Roster grows
Photo by Matt Adelman/Douglas Budget Eli Morrill put everything together for his final leap of the day in the Triple Jump event on Monday in Douglas. By landing 40 feet, 11 inches, the junior punched his ticket to the state meet in that event.
After playing red light, green light with Mother Nature on Thursday and Friday, the Dogie track team was finally able to get a competition in on Monday, when they traveled to Douglas for an invite that had been postponed from Friday.
Head coach Matt Conzelman had anticipated that his squad would add to their numbers of state qualifiers, and his prediction became reality as Adalyn Olson added the 100 Meter Hurdles to her state slate, Eli Morrill joined the list of qualifiers in Triple Jump and Casey Matthews also punched his ticket in Pole Vault.
Matthews had a banner day in the vault as he sailed to new heights, and a new personal record, by clearing 12 feet. In doing so, he finished second and also hit the mark for state qualification in 3A.
Morrill also leapt to a new PR in the Triple Jump where he finished second with his state qualifying mark of 40 feet, 11, inches which is right on the 3A qualifying requirement.
“It was Eli’s last jump in the finals, so that was really cool that he could nail that one,” Conzelman said. “I think he just carried more speed into his jump and he looked really comfortable.”
Olson followed the trend set by her teammates by also finishing second in the 100 Meter Hurdles. She ran her personal best for the season with her 16.79 second finish, .11 of a second under the qualifying time for 3A in that event.
“All three of our qualifiers were either right on, or really close to the state qualifying standard,” Conzelman said, chuckling. “We are also really close in a few other events, so I’m thinking we will get more qualified in the next couple of weeks.”
Olson also performed well in the 100 Meter Dash where she one-upped her state qualifying run from last week, finishing first in that race with a PR time of 12.91 seconds.
Lillie Morrill ran a personal best time of 15.08 seconds in the 100 Meter Dash and leaped to a PR of 4 feet, 5 inches in the High Jump. Hollie Swentesky also set a new PR in High Jump by clearing the bar at 4 feet, 3 inches, while McKenzie Rose PR’d in Long Jump with a leap of 12 feet, 7-and-a-half inches.
Though they weren’t personal best times, Aspen Bloom scored big for the Lady Dogies by crossing the finish line first in both the 1600 Meter and 3200 Meter runs.
“It might have been a little bit hot for the distance runners,” Conzelman said. “The wind wasn’t a huge impact on the runners, but it maybe affected them a little bit on the back stretch.”
For the Dogies, PRs were set by Colton Vanderpool Mobley in the 200 Meter Dash, Drew Conzelman in the 100 Meter Dash and Dane Crabtree in Long Jump.
Mobley not only PR’d in the 200, but he also took gold in the race and ran another state qualifying time in that event.
“Colton and Collin [McConkey] have been doing pretty well running consistently in the 100 Meter Dash,” Conzelman said. “If they can keep running in the 11s [second range], that should be pretty good for their chance at state.”
Sam Cunningham stood atop the podium with his first-place finish in the two-mile race. Nate Strickland had a power throw and a PR in Discus, throwing 125 feet, 2 inches, while Aiden Butler tossed a personal best throw of 11 feet, 8 inches.
“It was great conditions for the throwers,” Conzelman said. “Both Nate and Aiden really got underneath it in the discus and had great marks!”
Up next, the Dogies will end the week with a competition at the Not-so-Twilight Meet in Buffalo on Friday where Conzelman expects to see several 3A schools.