Bearcat Track & Field News
Kearney boys roll to district victory [05/14/2010]
By BUCK MAHONEY Hub Sports Editor
KEARNEY — About the only lament for the Kearney High boys, who won their 23rd straight district championship Thursday, came on the scoreboard.
“One-hundred ninety-nine? You’ve got to be kidding me. Couldn’t we find one more point?” said one member of the KHS track team after a dominating performance at the A-2 District run at Kearney’s Joe Greeno Field.
Winning eight events and qualifying 24 entries for next week’s state track meet, the Bearcats piled up 199 points to runner-up Lincoln North Star’s 126.
“I felt it was a really good day. Everyone on our team did really good, and it feels good to win,” said sophomore Jacob Olson, who won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and ran on Kearney’s qualifying 4x400 relay.
Teammate Mike Currin, who won the 800, took second to Olson in the 1,600 and Kearney added 1-2-3 finishes in the shot put and discus with Zach Maloley winning the shot put and defending state champion Dillon Snider taking the discus.
Kearney also qualified three in the pole vault with Paul Bolin taking the gold medal.
“We thought it was going to be a dogfight and really, it was over by the middle of the afternoon,” KHS coach Roger Mathiesen said. “I was shocked. That’s a lot of points to score in a district track meet.”
The Bearcats have scored 200 or more points at the district four times in the past 30 years, the last time in 2005.
Olson defeated Currin by five seconds in the 1,600, posting a time of 4 minutes, 34.83 seconds. Earlier in the day, he won the 3,200 by seven seconds over North Star’s James Tank. Olson’s winning time was 9:50.36.
“I was hoping to win both of them. But I knew it would be tough,” he said.
The toughest part? “The second race, the last couple laps really gets on you. I just had to push through it,” he said.
Lincoln North Star’s Sam Housch and Dillon Schrodt were also double winners. Housch won the 110-meter high hurdles and the 200, while Schrodt won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the high jump. The Gators also won the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Kearney’s other gold medalists were Steven Stumbough in the 100 and the 4x800 relay.
“I think we had a great day. We were on it today,” Mathiesen said. “We thought at the beginning of the year that North Star was one of the best invite teams in the state … but our kids had the pedal to the metal.”