Skiles finishes strong; SCC girls win B-4 title

WEST POINT - By the time Jeff Skiles finally caught his breath and got some much needed rest, the Lakeview bus was already on its way out of West Point.

During the last hour of Thursday's Class B-4 district meet, Skiles set new personal bests in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs and also ran the leadoff leg in the 1,600 relay. The Lakeview senior finished the meet with three state berths as he helped the Vikings finished fourth with 55 points and three qualifiers for next week's state meet.

Norfolk Catholic won the team title with 176 points. Boone Central scored 24 points for seventh with two entries for state, while Scotus Central Catholic finished in ninth with 20 points and one qualifier. Schuyler placed 11th with 10 points and one state qualifier.

On the girls side, Scotus captured the team title for the third straight year. The Shamrocks finished with 112 points, 14 more than runner-up Norfolk Catholic, and 11 state entries. Boone Central placed seventh with 26 points and three qualifiers. Schuyler and Lakeview finished 10th and 11th, respectively, each with one state qualifier.

Lakeview boys coach Tom Lange said he was impressed with how Skiles gutted out his races to qualify for the state meet with minimal recovery time.

“He ran his best 800 time ever by far,” Lange said. “He had a little difficult time recovering for the mile, and he needs more time than an hour. He was not fully recovered, but he still came through.”

Skiles started his day by winning the triple jump with a personal best of 43 feet, 2 inches. Skiles said the victory pumped him up and also provided comfort because he knew he already punched his ticket to state in at least one event.

In the 800, Skiles said he had to go out fast because on the heat sheet five other athletes entered times within a second of his personal best. Skiles struck quickly and hung on for second place with a time of 2 minutes, 1.9 seconds for a silver medal.

After the 300 hurdles and 200 finals, Skiles was back on the track for the 1,600. Again, he went out fast, but by the third lap he was in a group with four other runners in a breakaway. Skiles ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Norfolk Catholic's Kyle Wemhoff for the entire last lap and eventually edged him at the finish line by .2 of a second for fourth place, the last qualifying spot.

“I had to get it done, and I left it all out there,” Skiles said. “I didn't know (I qualified) right away, but when I saw I got fourth I was pretty excited about it.”

Kaleb Christensen also qualified for state in multiple events for the Vikings. Christensen edged out West Point's Trent Dohmen in the 100 and 200, with times of 11.2 and 22.7, respectively. Jeremy Schreiber also will represent the Vikings at state. He set a new school record in the pole vault by clearing 13-0.5 for second place.

Also medaling for Lakeview were Judd Went (fifth in the shot put), the 400 relay (fifth) and the 1,600 relay (sixth).

On the girls side, Kellie Korth paced the Shamrocks with three gold medals. Like Skiles, Korth's district meet ended in a flurry. Korth claimed her first victory in the 300 hurdles as she ran 47.5 seconds.

After two other events, Korth teamed with April Schueth, Ashley Paprocki and Monica Boeding to win the 400 relay in a season-best time of 50.5. The Shamrocks' time is the second-best in Class B this year.

Scotus sealed their district championship with a first-place finish in the 1,600 relay. Korth, Schueth, Tammie Kozak and Lindsay Gasper combined to run the race in 4:15.6.

“We had kids at every level step up,” Scotus girls coach Janet Tooley said. “It was a great team effort. We had great senior leadership on the relays, and we ran a lot of personal bests.”

Freshmen Katelyn Kerkman and Emily Jarecki also scored victories for the Shamrocks. Kerkman cleared a personal best of 5-2 in the high jump, while Jarecki won the 3,200 by 13 seconds in 12:41.0.

Fellow freshman Monica Boeding qualified for state in four events. In addition to the 400 relay, Boeding placed third in the 100 at 13.0, fourth in the 200 with a time of 27.2 and second in the long jump with a leap of 16-2.5.

Kristin Ostdiek will return to the state track meet as she placed fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.4. She will be joined by Jaisa Gutierrez, who was third in the 1,600 at 5:40.4. Kelli Schumacher rounds out the Shamrock qualifiers as she placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 33-2.5.

Other Scotus medalists included the 3,200 relay (third, 10:24), Korth (fifth, 100 hurdles, 16.1), Paprocki (fourth, triple jump, 33-1; fifth, 100, 13.2; fifth 200, 27.6), Jordan Grubaugh (fifth, 800, 2:33.1), Kara Bogus (fourth, long jump, 15-11.5), Brittany Langan (fourth, high jump, 4-10), Schumacher (sixth, high jump, 4-8) and Alex Gutzmer (sixth, pole vault, 8-6).

The Scotus boys finished the meet with just one qualifier and several close calls. Wyat Rawhouser will be the only male Shamrock at state after he placed fourth in the 200 with a time of 23.5.

Taylor Suess missed state by one spot as he finished fourth in the discus with a toss of 146-11. Lance Schmidt clocked in at 2:07 in the 800, but finished sixth. Also, the 400 relay placed sixth with a time of 45.8.

Other Scotus medalists were Thomas Beller (fifth place, triple jump, 40-10), Alex Kuta (fifth, long jump, 18-11.75), Brent Albracht (sixth, pole vault, 11-6), Rawhouser (sixth, 400, 53.3) the 3,200 relay (fourth, 8:43.9).

“The meet may not have gone the way we wanted, but that doesn't diminish the year we had this year,” Scotus boys coach Jeff Ohnoutka said. “And I think we had a good year.”

Ashley Wurdeman paced the Lakeview girls as she punched her ticket to state in the long jump. Wurdeman recorded a leap of 16-0 to place third. Wurdeman added a sixth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 37-9, while Blaine Muhle was sixth in the discus at 104-6.

Boone Central will be represented by its 400 relay team, which placed second at 45.1, and Brandon Reinhart, who cleared 6-3 to place third in the high jump.

Ryan Wells missed qualifying for state in the shot put by one spot as he was fourth with a toss of 51-7.75. Dusty Dozler placed fifth in the 3,200 at 10:39.7. Finishing sixth for the Cardinals were the 3,200 relay, Tye Nolan (100, 200 and long jump).

For the Boone Central girls, Megan Bygland made state in two events as she was second in the 300 hurdles (48.0) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (15.9). She will be joined by Paige Kolm, who finished fourth in the 1,600 at 5:40.9.

Cardinal throwers Kiley Figgner and Emily Wells, missed qualifying for state by one spot in the shot put and discus, respectively.

Mike Kracl picked up Schuyler's only medal as he won the shot put in 54-7.

Amanda Brichacek paced the Warrior girls with a third-place finish in the shot put on a throw of 38-5.

Katie Flynn placed fifth in the shot put, while Sarah Wheeldon finished sixth in the 400 and 800 with times of 1:03.3 and 2:34.6, respectively.

CLASS B-4 DISTRICT

Thursday at West Point

n Girls Team Standings-1. Scotus Central Catholic 112, 2. Norfolk Catholic 98, 3. Pierce 86, 4. Arlington 62, 5. O'Neill 58, 6. West Point-Beemer 30, 7. Boone Central 26, 8. Wayne 18, 9. Logan View 17, 10. Schuyler 11, 11. Lakeview 9.

n Boys Team Standings-1. Norfolk Catholic 176, 2. Pierce 90, 3. West Point-Beemer 60, 4. Lakeview 55, 5. O'Neill 28.5, 6. Arlington 27.5, 7. Boone Central 24, 8. Logan View 23, 9. Scotus Central Catholic 20, 10. Wayne 13, 11. Schuyler 10.

Class D State Meet

Additional Qualifiers

Two area Class D teams added two more entries for the state meet.

Humphrey High's 400-relay team was the fastest of the five additional relays with a time of 52.20 seconds. The team consists of Sara Macken, Paige Frauendorfer, Hannah Bender and Katie Heesacker.

Newman Grove's Shae Wallin will compete in the 300 hurdles as she ran a time of 50.20 at districts to place third.