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Dogies Gain Experience at State Meet

By
Sonja Karp, NLJ Sports Editor

Three Lady Dogies and seven Dogie tracksters made their way to Casper Thursday to compete in a highly competitive 3A State Track meet. Head coach Chad Ostenson was pleased with the way his team performed, and is looking forward to the future of Dogie track.
 
“Our sprinters did a nice job, and our young kids got some great experience,” Ostenson reported. “Only three kids who competed were seniors, so we will have some good talent coming back next year.”
 
Sophomore Aspen Bloom and senior Jaylen Ostenson were the two ladies representing Newcastle in Casper. Bloom qualified for state in the 1600 Meter and 3200 Meter races, and Ostenson the Discus at the regional meet last week in Rawlins.
 
Although Bloom didn’t make the podium in either event, she did run impressive races and finished her debut varsity track season with two personal best times. In the mile run, Bloom crossed the line in 13th place with a time of 5:51.33, and in the two-mile she was 14th with a time of 12:55.82.
 
“Aspen ran strong and did well,” Ostenson began. “In the beginning of the year, she would have been content to just stay in, and run with the pack, but it was neat to see her get out and go past five or six kids in the pile and
get back into contention for a top finish.”
 
Ostenson, still suffering a re-injury to her foot, was unable to execute a spin in her discus throw, so ended the meet in 12th place, throwing 91 feet, 4 inches.
 
“It was a little sad not to see her do what she can do,” Ostenson said. “Even in the hurdles, she would have been right in there with the top finishers if she had been healthy.”
 

 
Dogie sprinters Holden McConkey and Colton Vanderpool Mobley were right with the top finishers in the 100 and 200 Meter races, and McConkey earned a place on the podium in the 200.
 
In the 100 Meter, McConkey and Vanderpool Mobley were just out of the finals, finishing in ninth and 10th, respectively. McConkey was seventh in the 200 Meter preliminaries, and improved his place to fifth in the finals, while Vanderpool Mobley was ninth in the prelims, just one place away from advancing to the finals.
 
“The sprinters did really well,” Ostenson said. “Holden moved up two places in the finals of the 200, so it was a great way to end his track career.”
 
Vanderpool Mobley also competed in the 400 Meter race where he finished 13th in the preliminaries.
 
“For it only being his third time running that, I thought he did a great job,” said Ostenson. “He didn’t get his PR, but he was right in there with his best time of the season.”
 
Vanderpool Mobley and McConkey joined with Collin McConkey and Casey Matthews for the 4x100 Meter Relay where the team finished seventh, bringing home some hardware from that event.
 
Jacob Prell matched his sixth-place regional finish with a sixth-place state finish in Shot Put with his toss of 44-9.25.
 
Eli Morrill competed in both the 110 Meter Hurdle race and the Triple Jump. Unfortunately, he DQ’d in the prelims of the hurdles when he crashed on the last of the hurdles, so didn’t finish. However, in the Triple Jump the sophomore was able to get a mark in his 11th-place finish. He executed his best jump of the season, soaring 39-1.5. 
 
“He was doing pretty well in the hurdles before he crashed at the end, but it was a great experience for him,” Ostenson said. “Then he PR’d in the triple jump by about two feet, so he had a really good Saturday in that event.”
 
Matthews took third in Pole Vault with his PR of 11 feet at the regional meet, however he was not able to get over the bar in Casper last weekend.
 
“They started the bar at 11 feet, and since that was Casey’s best height this year, I think that made it a little bit tougher,” Ostenson said. “Usually they can warm up with a 9- or 10-foot start, but at state they needed to be warmed up and ready to go right away.”
 
Finally, in High Jump, CJ Hardy’s best leap was 5-08, tying the sophomore for 10th place.
 
“CJ just clipped the bar with his heel on his final attempt at 5-10,” Ostenson explained. “He has cleared 5-10 and 6-0 all year, but it was great for him to get that experience.”
 
“Probably one of the coolest things we saw all weekend, was a kid from Lander running the fastest time in the nation in the 300 Meter Hurdle,” Ostenson added. “He was just amazing, running a 36.09. It was pretty impressive!”
 
Jaylen Ostenson, McConkey and Prell were the only seniors on the Dogie roster who advanced to the state meet, so coach Ostenson is looking forward to next season with his returning athletes and the incoming freshmen who performed well during the middle school season this year as eighth-graders.
 
“Looking forward to the next couple of years, I think we’ll be on an upward climb,” Ostenson predicted. “We’ve got some pretty strong sophomores, and a good group coming up so that’s fun.”

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