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Hillsboro?s Nathan Vogel takes the baton from Nicholas Mueller for the final leg of Friday?s 4×800. Vogel extended the Trojans? lead over second-place Smoky Valley to nearly nine seconds by the end of the race, and stopped the race clock at 8:46.57. |
The Hillsboro High boys placed third and girls fifth at the 12-school Mid-Central Activities Associa?tion track and field meet Friday at Sterling.
?The athletes from Hillsboro competed well today,? coach Dennis Boldt said. ?I felt we had great focus and determination throughout the meet and the results indicate this as well.?
The Trojan boys, with five first-place performances, scored 80 points to finish behind Marion with 120 and Hesston with 106.
Ishmael Morris and Nathan Vogel once again led the Trojan effort. Morris won the 100 in 11.03 seconds and placed second in the 200 and 400, while Vogel won the 400 in 52.77 and anchored the winning 4×400 (3:33.63) and 4×800 teams (8:46.57).
?It is extremely impressive when these two take first and second in the 400-meter dash by over a second faster than the third-place finisher,? Boldt said.
Morris also ran on the 4×400 team along with Matt Klenda and Nicholas Mueller. David Ratzloff joined Klenda, Mueller and Vogel on the 4×800 team.
Klenda won the open 800 in 2:07.81 for Hillsboro?s other gold medal.
?Matthew ran a great race to win the 800 meter today,? Boldt said. ?He is a determined young man who is yet to hit his peak.?
Beyond the gold-medal winners, Boldt underlined the performance of shot-put throwers Michael Klaassen and John Hein, who both exceeded 48 feet for the first time in their careers.
Klaassen finished third (48-93⁄4) and Hein fourth (48-6).
?These two have been battling all season and pushing each other to better performances each week,? Boldt said. ?These are hard-working guys who like to compete. They are very focused and determined to do well, and their results also are indicative of their efforts.?
The best finish for the Trojan girls, meanwhile, was second place as they totaled 51 points to trail Hesston with 89, Marion 82, Collegiate 72 and Hoisington 69.
Tiffany Rooker cleared a career-best 9 feet to win silver in the pole vault on Thursday. The event was run a day early at Marion because Sterling does not have a pole vault pit.
Dakota Kaufman won silver medals in the triple jump (36-101⁄2 and javelin (112-71⁄2) and bronze in the long jump (16-81⁄2).
?Dakota is battling some injury and we began the day limiting her jumps, but she felt better as the day went along,? Boldt said.
Shelby Koons placed third in the 100 and fifth in the 200.
?Shelby had her best day of her career,? Boldt said. ?Shelby is a very hard-working young lady who deserves this type of success.?
Boldt also praised freshman Callie Serene?s effort in the 800 (2:41.02).
?Callie established herself as one of the best middle-distance athletes in our league with her fourth-place finish in the 800,? he said.
Coming?For the second straight year, Hillsboro will travel later this week to Marion for the Class 3A regional meet. The top four finishers in each event will advance to the state track meet the following weekend in Wichita.
?We look forward to competing at regionals on Friday,? Boldt said. ?With good luck and healthy athletes, I believe we have the opportunity to qualify in many events.?
Field events will begin at 3 p.m., track preliminaries at 4:30 p.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
Joining Hillsboro and Marion at the meet are Northern Heights, Burlington, Council Grove, Southeast of Saline, Halstead, Herington, Hutchin?son Trinity, Jayhawk Linn, Osage City, West Franklin, Central Heights, Sedgwick, Wellsville and Remington.
