Leeling Makes History

SIDNEY--Although a bit on the chilly side, Friday March 22 turned out to be a perfect day for Sidney's Karsyn Leeling, as she began her senior track and field season on a mission to break the Nebraska Girl's High Jump record. Little did she know that she would accomplish that feat in the first meet of the season, on her home track at Sidney High School.

It was a foregone conclusion that Leeling would be take the gold medal home on this day, as her closest competitor, junior Jessica Hoffman from Pine Bluffs, WY, only cleared 5'-0". So at the end of the competition, an increasingly expanding group of onlookers headed towards the High Jump mats at the north end of the stadium, as Leeling continued to jump and approached the record. After clearing 5'-10 1/4", it was announced that Leeling would be going for 6'-0", an All-Class and All-State record. The other events going on simultaneously in the stadium seemed like just background noise for the moments that Leeling collected herself, got her approach down, then shot over the bar clearing six feet, with her body conforming to the horizontal bar yet keeping above it comfortably. The crowd let out a roar as Leeling fell into the mat backwards, gathered herself and then went over to her teammates, coaches and family for congratulations as the enormity of what she had just accomplished started to become a reality. No female athlete had ever cleared 6'-0" in Nebraska High School History, and here was Leeling, in her first meet of the season, already with a big pre-season goal in hand. The multi-sport standout is a University of Nebraska-Lincoln commit, and having the Nebraska High School Girl's record holder in High Jump as a freshman on the Huskers' squad next season was definitely part of the reason why the Huskers aggressively went after Leeling.

"The weather is fine, it's not too cold, but my legs felt a little tight earlier, especially my hamstrings," said Leeling after her record-setting jump. "This was something I'd been hoping to accomplish this year, and I am a bit surprised to get it done in the first meet of the year. It was great that it happened here in Sidney," said Leeling.

After she cleared 6'-0", she attempted to clear 6'-2". She gave it three tries, but came up a little short on each attempt. "I still have a ways to go to get over 6'-2". I was really close on one of my jumps, but just a little short. I think I should be able to clear 6'-2" by the end of the season," she said. Leeling also took gold in the Triple Jump, with her jump of 36'-4" besting the second place finisher's jump by nearly three feet.

The Laramie squads from Wyoming had a great performance at the Sidney Invite, with the boys squad taking first in Division 1 with 127 points, and the girls taking first with 141 points. In Division 1, the Sidney and Gering teams finished second and third, respectively, in both the boys and girls divisions. Sidney had a strong showing, with senior Isak Doty placing first in the 100 Meters, second in the 400 Meters and being part of the gold-winning 4x100 Meter Relay team. Senior Matthew Danch won the Discus with a throw of 124'-2.5", junior Landon Riddle won the Long Jump with a distance of 20'-8". Sidney also had winners in Division II, with senior Luke Holly taking first in the 100 Meters, followed by junior Reid Fiscus and freshman Rhys Dorcey in third place for the Sidney 1-2-3 finish. Dorsey, Fiscus, Alek Doty and Owen Gillham took the gold in Division II 4x100 Meter Relay, and junior Dru Weimer won the gold in Division II Pole Vault, clearing 10'-0".

The Lady Raiders had strong performances in both Division I and Division II. In Division I, senior Payton Schrotberger took gold in the 100 Meters and Long Jump, the 4x100 Meter Relay team of Chloe Ahrens, Melody Sanchez, Karsyn Leeling and Payton Schrotberger won gold and the 4x800 Meter Relay team of Talissa Tanquary, Katie Dowse, Jordyn Schnell and Kylee Kampfe also won their event. Sidney's Division II athletes excelled, with Taylor Sprenger winning the 400 Meters, Rhemy Hicks and Kennedy Hobson placing first and second in the 300 Meter Hurdles, the 4x800 Meter Relay team of Taylor Sprenger, Kyah Hicks, Jenju Peters and Emily Bashtovoi taking first place, Deanna Horst taking the gold in Discus, Carli Black taking gold in Triple Jump and Kierra Schrader winning gold in High Jump.

There were a few outstanding performances in Division II by the Creek Valley Storm team, including Alvin Russell taking silver in the 200 Meters and Luke Fletcher earning silver in High Jump. For the girls, senior Samantha Marin had a second-place finish in Division I in the 3200 Meters and a seventh place finish in the Division I 1600 Meters.

Sidney is next scheduled to compete at the Ed Moore Invite at Ogallala High School on Thursday, March 28. Creek Valley is scheduled to compete at the Sutherland Booster Club Invite at Sutherland High School on March 28, and Leyton and Potter-Dix are scheduled to compete at the Bayard CD Track Invite at Bayard High School on March 28.