The Spring sports season kicked off for South Loup with the UNK Indoor Track Invitational on Saturday, March 22, held at Cushing Coliseum on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Several members of both the Bobcats girls’ and boys’ teams participated in the opening meet.

South Loup was one of five teams representing District 8 in Class C. The boys’ team did well in the track events winning several medals. The Bobcats also came home with a gold medal in long jump, where senior Ethan Furne turned in the best jump of his career thus far.

The girls’ team also had an outstanding day with at least one Lady Bobcat qualifying for finals in every event they entered. It was a great way to start the season and give both teams a boost of confidence in their first outing.

Beginning with boys team results, three Bobcats ran in the 60m dash with two of them turning in their fastest times, seniors Ethan Furne (7.45) and AJ Starr (7.70). Junior Conner Paulsen had a time of 7.74 in the prelims. Furne finished 7th in the prelims which sent him to finals where he also finished 7th overall with a time of 7.55.

The 200m also saw three Bobcat competitors - senior CJ Quandt, junior Eli Hunt, and freshman Patrick Eggleston. The trio finished in 12th, 20th, and 23rd place respectively.

In the 400m junior Dylan Pandorf ran his fastest time of 55.14 to earn the 3rd place medal. Freshman Tysen Schacher finished in 16th place with a time of 1:07.84. Unfortunately junior Zane Mercer was disqualified.

Eli Rogers, a junior, was the lone South Loup athlete in the 800m where he finished 10th overall with a time of 2:27.61.