Tracksters brave the elements

It was cold, windy and pretty miserable last Friday in Upton, but the Newcastle track team was happy to be able to get their second competition under their belts. Environmental conditions had an impact on times and jumps, but according to head coach Chad Ostenson his team competed well despite the adversity thrown at them.
“We were second and third in the 100 Meter dash with Holden [McConkey] and Colten [Vanderpool Mobely], and then Collin [McConkey] was right there in the top ten with his 10th place finish,” Ostenson nodded. “The times are what they are, but as far as hanging in there with some pretty good competition goes, we did a nice job.”
Those same three athletes doubled down on their performance in the 100 Meter dash when they finished second, fourth and fifth (same order as above) in the 200 Meter race as well.
The 4x100 Meter Relay team of Vanderpool Mobely, Collin McConkey, Casey Matthews and Holden McConkey improved their time from two weeks ago to finish second in 45.84. That improvement was enough to qualify the team for the state meet in May.
Jacob Prell had a great day in the shot put, tossing yet another PR of 41-8.25 to take first place in that event. Holden McConkey finished sixth with a put of 37-2 which was impressive given this is the first time competing in the shot put for the senior.
Junior Casey Matthews was second in the 400 Meter run, cutting almost four seconds off his time from two weeks ago with his 56.61 second finish.
“He ran it for the first time in Wheatland, and I don’t even know if he knew exactly what he was doing,” Ostenson explained. “It was fun to see him drop that much time, especially with the weather like it was.” 
CJ Hardy was second in the high jump, and though his 5-10 clearance was two inches under his leap from two weeks ago, given the conditions, it was a good performance. 
Logan Olson was fourth in the 800 Meter run, Eli Morrill finished eighth in the 110 Meter Hurdles, Sam Scribner was ninth in the long jump and fifth in the pole vault.
Juniors Thomas Prell and Nate Strickland were among the top ten in the pole vault and discus respectively, with Strickland hurling a personal best of 105-8. 
The Lady Dogies also showed up to compete. Lizzie Rushton tried her hand at pole vaulting for the first time, and was rewarded with a second place finish after clearing the bar at six feet.
“The wind was blowing so hard that it kept knocking the bar off,” Ostenson stated. “They had to hold onto it, so the fact that the vaulters were able to have a pretty good day between the wind and the cold that made it hard to get a good grip on their pole, is pretty great.”
Julie Morris had a good day which covered the gamut of track and field. The sophomore finished fifth in the 100 Meter dash, fourth in the long jump with a leap of 13-11, and sixth in the shot put with a throw of 27-2. 
Savannah Carr also performed well, trading spots with Morris by taking fourth in the 100 Meter dash in 14.91 seconds, and eighth in the long jump with a 12-10 leap.
Sophomore Aspen Bloom took second in the mile run with a time of 6:07.66, and followed that up with a first place finish in the 800, finishing in 2:41.85.
“I think she was a little disappointed with her time in the mile, so when she got to the 800, she really gutted it out,” Ostenson nodded. “That’s fun to see a kid compete, and when you look at the temperature and the wind, she did a really nice job.”
“The sophomores are really coming along,” Ostenson nodded. “There’s a good group of them in both the boys and the girls.”
Senior Jaylen Ostenson made strides after her first meet of the year two weeks ago by finishing first in the 100 Meter Hurdles with a time of 18.29 and third in the discus with a toss of 86-8. 
“She scratched on a couple of her throws that were 15 to 20 feet further than that one, so she was out there in the 100 feet area,” Ostenson stated. “She’s still working on getting back into a rhythm with the hurdles, but that’s coming.”
She also competed in the 300 Meter Hurdles, but there was a problem with the timing of the race. The athletes were given the option to run it again 30 minutes later, but Ostenson chose to scratch as it wasn’t enough time to recover from the first grueling attempt. 
The ladies were also able to put together a relay for the first time in a few years, and the team of Morris, Carr, Taylor Conklin and Ostenson finished third in the 4x100 Meter relay with a time of 57.14.
The Dogies are scheduled to travel to Custer for a meet on Thursday, however, once again the weather is not looking good for a meet.