The high school track and field teams finished off their season by competing in the Class C state meet in Omaha last Friday and Saturday. In the team standings the boys tied for 23rd with 10 points and the girls tied for 30th with 7 points. “I was very pleased with the way our kids competed at the state meet”, Coach Derry Trampe stated. “We took 12 kids to the state meet and 10 of them brought home medals so you can’t help but be pleased. We had a lot of good performances in the meet with several of our kids either setting a personal best or being very close their best. Also, both of our relays set season best marks at the meet. This is all you can hope for as a coach. I am proud of our kids and our coaching staff.” Chase County won the girls’ state title with 70 points while Lincoln Lutheran took home the runner-up trophy with 53 points. Grand Island Central Catholic took home the team title in the boys’ portion of the meet with 68 points while Battle Creek finished runner-up with 64 points.
The 4 X 800 relay team of Calen Pollard, Owen Lane, Jace Geiser, and John DeRiso got things started for the Chants as they finished 5th in a season best time of 8:28.90 in the first running event of the meet to earn 4 points for the Chants. That would be the only medal the Chants would win on the first day of competition. On Saturday the Chants got off to a great start as Sam Boettcher threw a personal best toss of 148’ 1” in the discus to claim the 7th place medal and score 2 team points. Shortly after the big throw by Boettcher, Lexi Vancura earned a state medal in the triple jump with a leap of 35’ 3”. Her jump was good enough for 5th place and 4 team points. In the next round of field events, Marin Reilly stepped into the shot put ring and tossed the shot 36’ 3.5” to claim an 8th place finish and score 1 point for the team. Next up for the Chants was the 4 X 100 relay team of Lexi Vancura, Journi Moran, Kaidence Wilson, and Birtta Deden. In a near perfect race for them the girls combined to run a season-best time of 51.43 and claim 7th place to earn a medal and 2 points for their team. Right after that race John DeRiso stepped on the track to compete in the 800 meter run. DeRiso ran a personal best time of 2:03.64 to claim the 5th place medal and score another 4 points for the boys. Both John and Lexi won 2 meals each at the meet to cap off their seasons.
In addition to the medal winners, the Chanticleers had several other events that they competed in and performed well. John DeRiso also competed in the 400 and finished 14th in a time of 53.35. Calen Pollard ran the 3200 and placed 17th in a time of 11:03.26. Will Grint just missed qualifying for the finals of the shot put as he finished 10th with a toss of 49’ 6”. Nine people advance to the finals of the field events. For the girls Britta Deden finished 12th in the 100 HH in a time of 16.41, was 14th in the 200 in a time of 27.34 and was disqualified from the 300 LH due to a false start in the preliminaries. Allie Moudry finished 18th in the discus with a toss of 101’ 4” and 15th in the shot put with a throw of 34’ 8”. Journi Moran finished 14th in the triple jump with a leap of 33’ 5”. “Overall, we had a very good season this year and the medals that the kids won at state demonstrated that for us”, Trampe said. “I am very proud of our kids especially our seniors who provided us with great leadership this season. I am going to miss them next year but their influence on the younger members of the team will carry on for the next several years.”