By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley Travis Englund can't quite clear 6-feet 2-inches at the Hastings Track Invitational at Grand Island Northwest. Englund did win the event by clearing 6-feet with the fewest misses. Independent/Scott Kingsley Julie Stoltenberg finishes ahead of Broken Bow's Shelby Hamilton in the 100-meter dash at the Hastings Track Invitational at Northwest High School. Stoltenberg and Hamilton finished second and third respectively in their heat and in the final standings. Click Thumbnails to View

GINW coach Dave Gee split up the boys squad evenly, and that showed in the final point standings. Lexington won the boys team title with 98 points. Northwest White was second with 88 and Northwest Black third with 87.

Gee said the Vikings had 45 to 50 athletes compete on Thursday instead of the usual 25 or so you have compete at most invitationals.

"We doubled our numbers and saw a lot of young kids do some things I was really pleased with," Gee said. "We had a freshman (TJ Schultz) go 19-11 in the long jump which is a nice start for him in his varsity career. We saw a lot of things like that today that were really exciting."

Senior Devin Johnson produced a couple of those exciting performances. Johnson won the long jump with a leap of 22-feet, 6 inches and the 100 in 10.9 seconds.

"Devin's 22-6 is a pretty decent long jump no matter what time of year," Gee said. "He ran a 10.9 in the 100, so he's for real. We knew that."

Northwest's Travis Englund was also a double winner with victories in the high jump (6-0) and the triple jump (41-7 3/4). Viking senior Hadley Cooksley won the shot put with a 55-9 1/2 throw.

GINW also got wins from Jory Plasterer in the 800 (2:06.7) and Chris Thomson in the 3,200 (10:50.4). The Viking 400 relay team of Nick May, Ethan Stutzman, Gary Shuda and Kyre Randolph also won (45.4).

"Overall, I was really pleased with the effort the kids gave," Gee said. "We're excited about where we're going to be once we get our kids all healthy and put them all on the track together. Then I think we'll be a pretty decent team.

"We have a long ways to go. Last year, our first meet was the Aurora Invite which is two and a half weeks away from now, so we were just excited to get a meet in today."

The Central Catholic boys finished fourth with 78 points. Brent Moravec won the 110 high hurdles (15.0) and was second in the triple jump, the long jump and the 200.

Holdrege won the girls team title with 146 points. Broken Bow was competing without standout distance runner Katie White who was out with bronchitis, but the Indians still finished second with 131 points.

Broken Bow got wins from Jenna Miller in the 3,200 (13:10), Callie Arnold in the 300 hurdles (47.8), Chelsey Jones in the high jump (4-10), and the 1,600 relay team of Shelby Hamilton, Taylor Johnson, Jones and Arnold (4:19.4).

The Northwest girls finished third with 86 points while Central Catholic was fourth with 86.

Alicia Statler with wins in the discus (116-5) and the shot put (40-1 3/4) for the Crusaders.

"It was a great start for Alicia," GICC coach Keith Kester said. "Her discus was one of the best throws she's had. It's a great way to start the season.

"She had three personal records in the shot put today and threw over 40-feet for the first time. She was disappointed how she threw last week (at the Nebraska-Kearney Indoor Invitational). To come back like that was a great effort on her part."

GICC's Tali Fredrickson won the long jump (16-2 1/2) and the 100 hurdles in a school-record time of 15.5. She was also second in the triple jump and the 300 hurdles.

"I was really pleased with her long jump she won, but also her triple jump and the 300 hurdles," Kester said. "She had a real nice day for us with two firsts and two seconds."

The Vikings had just one win from sophomore Taylor Johnson in the triple jump (35-1 1/2).

"We have some places we can definitely get better, but we also had some good performances," Northwest coach Kristin Caspar said. "We found out where some girls are and what we need to do to get better."

Caspar said some of the Northwest girls were behind schedule because they also participated in the school musical last week.

"It's early," she said. "We haven't had a meet this early for a couple of years. It makes a difference, but it will help us in the long run.

"We didn't have anybody do a lot today. Three events was the most anybody did just to get going. The girls did a good job."