The Kimball High girls captured the team championship of their own Kimball Track Invite Monday, piling up 167 points en route to the team title. Mitchell and Pine Bluffs tied for runner-up honors with 134 points each, Banner County had 65 and Minatare 6.

Mitchell edged Pine Bluffs for top team honors in the boys division scoring 164 points with Pine Bluffs one point back at 163. Kimball finished with 117, Banner County 46, and Minatare 27.

The Kimball Invite was originally scheduled for this past Saturday, but Kimball High Administration postponed the meet until Monday when the weather forecast called for cold, wind, and snow on Saturday. It was a good call that was well received by coaches, fans, and athletes who enjoyed the warm temperatures on Monday.

The move cost the field one team as Potter-Dix elected to attend the Sidney Invite on Saturday instead of coming to Kimball.

Kimball head girls coach Larry Pahl said, “I am pleased with our marks and times for a season opener. Our entire team performed even better than I thought for our first time out.”

Coach Pahl got good performances from his returning regulars but also got some surprising performances from his freshman tracksters as well.

In looking at some of the individual highlights, junior Kaitlin Moritz was a four event gold medal winner sweeping both hurdle events, winning the long jump, and running a leg on the first place 4x100 relay team. Her times in the 100 meter hurdles were 16.5 and in the 300 hurdles 51.8, both excellent as she showed outstanding form over the sticks.

Coach Pahl said Moritz’s win in the long jump was a pleasant surprise as she won the event at 16 feet even.

Kayli Rageth had a solid day as well winning both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs with respective times of 6:21.4 and 13:37.7. The talented all around athlete who is headed to Hastings College next fall to play basketball, hasn’t shied away from hard work as she logged several miles on Monday. She also  finished second in the long jump to Moritz with her leap of 14-feet 99.5-inches.

The Lady Horns flashed their speed with Whitney Lockwood showing she is all healed from leg problems as she dominated the sprints winning the 100 meter dash in 13.3 and taking the 200 meters in 28.2. She also anchored the winning 4x100 relay team that ran a winning time of 53.5.

Tori Hager ran fourth in the 100 meters in 13.5 and 5th in the 200 in 29.7, and ran legs on the winning 4x100 relay plus a leg on the 4x400 relay team.

Kimball had three places in the 400 meter dash with freshman Halley Keller winning in 1:08.1. Diane Baluska ran second in 1:09.8, and freshman Tessa Shaw fourth in 1:15.5.

Kimball also got additional points in the hurdles from freshman Tessa Shaw who ran fifth in the 100 meter lows in 21.10 and fifth in the 300 intermediates in 1:01. Freshman Emily Poss ran fourth in the event in 58.6.

More points in the pole vault from the freshman class as Keller cleared 7 feet for third place and Taylor Wismer tied for fourth at 6-feet 6-inches. Wismer also ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay, while Baluska, Keller and Shaw all joined Hager on the 4 x 400 relay.

A good showing in the triple jump with Annie McCloud taking second with her leap of 29-feet 9-inches and Tori Reader 3rd at 29-feet 7.75-inches. Reader was also second in the discus with a throw of 89-feet 5-inches. Nice to see Sam Long back in action in the high jump at 4-feet 2-inches. Long missed the volleyball and basketball seasons while recovering from major knee surgery.



Speaking of injuries, coach Pahl was without the services of Hannah Stull who is nursing a ham string pull.

“We caught the injury early and Hannah should be back with us soon,” said Pahl.

Soon could be as early as today (Thursday) at the Bayard C-D meet, but it remains to be seen if Stull will be ready to go.

The Lockwood family contributed a lot of points for the Kimball track teams Monday as sophomore Dalton followed the role of sister Whitney in winning the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.0 seconds flat and ran second in the 200 meters in 25.10.

The Kimball boys have some good overall speed from their young athletes as Sean Grote ran second in the 100 meters in 12.1 with Allen Muneio sixth in 12.4. Theo Amozig ran third in the 200 in 25.7.

Lockwood, Grote, and Muneio teamed with Jake Daum to run third in the 4x100 relay with a time of 48.2. Grote also placed 2nd in the triple Jump at 37’8’2” and Muneio was 6th in the long jump at 17-feet 8-inches.

Kimball had three places in the long jump as Brady Land was third at 19-feet 1-inches, and Daum fifth at 18-feet 2-inches.

Daum ran a good flight of high hurdles as he clocked 16.9 over the 110 meter highs.

Brent Bussinger showed great improvement as well in finishing third in the highs in 17.8 and third in the 300 hurdles in 48.8.

Nolan Adrian, a freshman, ran fifth in the 300 hurdles in 51.6. Grote, a sophomore, also took second in the high jump at 5-feet 2-inches making him a four event medal winner on the day.

In the pole vault, freshman Brady Knigge and junior Jorge DeLeon tied for fourth at 8-feet 6-inches.

Adrian also placed in the 110 meter highs taking sixth with a time of 19.9.

Lance winters, a sophomore, shows promise in the throws as he took fifth in the shotput at 33-feet 7.75-inches and sixth in the discus at 97-feet 6-inches.

Shawn Nagel ran third in the 800 meter run in 2:19.6, Sean Ganskow was third in the 3200 in 12:07.9, and Robert Eby was sixth in the 400, l:04.4. Eby teamed with Chris Cleveland, Ryan Rowley, and Trevor Petersen to run fourth in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:19.5.

Ganskow, Nagel, Eby and Spencer Luppen ran fourth in the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:17.1.

Coach Torn Perlinski was proud and pleased with the performances of the Kimball High boys.

“I was pleased overall with the performances of our entire team. We scored points in about every event, and I was especially pleased with our sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers,” he said.

The Kimball tracksters are right back in action today (Thursday) at the Bayard C-D meet. This is a much larger meet with more schools and more athletes.

Coach Pahl said, “It will be a lot harder to score points at Bayard, but it will give our athletes an opportunity to go up against some tough competitions and see where we stack up at this time of the season.”

Field events begin at 9 a.m. and track events at 10 a.m.

Other winning marks in the boy’s division

Ryan May of Pine Bluffs in the 200 with a time of 24.6, Richie Burke of Mitchell in the 400 in 53.1 and in the 800 in 2:10.2. Taylor James of Mitchell in the 1600 in 5:02.9, Alejandro Garcia of Pine Bluffs in the 3200 in 11:50.3, Chris Gorman of Pine Bluffs in the 110 meter hurdles with a new record of 16.0, Gorman in the 300 hurdles in 43.0, Blayne Gilbert of Pine Bluffs in the high jump at 6-feet, Austin Lang of Pine Bluffs in the vault at 11-feet 6-inches, May of Pine Bluffs in the long jump at 20-feet 1.5-inches, Hunter Dittbenner of Mitchell in the triple jump at 40-feet 4-inches, Tanner Rien of Mitchell in the discus at 131-feet 2-inches, Rien in the shot put at 47-feet 11 and three-quarter inches for a new meet record, Pine Bluffs in the 4x100 relay in 46.8, Mitchell in the 4 x 400 relay in 3:47.5, and Banner County in the 4x800 relay in 9:44.10.

Other winning marks in the girls division

Kinsey Knaub of Banner County in the 800 in 2:50.5, Laura Gross of Pine Bluffs in the high jump at 4-feet 9-inches, Brianne Arnott of Mitchell in the vault at 7-feet 6-inches, Gross of Pine Bluffs in the triple jump at 30-feet nine-and-three-quarter-inches, Bethany Cooper of Banner County in the discus with a record setting throw of 103-feet 6-inches, Cooper in the shotput at 35-feet 9.5-inches, Pine Bluffs in the 4x400 relay in 4:38.3, Mitchell in the 4x800 relay in 11:50.4.