Doing the right stuff

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The 2019 track season has been challenging for the Dogies due to inclement weather, however every cloud has a silver lining and last Friday in Wright, several Dogies were able to shine despite the chill in the air.
“It was a good day for distance runners, and once again almost all of them dropped time,” head coach Chad Ostenson began. “Unfortunately, it was cool and there was just enough breeze that it didn’t make great conditions for the sprinters, but we still did okay.”
Cade Ostenson, though still the only state pre-qualifier for the team, added two more events to his postseason slate. The first new addition was the 100 Meter race, in which the senior finished second and set a personal best time of 11 seconds flat. The other qualifying event was the 300 Meter Hurdles which he won by nearly a second, finishing in 41.65. Ostenson also won the long jump event and was the lead off leg of the 4x400 Meter relay team who crossed the finish line in first place on the day. Tristan Troftgruben, Zach Purviance and Gunner Ramsey were the other three legs of that gold medal squad.
As the only Lady Dogie runner at the meet, Hailey McGuire represented her team well scoring 11.5 of the 15.5 team points with her event finishes. Once again, the distance runner competed in the 100 Meter and 200 Meter dash races where in both, she finished in eighth place. Her third event of the day was the 1600 Meter run which has been her specialty. McGuire proved why that is the case as she not only won the race, but she took 15 seconds off her best time so far this season.
“I think we’ve found Hailey’s niche now,” Ostenson nodded. “She enjoys those races and has been doing a nice job, and the speed work she has done with the sprint workouts is working out great in improving her mile time, so she will continue to run these events.”
Lauren Steveson scored the other four points for the Lady Dogies finishing fifth in the shot put with a toss of 29-10.
The Dogies had several first place finishes at the meet including Dylan Talley in the 3200 Meter run who finished in 11:00.96. This was Talley’s season best time despite the fact that he has been nursing a foot injury recently.
Gunner Ramsey was first in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-06, a full four inches higher than the second place finisher.
The 4x800 and the 1600 Meter Medley relay teams also each finished in first place. The 4x8 was manned by Talley, Troftgruben, PJ Martin and Zach Purviance, while the Medley was made up of Grayson Ramsey, Dillon Kenney, Dylan Drost and Mathew Drake.
Several personal bests were also recorded among the men’s team. Gunner Ramsey set a new PR in the 200 Meter race where he finished fifth with a time of 11.57. Drost finished the 100 Meter in 12.17 which was PR for him, and he also picked up a point for his team by coming in eighth.
Peyton Purviance put up a personal best in the 800 Meter run, finishing in 2:37 and in fifth place. Teammates Martin, Max Makousky and Michael Tomlinson also scored points for the Dogies in the 800 finishing in second, fourth and eighth places, respectively.
Tyrell Harrington had a good individual day, shaving time off his 100 Meter race and besting his triple jump record by two feet.
Technically, Troftgruben also set a personal best in the 1600 Meter run, crossing the finish line in second place with a time of 5:06. It is a technical PR given that this is the first time the freshman has competed in this event at the varsity level.
The collective performance of the men resulted in the Dogies tying Upton for first place with 154 points each. The Lady Dogies ended up in seventh place on the day, and combined, the two teams ended the meet in third place with 169.5 points.
“We really did have a pretty good day even though the weather wasn’t the best,” Ostenson smiled. “I keep thinking that we’re going to have a good day for a meet, but this Friday doesn’t look all that promising either.”
Though the temps are supposed to warm up for the weekend, the snow early in the week may get in the way of great conditions by then. The meet in Sundance this Friday is the final regular season meet, so Ostenson is looking at it as a dress rehearsal for the Regional meet next weekend.
“Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and it will be decent by Friday,” he stated. We’re going to try to put kids in the events we think they’ll be competing in next week and hope we get a few more in a position to qualify for the state meet.”