Contributing writer
A warm day for the Regional High School Track Meet in Burlington on Friday aided the Goessel boys in qualifying four events for the state track meet this weekend.
Davis Cook launched his best distance in the triple jump, going over 40 feet for the first time this season and winning the event. Heath Goertzen earned fourth place and a state berth with a jump that missed the 40-foot mark only by .50 inches.
Shane Goerzen had the sixth fastest time in the region after the preliminary races and then moved up two spots in the finals of the 100-meter dash to grab fourth place and a trip to state.
The boys 4X800 relay team, Grant Flaming, Ben Wiens, Cook, and Nathan Czarnowsky, improved their time for the season and took third place.
Cook and Czarnowsky finished fifth and sixth respectively in the 800 meter run, scoring points but not qualifying for state.
Ben Wiens also earned a fifth place finish in the 1,600 meter run, helping the boys to a team total 29 points for the meet and eighth place out of sixteen teams.
Boys’ scores:
Triple Jump — 1. Cook 41’ 4”; 4. Goertzen 39’11.50”
100m dash — 4. Goerzen 12.20
800m — 5. Cook 2:14.90; 6. Czarnowsky 2:14.90;
1600m — 5. Ben Wiens 5:29.80;
4X800 Relay 3. (Grant Flaming, B Wiens, Cook, Czarnowsky,) 9:01.60
Goessel Girls
The Bluebird girls qualified two relay teams for state at the regional event. With numbers of athletes increasing for Goessel track this year, Coach Guhr was able to experiment with different combinations and found two relay teams involving six girls that scored points regularly throughout the season.
In the 4X100 Aleena Cook, Ali Buller, Page Hiebert, and Tia Goertzen raced to a third place finish, less than half a second behind second place and a half second ahead of fourth place.
In the 4X400 relay, Hiebert, Goertzen, Erin Brubaker, and Buller put together a second place finish. Both relay teams set their best times of the season.
In individual events, Goertzen won both hurdle events eclipsing her best time in the 300 hurdles by .20 seconds, sending her on to participation in the event for the fourth year.
Buller garnered her best time of the season in the 800-meter run, en route to winning the event.
Page Hiebert earned a third place medal in the 400-meter dash. Erin Brubaker picked up a fifth place in the 300 hurdles as well as Sophie Scheffe in the 1,600-meter run. Only the top four places in the regional meet qualify for state.
The Bluebird girls scored 54 points and finished fourth among the sixteen teams that participated in regionals.
Girls’ scores:
100m Hurdles — 1. Goertzen 16.96
300m Hurdles — 1. Goertzen 50.30; 5. Brubaker 54.20
400m dash — 3. Hiebert 1:06.70
800m — 1. Buller 2:33.60
1600m — 5. Sophie Scheffe 6:23.60
4X100 Relay — 3. (Cook, Buller, Hiebert, Goertzen,) 54.90
4X400 Relay — 2. (Hiebert, Goertzen, Brubaker, Buller) 4:28.70
State Track meet schedule for Goessel
Friday
8:00 a.m. Triple Jump - Cook, Goertzen
9:00 a.m. 100m hurdles - Goertzen
9:45 a.m. 4X100 relay - girls
10:25 a.m. 400m run - Hiebert
11:10 a.m. 300m hurdles - Goertzen
12:45 p.m. 4X400 relay girls
Saturday
9:00 a.m. 100m dash - Goerzen
11:40 a.m. 4X800 relay boys
5:05 p.m. 800m run - Buller
Finals
9:30 a.m. 100m hurdles girls
1:05 p.m. 100m dash boys
3:00 p.m. girls 4X100 relay
3:45 p.m. girls 400 m dash
4:25 p.m. girls 300 hurdles
6:30 p.m. girls 4X400 relay