Tidyman becomes first individual qualifier

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
It was cold and windy on the wide open plains in Douglas Friday, and Dogie head track coach Chad Ostenson admitted it wasn’t one of his team’s best days, however a few of the Dogies and Lady Dogies managed to do some good things before heading back home.
Shelby Tidyman didn’t let the adverse weather conditions stand in her way as she became the first Newcastle trackster to put up a qualifying time in an individual event. In her fourth-place finish in the 100 Meter Dash, the sophomore clocked in at 13.35, which was .03 of a second under the 3A standard.
“The girls scored pretty well considering there were only four of them, and the boys tied for fourth, so that’s not too bad,” Ostenson began. “It was kind of a tough day so they competed pretty good, considering. Shelby ran well against some good competition and cut half a second off her 200, but she just really had a great race in the 100.”
The Lady Dogies had only four competing, yet were just one point shy of sixth place out of 10 teams. Tidyman and Jaylen Ostenson scored 32 of the squad’s 38 points, while Tiernan Stanton added the other six.
Tidyman earned 14 points with her finish in the 100 Meter Dash, she also was fifth in the 200 Meter Race, and fourth in the long jump. Ostenson picked up 18 with a third-place finish in the 100 Meter Hurdle, second in the 300 Meter Hurdle and fifth in the discus throw, and Stanton was third overall in the shot put.
“Jaylen had a pretty good day,” Ostenson nodded. “She was right on, or better than, her best times in the hurdles and she PR’d in the discus by seven feet. Jay was leading in the 100 until about the fifth or sixth hurdle and then the two Buffalo girls turned it on.”
Ostenson was bested by the two Buffalo athletes in the 100 Meter Hurdle, though the difference between second and third was a mere .07 of a second. There was just .27 of a second difference between first and second in the 300 Meter Hurdle where a Cheyenne South runner just edged Ostenson out. Her time of 50.35 is also a personal best for the sophomore.
Two 3A competitors finished ahead of Ostenson in the discus throw where she let go of a 96-feet, 3-inch toss. 
Tidyman allowed only one 3A competitor to get the better of her in the 100 Meter and the 200 Meter races, finishing in 28.19 in the latter. Her leap of 14 feet, 10 inches was short of her best jump this season, however, given the adverse weather conditions, Coach Ostenson felt she did pretty well.
Stanton put the shot 31 feet, 5 inches which was three inches short of her best toss this season. Had she been on her best distance, it would have earned her second place behind Douglas’ Allyson Fertig who is number one in the state in 3A in this event. 
The team of Ostenson, Stanton, Sierra Blaney and Tidyman also ran their debut relay race as they took on the 4x100 Meter Relay. Unfortunately, a bad handoff disqualified them from finishing with a valid time.
“It was the first time that the girls ran a relay and had only one day to practice handoffs beforehand,” Ostenson said. “If it had been a longer relay, it wouldn’t have made quite as big of a difference, but in a fast race like the 4x1 every moment counts. There’s definitely some potential there though.”
The Dogie men also had a few standouts on the day. Grayson Ramsey cut three seconds off his best time in the 300 Meter Hurdle, Holden McConkey finished in the top eight in both the 100 and 200 Meter races, Braden and Skyler Jenkins broke the top eight in the discus throw which had more than 60 contestants, and the 4x100 and 4x400 Meter Relay teams finished second in each of their races.
“Grayson had a heck of a day in the hurdles! We got to work on them once last week in practice, so I think his time will come down even more,” Ostenson said. “I thought he had probably the best race of the day for us. Cutting three seconds off the 300 hurdles on a cold, windy day is a lot.” 
Ramsey finished in second place in the 300 hurdles in 45.31 seconds, which puts him just two and a half seconds away from qualifying for the state meet. As a member of both the 4x100 and 4x400 Meter Relay teams, he also walked away with two more second-place finishes.
Dylan Drost, Gunner Ramsey and McConkey made up the rest of the 4x1 and that crew crossed the line in 46.59 seconds while the squad of Grayson and Gunner Ramsey, Tristan Troftgruben and Zach Purviance manned the 4x4 and finished in 3:44.94. The 400 Meter Relay team is now less than a second away from a qualifying time, and the mile relay is right at six seconds away from doing the same. 
McConkey finished eighth in the 100 Meter Dash in 12.05, which is right at his best time of the year and tied for fourth in the 200 Meter with a time of 24.09. Drost was right behind McConkey, finishing sixth in 24.35. Drost also nabbed fifth place in the 300 Meter Hurdle, crossing the line in 47.09.
“This was one of Holden’s best meets,” Ostenson conjectured. “He took almost a second off his time in the 200, which is pretty impressive.”
Purviance and Troftgruben were third and sixth, respectively, in the open 400 Meter Race. Purviance finished with a time of 54.18 and Troftgruben in 57.05. Bridger Alishouse took eighth place in the mile run which he completed in 5:22.89.
Braden Jenkins lofted the discus 103 feet, 2 inches for his seventh-place finish, while Skyler Jenkins took eighth with his toss of 100 feet, 1/2 inch.
“That was fun to see both of them compete like that and get into a scoring situation for us.” Ostenson said. “If they can continue to compete like that, they should be able to battle at regionals.”
Finally, in their debut performance the 4x800 Meter Relay team of Troftgruben, Teegan Hatheway, Alishouse and Jacob Prell took second with a time of 9:27.74.
This week the Dogies are off to Buffalo for their annual Twilight Meet on Friday. Field events get started at 2 p.m. with running events taking off at 3:30.