Sidney boys win at Ogallala

Considering the rate at which Raiders teammates Logan Lewis and Jake Heeren are improving their distance in the shot put, they may end up being each other's toughest competition before season's end.

With Lewis trumping the field in the shot put, the Red Raiders scored 103.5 points to win the Ed Moore Invitational in Ogallala by a comfortable margin over Mitchell (82) and Cozad (79.5). Host Ogallala (69) finished fourth while Gothenburg (65) rounded out the top five.

Coming into the Ed Moore Invitational, Lewis and Heeren had already made a clean sweep of gold and silver at both Sidney's previous 2014 meets. While Lewis scored his third victory in as many tries this season, Heeren ended Saturday in fourth.

However, the Sidney sophomore surpassed an important milestone along the way. By eclipsing the 50 foot mark for the first time in his career, Heeren established himself as another serious contender for state.

Before the shot put competition began, word had already spread that Gothenburg's Tanner Borchardt had broken the Swedes' school record the week before. At an indoor meet in Kearney, Borchardt had launched the shot 56-10. Outside, however, Lewis had the mark that won the day.

While the shot put finals were being contested, Lewis excused himself to compete in a preliminary heat of the 200 meters. After easily qualifying for finals, he returned to the pit. But the matter had been settled. Neither Borchardt or the other top contenders could match Lewis' earlier 54-03.

"They were all done with the finals when I got here," said Lewis. "I knew I didn't have to beat the 54, but I threw anyway. I ran a pretty hard curve in the 200, so I was pretty tired coming back over here."

In the 200 final Lewis picked up more points for the Raiders with a second place. Even more awaited Sidney in the 100 as Lewis took the bronze. Michael Banaszak also finished in the top six.

Nick Conger also faced the challenge of simultaneous double duty. As he fought his way through a competitive field in the high jump, Conger had to make his way to the other end of the field for the 110-meter high hurdles and back.

"It's tough. Those hurdles can really take the jump out of your legs," said Conger. "You're already warmed up for the high jump and then you have to get ready to run the hurdles. After that you come back and refocus on trying to clear 6-02 and 6-04."

Nonetheless, Conger cleared 6-02 before being stopped at 6-04 to finish second. Jake Paulson of Cozad, who was named Male Athlete of the Meet, won the high jump at 6-05.

As for the hurdles, Conger medaled in fourth in the 110 and was 11th in the 300.

"My start was off in the 300 hurdles, so I had to stutter-step to the first hurdle," said Conger. "That really kills you. You lose all your momentum and it's like you have to start over again. At the end my steps came to me but I'd already lost a lot of ground by then."

Another who had success on both the track and the field was Lucas Rosenbaum. After winning the pole vault in his first two meets, Rosenbaum took second on Saturday with a vault of 13-06. The Sidney senior also picked up a third place in the 400 meters.

Hayden Lienemann had another strong meet with a close second in the open 800 meters before running a leg in two relays. In the 800 Lienemann had a strong final kick which allowed him to pass Ogallala's Skyler Smith in the final meters.

"There was a pretty good race at the end for second, third and fourth," said Lienemann. "I'm glad I had enough to finish it off. I think the pace work we do in practice really helps when a race comes down to the end."

Sidney's long man, Jachob Wiedeburg, ran three metric miles for his day of work. He finished just two seconds from the top spot in the two mile. It was the second straight week Wiedeburg has been runner-up in the 3,200 meters. Perhaps more significantly he shaved 27 seconds off his time from the Sidney meet last week - inching closer to his personal best from last season.

Lieneman was also part of the successful 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams. The 4x800, which included Brody McKnight, Logan Uhlir and Brenner Keane, finished second to a strong Mitchell team.

"In the four-by-eight we all ran faster than last week and cut our time by 10 seconds, but I think we can get below 8:30," Lienemann said of the team that finished in 8:41.80.

Though the Raiders had a strong performance in the 4x800, it was actually the only Raiders relay team that did not cross the finish line first. The 4x400, which was anchored by Lienemann, was a comfortable winner over runner-up Cozad. Lienemann was joined by Hunter Secrest, Rosenbaum and Michael Muggli in the winning effort.

The 4x100 team of Lewis, Chance Anglin, Muggli and Rosenbaum also took the gold with a 1.1 second victory over runner-up Ainsworth.

In the discus, Tucker Wintholz added more than a foot to his toss of last week to earn fourth-place points for the Raiders.

The Raiders pack up for another road meet on Thursday when they travel to the Mitchell Invite. The first field events are scheduled to commence at 11 a.m.

Sidney Girls

With mostly sunny skies and temperatures that reached 70 degrees, it was a perfect day for the Sidney girls track team to hit their stride.

Against a strong field of contenders, the Red Raiders finished fourth at the Ed Moore Invitational in Ogallala on Saturday with 62 points. Mitchell took the top prize with 106 while Gothenburg (94) and Chase County (77) completed the top three. Host Ogallala was fifth with 57 points.

Savanna Rosenbaum provided the first highlight for Sidney when she turned back all contenders in the high jump with her best performance of the young season. She was later joined in the winners circle by Sara VonSeggern, whose personal best was more than enough to hold off all contenders in the 100 meter finals - two of whom happened to be her teammates Abby Heller and Emily Mika.

Rosenbaum vanquished the high-jump competition with a leap of 5-01, besting Chase County's MaKenna Ketter by two inches. Her personal best is the 5-04 she managed as a freshman. Hip surgery following her freshman campaign, however, has had her on the long comeback trail to reach her old form.

Despite the challenges, the junior is two-for-two qualifying for state in the high jump.

"Besides making it to state I would like to be able to equal what I did freshman year," Rosenbaum said. "Since the hip surgery, it's hard to compare what I did then to what I'm doing now."

Rosenbaum came into the meet at Ogallala with the goal of clearing 5 feet for the first time this season. For good measure she cleared an extra inch. Rosenbaum was also top 10 in the 400 meters.

"The weather hasn't been great, so at this point in the season we're just trying to move forward," said Rosenbaum.

On the track it was VonSeggern's personal best time of 12.80 in the 100 meters that had her on the top step of the podium. Additionally, Sidney's strength in the event was evidenced by the placing of three runners in finals.

Heller is just a sophomore while Mika is a freshman. As a junior, VonSeggern is the veteran of the group.

"I'm super excited. Coming in to today I just wanted to go low 13s," said VonSeggern. "After the race I didn't even know I won until we passed the line. I kind of figured it out when I didn't see anyone in my periphery when we passed the line."

After the race VonSeggern was informed she had run a 13.03 according to a hand-held timer. Her official time was announced shortly thereafter. Heller's time of 13.30 earned her a fifth-place medal while Mika was close behind in 13.50.

VonSeggern was able to hold her speed well enough in the 400 meters to claim ninth.

While a Raiders trio showed most of the field their heels in the 100, another quick triumvirate of underclassmen proved themselves in the 200. Genessa Schilz led three runners into the finals in which the sophomore finished second behind Aspen Reifschneider of Mitchell.

Near at hand were teammates Abbie Fraas and Kate Brosnan, who were fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the longer distances Preslie Allen shaved more than seven seconds off her time in the 800 meters to finish in fourth. Alli Ehler was nearly six seconds to the good of her Sidney Invite time for ninth place.

Erin Lindeman and Mia Hernandez, both sophomores, took on the tough challenge of doubling in the mile and two mile. In the 1,600 meters Lindeman was seventh while earlier in the meet she took fourth in the 3,200 meters. Hernandez finished 12 in both endurance events.

In the field events, Chaona Radke was again the Raiders top finisher in the shot put with her mark of 29-09. Though she went for more than 33 feet in the Sidney meet, her best throw on Saturday was deemed a scratch.

Freshman Annalise Lecher (27-11) was also slightly off her previous week's performance. Lecher's discus throw, however, was an improvement from Sidney, with an 84-05 to lead the team.

Sidney showed its best relay form with a third place in the 4x800 with Allen, Schilz and Ehler joining Maddie Stafford. Though the Raiders 4x800 team won last week, the same group off runners managed to knock nearly 30 seconds off its time.

Gabbie Addleman, VonSeggern, Mika and Heller completed a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 while Schilz, Heller, Fraas and Ehler were fifth in the 4x400 relay.

The Raiders will take to the road again for a trip to Mitchell on Thursday. The action is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Ed Moore Invite

Ogallala

Boys Team Scores

1. Sidney 103.5

2. Mitchell 82

3. Cozad 79.5

4. Ogallala 69

5. Gothenburg 65

6. Chase Co. 43

7. Ainsworth 39

8. Chadron 22

9. Perkins Co. 20

10. Valentine 4

Girls Team Scores

1. Mitchell 106

2. Gothenburg 94

3. Chase Co. 77

4. Sidney 62

5. Ogallala 57

6. Ainsworth 44

7. Chadron 27

8. Perkins Co. 23

9. Cozad 22

10. Valentine 14