Bearcat Track & Field News
Kearney High boys go big at indoor track [03/27/2010]
By BUCK MAHONEY Hub Sports Editor
KEARNEY — The Kearney High boys track team has established its “big hitters.”
Some are known, some are new. Led by its throwers and middle distance runners, the Bearcats posted a few good marks Friday at the KHS Indoor at UNK’s Cushing Coliseum.
The meet actually started outdoors, where Dillon Snider, the defending Class A state champion, won the discus with a throw of 181 feet, 5 inches, which set a meet record.
“Obviously, the wind was a factor,” KHS coach Roger Mathiesen said. “But it was a meet record and we’ve had a lot of really good discus throwers and state champions, so that’s a very good throw.
“And he still has a way to go. It’s still early in the season and he’s got a lot of things to smooth out yet.”
Snider won the event by a wide margin over runner-up and teammate Alex Johnson, who threw 163-9 — and that’s “nothing to sneeze at,” Mathiesen said.
Kearney High also swept the top three spots, and seven of the top eight, in the shot put. Zach Maloley won the event with a throw of 54-9½, with Johnson second and Snider third.
Kearney’s only double winner of the day was sophomore Jacob Olson, who won the 1,600- and the 3,200-meter runs. Mathiesen said Olson’s time in the 1,600 was comparable to the winning time he posted last week at the UNK Indoor. However, last week he didn’t run the 3,200 beforehand.
“That’s a pretty good double and that’s the first time he’s done it, and there was not much rest,” Mathiesen said.
Olson’s winning time in the 1,600 was 4 minutes, 38.22 seconds. He was 1.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Andrew Collins of Gothenburg. In the 3,200, Olson ran 10:04.13 to lead a 1-2-3 Kearney sweep. Matthias Wollberg was second at 10:28.02 and Easton Schlender was third at 10:56.14.
The Bearcats’ other big event was the 800, where Bearcats took the top five spots in the four-team non-scored meet. Chase Svoboda won the race, edging Keathen Fertig by two-hundredths of a second. Mike Currin was third. Svoboda’s winning time was 2:01.70. Currin was at 2:02.16.
Mathiesen said he was very happy with those times in an indoor meet this early in the season. “None of those kids were near being among our higher 800 kids last year,” Mathiesen said. “They really have improved dramatically.”
Kearney’s only other individual winners were Brandon Landanger in the 55-meter intermediate hurdles and Ethan Epley in the high jump.