Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Record-breaking performances pace Raider state qualifications

By Don Ogle

[email protected]

OGALLALA – Two Sidney High School track records tumbled here Thursday as the Raiders vied for spots at next week's state rack meet in Omaha.

"We finished with a bang," said Raider coach John Ganser of Sidney's day, which saw Raider relay teams on both the boys and girls sides win 4x100 and 4x400 titles.

In claiming their win, the Sidney 4x100 team of Derek Robb, Coby Haas, Michael Banaszak nd Alex Linneman raced to a time of 43.30 seconds, eclipsing by one-tenth of a second a school mark set in 1994.

On the girls side, Sidney pole vaulters Jasmine Jallen and Jolene Oliverius set a new school mark at nine-feet, seven inches. Just last week the pair tied the old record of 9-6, but took the bar higher to finish in second and third place, respectively.

Ganser was pleased with the teams' performances and where they came, because "we scored in a lot of areas – field events, sprints and relays," he said.

Sidney placed second to McCook in the boy's team scoring. McCook logged 121 points, Sidney had 92 and Allince was third with 74. The Sidney girls were also second in the team standings with 98 points. Scottsbluff took the girls team title with 108 points.

Looking forward to state, the question is wether the Raiders can defend their title.

"It's good to qualify the number of kids we did," said Ganser. "That was exciting."

Between the boys and girls teams, the Raiders qualified in 17 events, nine in the boys and eight for the girls, and nearly 30 team members will travel to Omaha.

More could be making the trip to state depending on other district results.The top three finishers in each individual event qualify automatically for state, as do top two relays. Additional state qualifiers could also be named based on the results of all six Class B districts.

As they prepare for state, Ganser said "when it comes to state competition, everybody knows they have to step it up a notch. The kids know that."

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/25/2024 06:49