Runners compete at Twilight Track Meet
Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
The Dogie track team headed to Buffalo Thursday for the annual Twilight Track Meet. Though scheduled for Friday, the meet was bumped up a day due to forecasted inclement weather.
“I’m glad they moved it up, or we probably wouldn’t have been able to have it,” said head coach Chad Ostenson. “As it was, the rain started before we were done on Thursday.”
The athletes also had to deal with some wind prior to the rain beginning, but despite that Newcastle was able to log some new personal best times and distances, and the Lady Dogies had at least one athlete place in every event but one, while the men had a placer in seven of 11 events.
“The rain started at the beginning of the 200, so it was kind of miserable the rest of the day, but overall it was a good day of competition,” Ostenson reported. “The kids toughed it out and finished pretty well, considering.”
Placing for the Lady Dogies in the running events were Shelby Tidyman who finished eighth in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 14.08, while Tara Carter also picked up eighth place in both the 800 Meter and 1600 Meter runs.
In the Long Jump, Julie Morris finished seventh with a 14-foot, 3-inch leap, while Tidyman was right behind, grabbing seventh by jumping 14 feet, 3 inches.
“The jumpers had kind of a hard time because of the weather. There was a head wind instead of a tail wind, so that makes it a little tougher for them,” Ostenson explained. “Julie and Shelby each had a pretty good day having to fight that.”
For the Dogies, Colton Vanderpool Mobley was second in the 200 Meter Dash and eighth in the 100 Meter, Jacob Prell was fifth with a PR of 59.03 in the 400 Meter, while Thatcher Troftgruben finished fourth with a PR of 5:04.07 in the mile.
“Colton did a nice job and finished the day strong,” Ostenson said. “Thatcher is trying to get under five minutes, so he is getting close to that as well.”
Finally, Thomas Prell was seventh in the Pole Vault event, sailing over the bar at 8 feet, 3 inches.
Across the board, times were generally slower for all athletes competing, however, some Dogies were able to mark personal bests with their races. Sara Huey had a PR in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 15.88 seconds. Duncan Cox (14.15), Jayden Corley (14.66), and Nate Strickland (16.38) also ran PRs in the 100 Meter.
Logan Olson had personal best times of 2:28.18 and 5:36.31, respectively, in the 800 Meter and 1600 Meter runs, while Elijah Morrill and Cage Hardy had yet another personal best in the 110 Meter Hurdles finishing in 20.86 and 21.82 respectively.
“CJ [Hardy] and Eli [Morrill] both had PRs in the 110 hurdles,” Ostenson nodded. “They are moving up in the regional standings and have improved every time they’ve competed.”
Assistant coach Dave Christiansen reported to Ostenson that he had a thrower in every finals. On the girls side, Elizabeth Rushton placed in both the Shotput and the Discus, finishing with a personal best throw of 27 feet, 4 inches in the former and another PR of 83 feet, 4 inches in the Discus, which earned her a third-place finish.
For the men, Jacob Prell also tossed a PR of 38 feet, 10 inches in the Shotput which placed him fifth, while Braden Jenkins finished eighth with a 37-foot, 3-inch throw. Jenkins was also eighth in the Discus with a 111 foot, 4 inch toss. Although he didn’t place in the top eight, Travis Scribner threw 101 feet, 8 inches for a personal best in the discus. That distance was nearly 20 feet better than his previous mark.
“Dave is doing a nice job with the throwers which is great,” Ostenson said. “Several have put up PRs every week so far this year.”
“We’re young, but we are starting to come around at the right time,” he continued. “They’re starting to get it figured out.”
The Dogies have just one more regular season meet before the regional meet, and this week they travel to Sundance on Friday.
