Stephanie Croston

    Two Seward High records fell and a third record was tied at the Central Conference Relays March 29 in Holdrege despite the wind and cold.
     "It went about as well as it could," Coach Brent Jackman said.
     Seward finished five points behind Holdrege and two points ahead of Fairbury, thanks to the 4x200-meter relay, which edged Fairbury for first place.
     The girls' distance medley relay and the shot put teams both broke SHS records. The distance medley is broken into 800-, 400-, 1,200- and 1,600-meter segments. Seward's team of Natasha Mueller, Grace Smetter, Kelsey Christensen and Anna Meyer completed the race in 13:40, breaking the school record by six seconds and winning convincingly, Jackman said.
     Jackman said they had set their sites on the conference record of 13:05, but the wind made that impossible.
     The shot put team threw a combined distance of 99 feet, 4 inches, breaking the old school record by six inches, and still placed fourth. Alyssa Kamphaus unleashed a throw of 40-1, while Tatum Peery threw a personal best of 35-10 and Dana Johnson added a throw of 23-5.
     The 4x200-meter relay team of Lisa Kozisek, Zoie Smetter, Kinzi Roth and Liz Damman tied the school record of 1:53 en route to the victory.
     The 4x800-meter relay team of Mueller, Jordan Seaman, Lauren Kongsjord and Miranda Wisehart won that event in 10:39.
     The 1,600-meter medley relay and sprint medley relay teams each finished second.
     The 1,600-meter medley is broken into two 200-meter, one 400-meter and one 800-meter segments. Team members were Kozisek, Roth, Damman and Christensen.
     The sprint medley is two 100-meter dashes, one 200-meter dash and one 400-meter dash. Team members were Roth, Kayla Schroeder, Kozisek and Damman.
     The triple jump team combined for 94-2, led by Emily Cady at 31-9.5. Grace Smetter jumped 31-5, and Zoie Smetter landed 30-11.5 from the board.
     In the long jump, Zoie Smetter led the way at 15-10.5. Grace Smetter jumped 15-0, with Dani Walker adding 14-1 in her first competition of the season.
     The Jays were missing top pole vaulter Keri Volnek, who was at a SkillsUSA competition, but still tied for fourth in the event with jumps by Shelby Yelden, Walker and Cady.
     In the boys' competition, the goal was to be in the top five, but the Jays were missing several competitors, including Taylor Majerus, who would have helped the team score additional points.
     "The kids who were there competed well and were not far behind Crete," Jackman said. "I was hoping we would beat a couple teams."
     He said a lot of the boys were out of their element in the events, but they gave good efforts and had good attitudes.
     The distance medley relay of Tyler Hackbart, Jordan Odvody, John Cahoon and Grant Vlasin placed third in 12:12.7, while the 4x1,600-meter relay of Vlasin, Hackbart, Cahoon and Daniel Buss was fourth in 20:52.9.
     The hurdle shuttle relay teams both placed third. Team members were Jake Suhr, Delton Werth, Stephen Perkins and Nathan Broeker.
     The long jump team of Nick Bogenreif, Blake Barry and Austin Haskin placed fourth with a combined distance of 55-5.5, and the discus team of Ryan Haskin, Robert Kolterman and Nate Walden threw a combined 344-4 for fourth place.
     The 4x100-meter relay team of Bogenreif, Barry, Matt Brandl and Werth was fifth in 47.6 seconds.
     The 4x200-meter team of Paul Myers, Brandl, Suhr and Werth was fifth in 1:41.8.
     The pole vault team of Bogenreif (13-6) and Perkins (9-0) cleared 22-6 for sixth place.
     "Under the circumstances, they were pretty remarkable," Jackman said of the boys' team.
    Upcoming action
     Seward will begin its regular invitational season Saturday, April 5, at Aurora. Teams competing include some from the western part of the state like Lexington, Grand Island Northwest and Grand Island Central Catholic. Tuesday, April 8, the Jays will see more northern teams.
     "We should be at full strength," Jackman said, adding that Chase Koch would be the exception.
     Koch suffered a stress fracture in his foot and is out until it heals.