SIDNEY TRACK & FIELD INVITE: Leyton, CV hold own vs. larger schools

When Leyton High' senior Kaitlyn Berner crossed the finish line in the 1,600 meters at the Sidney Invite on Saturday, she discovered it wasn't exactly her favorite event. But she still may find occasion to push herself over a metric mile again before the season is over.

Creek Valley Storm freshman Payje Misegadis, on the other hand, just may have discovered she just might be better suited to running sprints after finishing the Division II 100 meters in fourth place.

With Leyton and Creek Valley as part of four Class D schools present at the 10-team Sidney Invite, their were plenty of lessons learned on how best to proceed after both competed in their first outdoor track event of the season at Weymouth Field.

While none of the Class D schools had the numbers to compete for an overall championship, both put in strong performances against many schools which were several times larger. While host Sidney won both the girls' and boys' competitions, Leyton managed to garner nine varsity points in the boys competition and 22 in the girls meet.

Both schools competed largely in Division II, which included varsity athletes from the small schools with some junior varsity entrants from the larger schools.

Leyton

"I never ran the mile in competition before and it was very tiring," said Berner, who tried the 800 for the first time last season and qualified for state. "It was definitely more difficult than I thought. Maybe I'll end up going back and forth between the 800 and mile for training purposes. To tell you the truth, I really didn't like (the mile)."

Despite her displeasure with the event, Berner managed to medal in sixth in Division I with a time of 6:14.84. She also earned additional Division I points by finishing as the runner-up in both the long and triple jumps. In the Division II long jump, Kristine Barnett and Taylor Berner finished in first and third.

Jessica Houk had a strong day as well as she finished sixth in the Division I 200 meters. She also teamed with Abbe Draper, Taylor Berner and Shaela Jenkins to win the Division II 4x100 relay.

"I feel like we had a really good day," said Houk after the relay victory. "The handoff between me and Shaela went really smooth. I was just hoping we could make 58 (seconds) and I feel like we did at least that."

Leyton's winning time was actually significantly faster at 55.64.

Draper, who ran the first leg of the 4x100, also finished third in the Division II high Jump. Meanwhile, Jenkins was sixth in the Division I 100-meter hurdles. Taylor Berner finished just behind Jenkins in seventh. Jenkins has twice qualified for state in the hurdles.

"I think for the first meet the hurdles went really well," Jenkins said. "My time wasn't what I wanted but I think my form was OK and I can work on it from here."

Among the other strong performances for the Leyton girls included a sweep of the top two places in the Division II 400 meters with Cheyenne Nickel edging out Dani McKay. The Storm also took the crown in the Division II 4x400 relay.

The Leyton boys showed strength in the relay's with a fifth-place finish in the Division I 4x400 and fourth in the 4x800. Among the individual events, Jaedon Wann placed fifth in the Division I 3,200 race.

Among the Division II placers, sophomore Drew Brenner was tops in the triple jump while freshman Kort Dye was a close second in the 1,600 meters.

The Warriors will next take to the track on Thursday when they travel to Bayard for the C-D meet.

Creek Valley

Creek Valley, which competed largely in the Division II events, was led by a number of strong performances from both their veterans and newcomers. But like many of the other athletes and coaches, they're still working on what events will suit their talents best.

After Misegadis struggled in the 800 meters at Chadron the week before, she tried her hand at sprinting and just may have found her calling. She finished fourth in Division II finals with another Storm freshman, Allie Blackwelder, a close sixth.

On the boys' side, William Payton had a strong day to lead the Storm in the field events. He won the Divsion II shot put and was sixth in the discus. The Storm boys also put together a strong 4x100 relay team that finished third in Division II. Cody Simmons led off the relay effort and was followed by Roy Koech, Pierce Leef and Cooper Riley as anchor.

"I didn't think we would do as well as we did so I'm pretty happy with it," said Simmons. "I'm hoping now we can work our way up to a second or third place at districts and make state. We've got some work to do, but this was encouraging."

Among the other Division II placers for the Creek Valley boys were Hunter Hendrickson, who was first in the high jump and Nash Leef who was third in the 3,200 meters. Pierce Leef was fourth in the pole vault. Koech and Pierce Leef finished second and fourth in the triple jump.

The other girls Division II placers included Natalie Christofferson, who was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles, second in the pole vault and second in the 300 hurdles. Jesse Straber finished on top in the high jump and sixth in the discus despite having to compete in both events simultaneously.

Straber also managed to top the list of triple jumpers with three other teammates in close pursuit. Stefanie Mitchell finished third in the triple with Misegadis fourth and Samantha Schmid seventh. Schmid also finished runner-up in the mile and fourth in the pole vault, while Mitchell took fourth in the high jump. Misegadis also marked in the pole vault, finishing third just behind Christofferson.

"I keep getting better (in the mile) and I always seem to do better in meets," said Schmid, another of the Storm's promising freshman. "Today Iß was just looking to do better and I knocked five seconds off my time. At practice I go out and try to beat all my split times and keep challenging myself. That outlook really helped me today."

The Storm will join the Warriors at the Bayard C-D meet on Thursday. The first event is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.