Eagles see marks improve at Centennial meet

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The Milford Eagles track teams competed at the Centennial Invitational April 18.

The girls’ team dealt with some absences due to illness and finished in third place out of nine teams, scoring in 12 of 17 events, with a total of 77 points. The boys’ team, however, finished in second place, scoring in 10 of 17 events, with a total of 94 points, their strongest showing of the season to this point. There were 36 personal records set by the teams in several events, as well as five improved performances on the all-time MHS top-10 record boards.

Ellison Piening set a new personal-best mark in the triple jump (31-4), finishing in sixth place. Her jump puts her at tenth on the MHS top-10 charts. Dane Kolb had another double-medal performance, winning the long jump (20-0) and placing second in the triple jump (41-2). His triple jump is a new personal-best and moves him up to seventh on the top-10 charts. Bo Kepler also set a new personal-best in the long jump (19-1.5) to finish in fifth place.

The high jumpers came away with several medals as well. Sarah Spahr placed second (5-2) and Brooklyn McDonald placed fifth (4-10). Isaac Roth also took fifth in the high jump (5-4) and Colby Rautenberg earned his first varsity medal, finishing in sixth place (5-2). Although she didn’t medal, Kinley Petsch cleared 7-0 in the pole vault for the second time this season, tying her personal-best, which is ninth on the MHS top-10 charts.

Addi Mowinkel continues to show steady improvement through the season, finishing fourth in a competitive shot put field. Her throw of 33-9 is another personal-best, putting her tenth on the MHS top-10 charts. Sarah Reynolds also set a personal-best (32-2), coming up short of the medals in ninth place. Camille Stauffer finished third in the discus (115-0) in very windy conditions. She had other strong throws that were blown out-of-bounds. On the boys’ side, Garrett Schoen finished in ninth place with a new personal-best in the shot put (41-5). Gage Dunlap and Korbyn Kemerling also recorded personal-bests in the shot put (31-1.25 and 30-7, respectively).

There were a lot of personal-bests set in the sprint races as the runners took advantage of the windy conditions. Aubrey Burton (13.90), Emily Kenning (14.83), Tyce Lopez (11.85), Thomas Belleau (12.26), and Kemerling (14.24) all recorded their best times of their careers in the 100-meter dash. In the 200-meter dash, Spahr (28.75), Macy Stutzman (29.46), and Raeleigh Kremer (30.04) ran personal-best times, as did Kolb (23.83), Lopez (24.06) and Belleau (25.75). Kolb and Lopez ran their best times in the preliminary races. Kolb finished in fifth place in the final and Lopez finished seventh.

Like the sprinters, the hurdle crew set many personal-best times while also bringing home some medals. Ellison Piening set a personal-best in the prelims (18.33) and finals (17.93) of the 100-meter hurdles, as well as in the 300-meter hurdles (53.77). Piening finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles and ninth in the 300-meter hurdles. Izzy Yeackley also ran personal-bests in both hurdle races, running 18.34 in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles and 56.73 in the 300-meter hurdles.

Caden Nelson also had a big day in the hurdle races, setting personal-bests every time he left the blocks (16.13 in the 110-meter hurdles and 42.94 in the 300-meter hurdles). He placed second in both races. Isaac Roth also placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, running a personal-best time (43.82). Rounding out the scoring for the hurdlers, Gavin Piening placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (17.38).

Despite the wind, there were still quality times and personal-bests turned in from several runners in the longer races. In the 400-meter dash, Tanya Miller placed fourth (1:05.25), just missing her previous best. Amber Gurnsey (1:17.17), Connor Adams (58.69), and Jack Stahl (1:00.97) all recorded personal-bests in the 400.

Lilly Kenning took gold in the 800 (2:26.15), improving her personal-best over that distance, which is second on the MHS top-10 charts. Kenning also finished first in the 1600 (5:58.78) and second in the 3200 (12:03.42), behind the reigning Class B champion. Delaney Carraher placed fifth in the 800 (2:44.81) and Kaitlin Kontor placed fourth in the 1,600 with a new personal-best performance (6:18.61). Hudson Mullet (2:09.68) and Kaleb Eickhoff (2:11.23) placed second and fourth, respectively, in the 800 and Avery Carter (4:52.70) and Gavin Dunlap (4:56.19) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,600. Dunlap took gold in the 3,200, with a time of 10:51.73.

The girls’ 400m relay team of Burton, Spahr, Stutzman and Miller placed fourth in a season-best time of 55.11, but the boys’ team of Zeb Reil, Kolb, Lopez and Nelson missed the third hand-off and was disqualified. The girls’ 1,600m relay of Miller, Stutzman, Carraher and Kenning took fourth place (4:37.62), and the boys’ team of Connor Adams, Carter, Roth and Mullet finished in third (3:47.92). The girls’ 3,200m relay team of Kontor, Carraher, Eliza McGuire and Kisa Schauer finished third (11:27.36), and the boys’ team of Roth, Carter, Eickhoff and Mullet finished first with a time of 8:37.77.

The Eagles are back in action again on Saturday, April 29, at the Southern Nebraska Conference Championships at Thayer Central High School. Field events start at 10 a.m.