BEARCAT BOYS RUN AWAY WITH GPC TRACK TITLE
Karter Weber, Tavin Schroeder win five times between them; 4×100 wins, too
Six first-place finishes and a host of other medal-earning performances helped lead the Freeman Academy/Marion boys to a runaway win in the Great Plains Conference Track Meet in Armour last week Tuesday, April 23. The Bearcats finished with 140 points in the 10-team meet — well ahead of runner-up Centerville’s 97.
FA/Marion saw wins in the 100 and 200 by junior Keaton Preheim — he’s got the top time in Class B in the 100 and is 10th in the 200 — and in the 800, 1600 and 3200 by senior Tavin Schroeder, who is sixth in the state in the 1600 and second in the 3200. The boys 4×100 relay team of Liam Ortman, Taylor Goodwin, Dominic Sperling and Preheim also ran to a win to help pad the Bearcats’ scoring.
The boys also had runner-up performances from Finley McConniel in the 3200 and in the 4×800 (Justin Escobar, Ben Clark, McConniel, Schroeder) and the sprint medley relay (Titus Sperling, Dominic Sperling, Clark and McConniel).
Estelle Waltner had the best finish for the girls with a second-place finish in the 800, and Emma McConniel had top-eight showings in the 100, 200 and 400.
Here’s a look at all who competed for the Bearcats last week in Armour.
Bearcat boys
100 – Keaton Preheim 1st, 10.98; Dominic Sperling 3rd, 11.75; Liam Ortman 4th, 11.78
200 – Preheim 1st 24.22; Karter Weber 6th, 25.39
400 – Preheim 3rd, 55.45; Jackson Donlan 5th, 55.86; Ortman 8th, 56.57
800 – Tavin Schroeder 1st, 2:13.53; Donlan 3rd, 2:21.94
1600 – Schroeder 1st, 4:54.15; Finley McConniel 3rd, 4:56.58; Simon Wiersema 10th, 6:01.78
3200 – Schroeder 1st, 10:51.15; McConniel 2nd, 11:09.17; Caden Tieszen 5th, 13:12.28
4×100 (Ortman, Taylor Goodwin, D. Sperling, Preheim) – 1st, 46.53
4×200 (Goodwin, Sam Clark, Titus Sperling, Weber) – 3rd, 1:41.02
4×400 (T. Sperling, Ortman, Justin Escobar, Donlan) – 4th, 3:51.98
4×800 (Escobar, Ben Clark, McConniel, Schroeder) – 2nd, 9:23.64
Medley (T. Sperling, D. Sperling, S. Clark, McConniel) – 2nd, 4:02.49
Shot put – Hunter Nankivel 7th, 38-1 ½; Austin Waldner 21st, 30-8 ½; B. Clark 28th, 26-3
Discus – Nankivel 9th, 108-8; Ashton Kesteloot 18th, 94-3; Goodwin 19th, 92-10
High jump – Nankivel 5th (tie), 5-2
Long jump – Weber 4th, 18-0 ½; Donlan 6th, 17-9; D. Sperling 8th, 17-0 ½
Triple jump – Weber 3rd, 39-1 ½; David Ilunga 13th, 32-9 ½
Team totals – FA/Marion 140, Centerville 97, Alcester-Hudson 82, Corsica-Stickney 72, Avon 63, Gayville-Volin 49, Burke 40, Andes Central/Dakota Christian 34, Colome 26, Tripp-Delmont/Armour 13
Bearcat girls
100 – Emma McConniel 5th, 13.5; Tedel Lonumba 24th, 16.11; Ange Kamanda 26th, 16.59
200 – McConniel 6th, 29.74; Lonumba 19th, 35.97; Kamanda 23rd, 37.42
400 – McConniel 8th, 1:07.58
800 – Estelle Waltner 2nd, 2:33.81; Sieta Wiersema 8th, 3:11.77; Alea Miller 10th, 3:19.58
1600 – Wiersema 8th, 7:02.53; Miller 9th, 7:31.55; Kailey Hernandez 10th, 8:01.06
4×100 (Alexa Gortmaker, Hernandez, Lonumba, Kamanda) – 9th, 1:05.05
Shot put – Gortmaker 5th, 29-4 ¼
Long jump – McConniel 15th, 12-10
Triple jump – Gortmaker 7th, 29-1 ½
Team totals – Centerville 191, Burke 140, Gayville-Volin 73, Avon 53, Corsica-Stickney 48, Scotland 34, Alcester-Hudson 33, Andes Central/Dakota Christian 28, FA/Marion 13, Tripp-Delmont/Armour 2
