In the final regular meet of the season, the Bobcats track teams each brought home runner-up honors at the Dave Blevins Memorial Track Meet, hosted by Sandhills Valley at Arnold last Thursday. Both the boys and girls finished behind North Platte St. Pat’s teams, but garnered quite a few individual honors.

In the field, senior Abby Stallbaumer grabbed the gold in discus with a throw of 116’ 4”, while Lance Jones finished 3rd in the discus with a throw of 129’ 0”. In the shot put, Rio Remund threw a 49’ 4.5” for an easy 2nd place. Dawson Mason placed 1st in the pole vault with a height of 10’ 0”.

Both of the 4x800 relay teams were solid, placing 1st in boys and girls events and both setting new season best times. The girls team of Erin Fitzgerald, Ava Pandorf, Ivy Tullis, and Ella Cool had a time of 11:01.39, nearly 7 seconds faster than their previous best. The boys team of Trey Connell, Dylan Pandorf, Logan Recoy, and Silas Cool had a time of 8:30.00, a full 10 seconds better than their previous best.

The other individual gold medal on the day went to Ivy Tullis in the 800 with a time of 2:33.63 and a new personal record.

The girls 4x100 relay team of Fitzgerald, Josie Reiff, Charli Vickers, and Halie Recoy placed 2nd and the boys 4x400 relay team of Silas Cool, Dylan Pandorf, Logan Recoy, and Cache Gracey placed 3rd.

Vickers placed 4th in the 100m hurdles with a new personal record of 16.98 seconds. Logan Recoy finished 2nd in the 1600m with a time of 4:49.78 and Dawson Mason finished 5th in the 1600m, as well.

Talli Martin earned a pair of silver medals in the 1600m and 3200m runs. Ella Cool finished 3rd in the 3200m.

In mid-distances, Erin Fitzgerald finished 2nd in the 400m with a new personal record.

Sprinters Cache Gracey and Halie Recoy both brought home medals in the 200m - Gracey in 2nd and Recoy in 4th. Recoy and Reiff finished 6th and 8th, respectively, in the 100; Ethan Furne also finished 8th in the 100m for the boys.

Girls head coach Mike Weverka said he is pleased with the girls performance going into the last week of the regular season.

“After the Blevins meet I felt really good where the girls are at, they are ripe for the striking going into this last week of the season,” he said. “The girls are such competitors - so proud of them!”

A handful of South Loup athletes were selected to participate in the Best in the Midwest Invitational meet on Tuesday in Sutherland. Those chosen to compete were those who have had highly successful and in some cases, a record breaking season.

The Bobcats were pitted against some class B teams (Gothenburg, Cozad, McCook), and Classes C and D competitors. While no team prizes were awarded, medals were given for the top 3 in each event.

Coach Weverka was pleased with his team’s performance, despite the tough competition. “This Best in the Midwest was one of the toughest I’ve ever been to. A lot of meet records and school records went down.”

Boys Head Coach Lane Chesley echoed that sentiment - “It was by far the toughest Best meet in the years I have been involved with South Loup track.”

Cache Gracey was seeded 3rd in the 200m and finished in 3rd with a time of 22.68 seconds, only 0.06 seconds off his personal best. Gracey also placed 5th with the 4x400 relay team with Silas Cool, Dylan Pandorf, and Logan Recoy. The relay finished with a new season best time of 3:33.34, nearly a half-second off their previous best.

Silas Cool also set a new personal record in the 800m with a 1st place finish and a time of 2:02.57. He was the top-seed in his event and is now ranked 8th in the state in Class C.

“I’m really happy for Silas,” said Coach Chesley. This is the second consecutive year that Cool has won this event at Best in the Midwest.

Logan Recoy finished 7th in the 1600m with a time of 4:58.32.

Senior Halie Recoy also placed 7th in the 100m with a time of 13.47 seconds. Her 4x100 relay team finished 6th and a new season best with a time of 53.46 seconds. Other members of the relay were Erin Fitzgerald, Josie Reiff, and Charli Vickers.

The 4x800 relay team with members Erin Fitzgerald, Ava Pandorf, Ella Cool, and Ivy Tullis also placed 8th with a time of 11:29.04.

Charli Vickers set a new personal record in the 300m hurdles with a time of 49.83 seconds and a 7th place finish. She also reset the South Loup co-op record and met a personal goal of getting under 50 seconds.

Distance runners Talli Martin, Ella Cool, and Ivy Tullis just missed the medal podium in the 1600m and 3200m. Martin finished in 4th place in both events, a time of 5:42.20 in the 1600 and a time of 12:38.82 in the 3200.

Ella Cool ran in the 3200 with a time of 12:46.39 and a 5th place finish, while Ivy Tullis finished 7th in the 1600 with a time of 6:00.37.

Rio Remund finished 4th in the shot put with a distance of 47’ 4” and Abby Stallbaumer also placed 4th in the discus with a distance of 119’ 7”.

The Bobcats will travel to Southern Valley on Thursday for the NSAA C8 District meet.

Heading into districts, the Bobcats have many highly ranked athletes who are staring down a trip to the state meet May 19-20 in Omaha. But they are also facing some very stiff competition.

“Districts will be very tough,” said Weverka. “But the competition will pull you along and if they’re fast, you will be fast, too.”

Cache Gracey has multiple district rankings - 1st in the 400; 2nd in the 200. Silas Cool is still at the top of the leaderboard in the 800, and Logan Recoy is ranked 2nd in the 1600. Freshman Crew Witthuhn is on the bubble in the 110m high hurdles with a 4th place ranking.

Ivy Tullis is ranked 2nd in the 800, and senior Talli Martin is ranked 2nd in both the 1600 and 3200. Charli Vickers holds district ranks of 3rd in the 110m hurdles and 2nd in the 300m hurdles.

The boys 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams are both ranked 1st in the district, and the girls 4x800 relay is ranked 2nd; 4x400 is ranked 3rd; and 4x100 is ranked 4th. The top relay from each district will advance to the state meet.

Rio Remund is sitting 2nd in the district in the shot put, and Abby Stallbaumer is 2nd in the discus.

“I’m having a good time and I hate to see it come to an end,” said Weverka. “We’re peaking at the right time.”