Just making it to Burke Stadium for the NSAA State Track and Field Championships is a pretty big deal. Once an athlete gets there, the size of the stage becomes pretty apparent.
The Malcolm boys and girls track teams sent 12 athletes to the May 20-21 event in Omaha. Eleven were there for the first time.
“We talked to them all week about the atmosphere,” Malcolm head coach Dustin Tobey said. “Until you’ve actually had the experience, it’s hard to comprehend. There’s really no way to prepare for it.”
The Clippers returned home without any medals. Drew Johnson got the closest as he finished one spot away from the medal stand at ninth place in high jump. Like the three medalists who finished ahead of Johnson, the junior cleared six feet. Johnson had more misses and finished just short of the hardware.
“Going in, we felt if Drew could have matched his district jump (of 6-1), he’d be in contention for a medal,” Tobey said. “Unfortunately, he came up just short. I’m glad he’s got another year to try to get back and get on the medal stand.”
Antonio Sims was Malcolm’s only returning state meet competitor. As a junior, he was a part of the Clippers’ 4x100-meter relay qualifying team. This year, he joined Gavin Zoucha, Logan McGreer and Lucas Christensen on the relay team. A bad exchange resulted in a disqualification at the state meet.
Sims also qualified in the 100-meter dash. His preliminary time of 11.59 seconds kept him out of a spot in the finals.
After three years focusing on pole vault and sprints, Zoucha decided to try hurdles this year. The senior qualified in the 300-meter hurdles and ran a 43.3 second race but, did not make the finals.
“Gavin did some special things this year,” Tobey said. “The legacy he leaves is that he modeled competitiveness and work ethic to the underclassmen. I hope that’s something they learned from.”
McGreer was a qualifier in the 400-meter dash. The freshman came up short of the finals after posting a time of 54.84 seconds in the prelims.
“I think the stage was a little overwhelming for Logan,” Tobey said. “He mentioned before the race he was pretty nervous. I have no doubt he’ll be back and will prove what he’s capable of.”
Luke Walters closed out his high school career going 19-1.75 in the long jump.
“Luke kind of came out of nowhere the second half of the season,” Tobey said. “It was pretty cool to see him do so well down the stretch and get to state.”
The Malcolm girls sent six athletes to state in four events. Rachel Lannin and Lillie Beach have been challenging each other all season in the 400-meter dash. Lannin posted a preliminary time of 1:02.16, while Beach finished in 1:05.54.
“One of our goals for this meet was to set some personal records,” Tobey said. “Rachel was the only one that did. She shaved about two seconds off her previous best. I look forward to seeing what she can do the next three years.”
Cora Schweitzer and Keira Farritor each competed in the discus ring. Schweitzer’s best throw was 101-10 while her teammate’s best toss was 101-2.
Alanea Babb was a first time state qualifier in the triple jump. The junior’s best jump was 32-1.5. Kiley Elkins qualified in the high jump. The senior was unable to clear the opening height.
“As a team, we did some good things this season but I hoped for a better outcome at state,” Tobey said. “This is the first time I can recall us taking athletes to the Class C meet and not scoring any points. I hope it motivates them to put in work this summer for weights and conditioning. So much of our success in track is what happens in the offseason.”
