DISTRICT B-6 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Lady Raiders rally for title

OGALLALA – With state meet berths and district bragging rights on the line, the Sidney High Lady Raiders came through in grand style Thursday at Ogallala High School as they captured a share of their first Class B-6 District title.

With Sidney needing to make up five points in the final event to catch Scottsbluff, the Raiders' 4x400-meter relay team stepped up. The group of Preslie Allen, Abby Heller, Natalie Radcliffe and Genessa Schilz, erased the deficit with their third-place finish in the relay to catch the Bearcats, who finished seventh with no points in the event.

As a result, Sidney and Scottsbluff both scored 93 points to edge Gothenburg by a single point. Mitchell was fourth (76) and Ogallala took fifth (56).

"A lot of credit has to go to our girls," said Raiders head coach John Ganser. "They got just about every point we could have expected. We really showed up later on in the meet, too. You really have to give a lot of credit to our relay teams in the end."

Sidney also produced a pair of individual District champions besides capturing the crown in the 4x100 relay. Savanna Rosenbaum, now a four-time qualifier in the high jump, won her first District championship in the event by clearing 5 feet, 1 inch on her first try.

"I definitely wanted to get a gold medal this time around with it being my last year," Rosenbaum said. "I also wanted to get over five feet on my first try and I did that."

Another senior, Gabbie Addleman, had no trouble handling the role of favorite in the 100-meter hurdles. After taking the title in the hurdles, she later punched her ticket in the 100 meters and 4x100-meter relay. Addleman teamed up with Kelly Von Seggern, Abby Heller and Sara Von Seggern to edge Micthell for just the second time this season.

"I'm super excited, it's a great way to end my year and high school career," Addleman said. "I didn't think I could make it in the 100 earlier in the year but I was getting faster and faster as the season went along and then I thought I might have a good chance."

Joining Addleman at state in the 100 will be Kelly Von Seggern, who finished 0.03 seconds ahead of her teammate in second. Sara Von Seggern qualified in the 200 after taking second behind Gothenburg's Tiani Reeves.

Junior Preslie Allen qualified in both the 400 and 800 by virtue of her second-place finishes. Allen also set a personal-best time and school record at 800 meters with a time of 2:18.61 which was 0.07 seconds behind winner Jori Peters of Mitchell. She erased the previous school record of 2:20.98 set by Jenny Volkmer in 2008.

"Having Jori there really helped to push me. I felt like my legs were going to give out," Allen said. "I wanted to stick with her and thought maybe I could out sprint her in the end, but she's got a good kick too. At least this race was a lot closer than they've been in the past."

In addition to the automatic qualifiers, the Lady Raiders' 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams also qualified based on time.

Though only the top two relay teams automatically make the state field, additional wild-card entrants are added after all the Class B District races have been run. The Sidney 1,600 team includes Allen, Heller, Natalie Radcliffe and Genessa Schilz, who finished third behind Mitchell and Gothenburg.

The 4x800 team, which was fourth, also made the state field. The 3,200 group is formed by the freshmen quartet of Charlie Brockhaus, Chantal Riggs, Kara Birner and Julia Evertson.

"We're going home with a lot of smiles and I want to credit all the assistant coaches for all the hard work they do. It takes everybody and what a great job they did," Gamder said.

The 2015 NSAA State Track and Field Championships open on Friday, May 22 at 8 a.m. MDT. Championships for all classes are scheduled for the next day at the same time.

DISTRICT B-6 RESULTS

At Ogallala High School

GIRLS – TEAM SCORES

1. Sidney, 93; 1. Scottsbluff, 93; 3. Gothenburg, 92; 4. Mitchell, 76; 5. Ogallala, 56; 6. McCook, 40; 7. Gering, 35; 8. Alliance, 23; 9. Chadron, 19.

100 Meters

1. Shanell Primes, Scottsbluff, 12.84; 2. Kelly Von Seggern, Sidney, 12.90; 3. Gabbie Addleman, Sidney, 12.93; 4. Madi Gilg, Gothenburg, 12.99; 5. Sara Von Seggern, Sidney, 13.27; 6. Shayne Coleman, McCook, 13.50.

200 Meters

1. Tiani Reeves, Gothenburg, 25.99; 2. Sara Von Seggern, Sidney, 27.01; 3. Taylor Noe, Scottsbluff, 27.24; 4. Olivia Armstrong, Mitchell, 27.47; 5. Aspen Reifschneider, Mitchell, 27.58; 6. Holli Thomas, McCook, 28.03.

400 Meters

1. Jori Peters, Mitchell, 59.21; 2. Preslie Allen, Sidney, 59.41; 3. Andie Geiken, Gothenburg, 59.84; 4. Rebekah Rawlings, Gering, 1:00.51; 5. Genessa Schilz, Sidney, 1:01.67; 6. Mickenzie Brennan, Alliance, 1:01.71.

800 Meters

1. Jori Peters, Mitchell, 2:18.54; 2. Preslie Allen, Sidney, 2:18.61; 3. Kayla Weyers, Gothenburg, 2:22.97; 4. Emily Jacobs, McCook, 2:25.14; 5. Victoria Schwartz, Gering, 2:27.92; 6. Lauren Shaul, Gering, 2:31.16.

1,600 Meters

1. Drew Gieschen, Ogallala, 5:30.32; 2. Celeste Cardona, Mitchell, 5:33.00; 3. Taylor Muncie, Scottsbluff, 5:33.75; 4. Shayleigh James, Scottsbluff, 5:34.07; 5. Whitney Riesen, Scottsbluff, 5:44.12; 6. Kali Rimington, Gering, 5:47.88.

3,200 Meters

1. Celeste Cardona, Mitchell, 11:56.12; 2. Taylor Muncie, Scottsbluff, 12:11.42; 3. Whitney Riesen, Scottsbluff, 12:15.27; 4. Erin Lindeman, Sidney, 13:01.85; 5. Kelsey Crymble, Ogallala, 13:24.19; 6. Tayler Gipe, Scottsbluff, 13:26.81.

100-Meter Hurdles

1. Gabbie Addleman, Sidney, 16.30; 2. Kyra Willats, Scottsbluff, 16.52; 3. Madison Reiber, Alliance, 16.78; 4. Kai Didier, Scottsbluff, 16.94; 5. Greta Welch, Chadron, 17.43; 6. Kaetlyn Todd, Gering, 17.62.

300-Meter Hurdles

1. Chandler Hageman, Chadron, 48.04; 2. Madison Watson, Mitchell, 48.23; 3. Mana Garcia, Scottsbluff, 48.55; 4. Dana Dunbar, Chadron, 50.26; 5. Jensen Geisert, Ogallala, 50.40; 6. Jade Riedel, Gering, 51.00.

4x100 Relay

1. Sidney (Abby Heller, Kelly Von Seggern, Gabbie Addleman, Sara Von Seggern), 50.59; 2. Mitchell, 50.68; 3. Scottsbluff, 51.42; 4. Gothenburg, 52.20; 5. Ogallala, 52.36; 6. Alliance, 52.61.

4x400 Relay

1. Mitchell, 4:02.85; 2. Gothenburg, 4:04.85; 3. Sidney (Preslie Allen, Abby Heller, Natalie Radcliffe, Genessa Schilz), 4:06.70; 4. Gering, 4:12.05; 5. Alliance, 4:16.87; 6. Chadron, 4:19.26.

4x800 Relay

1. Gering, 9:56.64; 2. Ogallala, 9:57.87; 3. Alliance, 10:08.00; 4. Sidney (Charlie Brockhaus, Chantal Riggs, Kara Birner, Julia Evertson), 10:08.56; 5. Scottsbluff, 10:29.29; 6. Gothenburg, 10:57.91.

Shot Put

1. Tiara Schmidt, McCook, 40-7; 2. Alexandra Lurz, Ogallala, 40-0; 3. Mady Vogel, Gothenburg, 36-4; 4. Sierra Betancur, Scottsbluff, 36-1; 5. Brianna Eckerberg, Gering, 36-0.5; 6. Dakota Wademan, Gering, 35-9.5.

Discus

1. Alexandra Lurz, Ogallala, 128-5; 2. Becca Riley, Gothenburg, 118-9; 3. Sierra Betancur, Scottsbluff, 117-6; 4. Mady Vogel, Gothenburg, 114-11; 5. Precious Williams, Alliance, 113-9; 6. Ashley Eskew, Gothenburg, 111-10.

High Jump

1. Savanna Rosenbaum, Sidney, 5-1; 2. McKeltie Imus, Gering, 4-11; 3. Kendall Schroer, Ogallala, 4-11; 4. Anna Yanke, Scottsbluff, 4-9; 5. Greta Welch, Chadron, 4-9; 6. Dani Carter, Alliance, 4-7.

Pole Vault

1. Haiden Loop, McCook, 9-5; 2. Tiersa Darley, Scottsbluff, 8-11; 3. Jayme Commins, Ogallala, 8-5; 4. Jolene Oliverius, Sidney, 8-5; 5. Jami Flores, Sidney, 8-5; 6. Jasmine Jallen, Sidney, 8-5.

Long Jump

1. Tiani Reeves, Gothenburg, 17-5; 2. Tiara Schmidt, McCook, 16-9.5; 3. Kasey Wellmann, Gothenburg, 16-1.25; 4. Madison Reiber, Alliance, 15-9.25; 5. Aspen Reifschneider, Mitchell, 15-8.25; 6. Kendall Schroer, Ogallala, 15-8.

Triple Jump

1. Tiani Reeves, Gothenburg, 38-2.5; 2. Gracie Stienike, Gothenburg, 32-9.75; 3. Shayne Coleman, McCook, 32-9.25; 4. Aspen Reifschneider, Mitchell, 32-6; 5. Avery Krentz, Scottsbluff, 32-3.75; 6. Alexis Scheele, Ogallala, 31-9.