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Harrisburg track teams sweep districts

Kevin Oeth, Sports Editor
Posted 5/11/22

Both the girls’ and boys’ track and field teams from Harrisburg High school continue to roll over opponents. On Saturday, the boys and girls both finished ahead of their opponents in team …

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Harrisburg track teams sweep districts

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Both the girls’ and boys’ track and field teams from Harrisburg High school continue to roll over opponents. On Saturday, the boys and girls both finished ahead of their opponents in team scores with the boys gathering six first-place finishes on the day to go along with three second-, one third-, and two fourth-place finishes. 

On the girls’ side, the Lady Bulldogs earned two first-place finishes as well as five seconds, two thirds, and three fourths.

“Our girls not only won but ran away from the next closest team by 51 points,” said Harrisburg coach Blake Logan.  “The most impressive thing about it was that we have zero seniors. Needless to say, the future is extremely bright.” 

The top four finishers in each event will go on to the sectional meet.

Harrisburg sophomore Kaydence Timbrook continues to improve her times as the season wears on. Once again she broke her own personal and school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.05 seconds. That time was good enough for second in the district meet, pushing her on to the sectional.

Timbrook also qualified for sectionals in the 200-meter dash by finishing second with a time of 28.26. She continued to pile up points as a member of the first-place 4x100-meter team and the second-place 4x200-meter team. Joining Timbrook on the 4x100 team were freshman Ella Schwandt, freshman Macie Ellis, and junior Austyn Anderson. On the 4x200 team, junior Brecca Thornhill replaced Schwandt to run the third leg.

The Lady Bulldog relay teams did not stop there as the quartet of Ellis, Schwandt, sophomore Emma Fischer and Thornhill added more points by finishing second in the 4x400-meter event with a time of 4:30.56.

To add to the scoring for Harrisburg, Thornhill took fourth in the 400-meter dash and first in the triple jump with a distance of 10 meters.

Ella Schwandt and Macie Ellis finished second and third in the 300-meter hurdles and Ellis added a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.

Junior Carli Ellis qualified for the sectional meet in three jumping events, finishing second in the high jump, and fourth in both the long jump and triple jump.

Junior Ladaisha McNeill wrapped up the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with a third-place finish in the discus. McNeill recorded a throw of 31.46 meters.

On the boys’ side, things looked grim for the Bulldogs as sophomore Hunter Cole pulled up with what appeared to be some sort of muscle strain after finishing eighth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.05. Cole’s time in the preliminary race was 11.71. For several minutes after the race, Cole was in obvious pain while laying on the infield attended to by teammates and coach Logan. Cole attempted to run in the 200-meter dash but finished with a time of 1:00.81, by walking the race. Harrisburg needed the points from the 200, so Cole finished to earn the points. 

Later while Cole was being checked out by staff in the training area, Logan responded, “We just have to wait and see what the trainers say,” when asked about Cole’s injury.

Meanwhile, senior Brayton Stephenson, after having recently signed a letter of intent to join the Central Methodist track team, made his presence known by qualifying for the sectional meet in the 100-meter dash, finishing fourth with a time of 11.72. Stephenson also excelled in the shot put event, finishing first with a throw of 17.05, and third in the discus, throwing 37.59 meters.

Sophomore Hayven Samuels qualified for the next step in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:43.11.

Senior Travis Gardiner swept the hurdle events, finishing first in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Gardiner was also a member of the 4x400-meter relay team, joining freshman Trace Combs, junior Harley Whitaker, and senior Jace Carr to take first place. 

“Going into the 4x400, our boys were tied in the overall standing with a team that had beaten us two weeks prior by less than a second,” said Logan. “Jace Carr, our senior anchor, got the baton behind our opponent by about 10 to 15 meters. He came back in the final stretch and won the race by less than a second to put our boys in the lead for good.” Gardiner and teammates Whitaker, Carr, and junior Austin Darwent took second in the 4x100-meter relay to garner more points for the Bulldogs. 

Cole was replaced in the relay by Darwent.

The Bulldogs proved dominant in the 4x100-meter dash as well. With the team of Stephenson, Whitaker, Cole, and Carr grabbing the gold.

In the field events, Jace Carr took second in the long jump with a distance of 6.32 meters.

Senior Tanner Fike finished first in the javelin throw, outdistancing the second-place finisher by almost three meters. Fike’s throw covered a distance of 46.66 meters. Fike also contributed points by finishing second in the shot put behind Stephenson with a throw of 14.10 meters. 

When contacted on Monday, coach Logan stated that Cole would be out until further notice.

On Saturday, May 14, the Bulldogs will head to Monroe City for the sectional. meet.

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