, and Junior Colton Kroeker, placed 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in order. Sophomore Logan Barry placed eighth and Alex Cole placed ninth.

Ethan Swesey, a Sophmore, placed second in the 800 Meter Relay running a 2 minute and 11 second time. Jesus Marquez, a freshman, placed sixth with a time of 2 minutes and 29 seconds. 

Senior Mason McGreer holds the first place title in the 1600 Meter Relay running a time of 4 minutes and 41 seconds. Cooper Kroeker placed fourth with a time of 5 minutes and 22 seconds.

In the 3200 Meter Relay Elijah Goodell, Sophomore, placed first with a time of 10 minutes and 10 seconds, followed by second place Cooper Kroeker running a time of 12 minutes and 33 seconds. 

Luke Minster, freshman, placed fourth in the 300 meter hurdles, running a time of 46.62 seconds. 

In the 4x100 Meter Throwers Relay, Perkins County A made up of Junior Alec Reese, Minster, Senior Issiah Dunn, and Junior Preston Schwanebeck, placed second with a time of 53.19 seconds. 

In the 4x400 Meter Relay, Perkins County had two teams compete. The A team was made up of Junior Rylee Schrotberger, Colton Kroeker,  Tines, and Senior Colson Uehling. They placed second with a time of 3 minutes and 43 seconds. The B team is made up of Barry, Cole, Minster and Sophomore Emmanuel Kiogora. They placed third with a time of 3 minutes and 48 seconds. 

In the 4x800 Meter Relay, both Perkins County teams hold the top two placings. Perkins county B, made up of Swesey, Uehling, Schrotberger, and McGreer placed first with a time of 8 minutes and 34 seconds. Perkins County A made up of Tines, Barry, Colton Kroeker, and Goodell placed second with a time of 8 minutes and 35 seconds. 

Schwanebeck placed second in the shot put competition, throwing a distance of 43 feet and 2 inches. Dunn placed fourth followed by Reese in fifth place, with distances 39 feet 9 inches and 39 feet 8 inches in order. 

Schwanebeck also placed ninth in the discus competition. He threw a distance of 103 feet and 4 inches. 

In the High Jump competition, Cole placed fourth jumping 5 feet 8 inches. 

In Pole Vault, Schwanebeck placed fourth, vaulting 11 feet even. Uehling tied for ninth place at a height of 9 feet even. 

Marquez placed ninth in triple jump, with a distance of 33 feet. 

Next Action

Hite was glad to see where they were at during the first meet. He is determined to keep the athletes in the correct training due to the fact they will lose twenty four athletes to state FFA . Plainsmen Track Team’s next meet is scheduled for Saturday, April 12 at 10 A.M. at Perkins County High School.