Seward boys finish fourth at state track meet

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Cale Wagner won two golds, a silver and a sixth-place medal to help lead the Seward boys’ track team at the state meet May 22 and 23.

In a low-scoring state track meet, the Bluejays finished with 35 points, good enough for fourth place overall.

“It was nice we were in the hunt for the team title for awhile,” Coach Brent Jackman said.

Wagner had “a really good showing,” Jackman said. The senior won both the long jump and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, finished second in the high jump and placed sixth in the 100-meter dash.

“Cale scored 20 points in about 20 minutes,” Jackman said.

Jackman said Wagner has been working on striding out more between the hurdles and not stuttering his steps. The work paid off, as Wagner had the fastest time in the preliminary heats at 39.45 seconds and won the Class B gold in 38.9 seconds.

The hurdle final and the long jump were being contested at the same time, and Jackman said the coaches knew there could be a conflict. Meet officials did not allow Wagner to move to the first flight of the long jump, which would have allowed him to jump before running the hurdle final, Jackman said.

After Wagner finished the hurdles, the officials let him move to the end of the flight for a couple more minutes of recovery. Jackman said his first jump wasn’t where he normally was, but he hit the board well on his second and third attempts, making it to the finals.

His winning jump was 21-11.

“He still pulled it out,” Jackman said.

In the high jump, Wagner cleared the bar at 6-4 on his first attempt, giving him the edge over third place, Jackman said.

The 100-meter dash wasn’t as strong for either Wagner or teammate Kyle Glandt. While Glandt ran close to his normal time in the prelims Friday, Wagner’s time was a little slower. In the finals on Saturday, Wagner finished sixth in 11.21 seconds, with Glandt just behind in seventh in 11.22 seconds.

“Kyle hadn’t made the 100 finals before,” Jackman said.

Zach Marker finished the 100 in 11.36 seconds.

Glandt also finished seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.72 seconds.

Jackman said the cooler weekend temperatures may have slowed the sprinters.

Brevin Sloup competed in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at state. Although he didn’t medal in either, Jackman said, his first three laps in the 3,200 were faster than those in his fastest 1,600.

“He got after the 3,200,” Jackman said.

Sloup’s time in the 1,600 was 4:46.26 and in the 3,200 was 10:10.4, his best of the season.

Adam Holtorf, competing in the discus, was ninth with two throwers left in the prelims, Jackman said. One of those two surpassed Holtorf’s best throw, dropping him out of the finals. His throw of 145-11 was his best of the season, however.

In the girls’ competition, the 4x800-meter relay got things off to a good start with a seventh-place finish in 10:04.43. Team members were Anna Schulz, Angel Roth, Natalie Sloup and Alex George.

“We were seeded seventh and we finished seventh,” Jackman said. “We beat York, but Bennington beat us.”

Mika Brees placed in two of her four events, finishing fourth in the 100-meter dash in 12.8 seconds and sixth in the 200-meter dash in 26.69 seconds. She did not make the finals in the 400, finishing in 1:02.11.

“Four events over two days wore her down,” Jackman said.

Brees was also part of the 4x100-meter relay team with Jensyn Myers, Madison Sloup and Rylee Opfer. A missed hand-off kept the Jays from finishing the race.

Schulz ran in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:27.18 but out of the medals. Roth also competed in the 3,200-meter run, finishing in 12:26.37. Jackman said some of the runners who ran both the relay and the 3,200 had trouble in the longer race.

“Angel came back well,” he said, adding that her time was 12 seconds faster than her district time.

The Jays had two girls in the field events. Anna Baack cleared 9-0 in the pole vault and had good attempts at 9-6, Jackman said. Lauren Kamphaus threw the shot put 35-2.5, which didn’t earn a spot in the finals.

Overall, Jackman said, the athletes had a good time at the two-day meet.

“It kept the coaching staff busy,” he said.

Seward had 18 seniors on its roster at the start of the season. The seniors provided the bulk of the boys’ team’s scoring, Jackman said. The girls’ team will have more back, but it will lose a lot of its depth.

For the boys’ team, he said, “we have some guys who showed some promise.”