The beginning of any season is full of questions, but the 2021 track season has even more.
Without last spring to go on, coaches are trying to fill events with unfamiliar faces.
Centennial opened its track season March 19 at the Bulldog Challenge, hosted by Concordia University. To help maintain a safe environment, CU limited the numbers of athletes and coaches and allowed no fans.
“It was kind of hard to know what to expect going into the meet from having a year off and not being able to bring all our athletes. Concordia capped the numbers for teams at 22 athletes and did not allow any fans because of COVID,” CHS Coach Rob Johansen said. “Probable the hardest part was selecting who got to go and who did not. Much of it came down to how many events could the athlete do in the meet. We had a 13 girls and nine boys split.”
The Centennial girls won the meet with 84 points. The CHS boys were second in the team standings.
Centennial’s girls ran well in the longer distances, with Daylee Dey winning the 1,600-meter run, Madison Brandenburgh winning the 3,200-meter run and 4x800-meter relay team topped the competition.
“Madison is a two-time state cross country runner for us, but has never been able to compete in a track meet until now. It was good to see her have the same success on the track,” Johansen said.
Silver medals for Centennial went to Dey in the 800, the girls’ 4x400-meter relay team, Kate Hirschfeld in the triple jump, Samara Ruether in the pole vault and Kailey Ziegler in the discus.
Boys’ competition
The CHS boys won four events. Sam Tomes was the surprise of the meet, Johansen said, clearing 12-0 to win the pole vault.
“Vaulters get few good weather days to practice and are not usually ready by the first meet. Sam proved he was ready and came ready to compete. Hard work has paid off for him and he got the big reward for it at the meet,” Johansen said.
Ryan Payne won the 3,200-meter run, and Jake Bargen cleared 6-0 to win the high jump.
Centennial’s Will Saunders edged Milford’s Collin Piening in the 60-meter hurdle finals when Piening clipped the final hurdle.
Earning second places were Clinton Turnbull of Centennial in the 3,200-meter run and Carson Fehlhafer of Centennial in the shot put. Fehlhafer also placed third in the discus.
Centennial is scheduled to compete in a four-team meet Friday, March 26, at Louisville. The Broncos will be in action again Tuesday, March 30, at Wilber-Clatonia.
