Goessel boys soar to second at state
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
For the first time in 25 years, the Goessel High School boys' track team brought home a team plaque from the state track meet. Included in their success was a new state track meet record.
Garrett Hiebert came into the javelin event with the best throw in 1A during the year. He did not disappoint the Goessel fans and launched his second of six throws, 195-7. This throw, not only earned him first place at state, but set a 1A state meet record by 10 feet.
He continued the scoring for the Bluebird boys with a fourth-place finish in triple jump. His second attempt was his longest, hitting 43-9.5. Teammate Martin Koppitz leaped 39-1 but did not make the finals.
The Bluebird pole vault duo of Brett Goerzen and Craig Banman started the scoring for the team. Both vaulters cleared 12 feet, six inches, but because of fewer misses at previous heights Banman earned four points for fourth place, and Goerzen earned two and one-half points in a tie for fifth place.
Hiebert, Goerzen, and Koppitz were unable to make finals in the 400-meter dash, long jump, and 1600m run, respectively. Brett Goerzen finished eighth in the 100m dash with a sprint of 11.71 seconds.
The boys' 4x100m relay team picked up eight more points with a second-place finish in 44.53 seconds. The team of Brett Goerzen, Travis Fensky, Sheldon Goerzen, and Craig Banman set a school record in Friday's preliminary race with a time of 44.26 seconds.
Both Sheldon Goerzen and Banman did well in the 300m hurdles preliminary race and earned spots in the middle of the track during finals. Banman finished in second place and Goerzen in third, both capturing personal bests, with times of 40.16 and 40.86 respectively.
The 14 points earned in the hurdles event placed Goessel in first place as a team with three events remaining. However, Rawlins County High School had some strong athletes yet to perform and they picked up 15 points in the 800m and 200m races.
With only the 4x400m relay left, the northwest Kansas school had moved into first place and was leading Goessel by five and a half points. The top three leaders in team points had relay teams in the final event of the evening.
Rawlins County edged the Bluebirds by 0.3 seconds in the 4x400 relay to secure the team title, but the Bluebird relay team of Sheldon Goerzen, Craig Banman, Weston Hiebert and Garrett Hiebert earned eight points with a second place finish, setting a season best time of 3:28.44.
The Bluebird boys' team earned the 1A state runner-up trophy for the first time since 1982.
Few athletes get to compete at the state meet and fewer athletes win medals from their events.
For the Bluebird squad, sophomore Craig Banman earned four medals, seniors Garrett Hiebert and Sheldon Goerzen each brought home three medals, senior Brett Goerzen was awarded two, and the following Goessel athletes brought home one medal: Kylee Nikkel, Tricia Fensky, Aspen Frey, Travis Fensky and Weston Hiebert.
Girls
In the last high school track meet of their senior season, two Goessel High School girls ended the season scoring points at the state track meet in Wichita.
Tricia Fensky qualified for the meet in pole vault. She cleared eight feet even which was good enough for a tie for sixth place and one point for the team.
Kylee Nikkel entered the shot put event ranked 13th out of 16 qualifiers from regional competition. Nikkel's second throw went 34-2.5 and was good enough for seventh place and one point for the team.
Freshman Kristen Hoffman ran the 3200-meter run early Friday and finished in eighth place, missing a point by less than two seconds.
The girls 4x800m relay set a new school record at state finishing in 10 minutes, 34.93 seconds and 11th place.
The relay team of an exchange student and three freshmen (Susi Schraml, Lindsey Wedel, Hoffman, and Aspen Frey) look forward to three more years of competitive racing.
Frey ended the Goessel girls' competition in the 1600m run and finished with a time of 5:44.25 and seventh place. As a team the Bluebird girls finished with three points.
Results: (top seven earned medals)
girls
Aspen Frey - 7. 1600m run, 5:4.25.
Kristen Hoffman - 8. 3200m run, 12:54.36.
Kylee Nikkel - 7. Shot put, 34-2.50.
Tricia Fensky - 6 (tie). Pole vault, 8-6.
4x800m relay, eleventh - Susi Schraml, Lindsey Wedel, Hoffman, Frey, 10:34.93.*
*School record
boys
Craig Banman - 2. 300m hurdles, 40.16. 4. Pole vault, 12-6.
Garrett Hiebert - 1. Javelin, 195-7.* 4. Triple jump, 43-9.50. 16. 400m dash, 53.85.
Martin Koppitz - 11. 1600m run, 4:56.89. 16. Triple jump, 39-1.
Brett Goerzen - 5 (tie). Pole vault, 12-6. 8. 100m dash, 11.71. 11. Long jump, 19-10.50.
Sheldon Goerzen - 3. 300m hurdles, 40.86.
4x100m relay, second - B. Goerzen, Travis Fensky, S. Goerzen, Banman, 44.53.
4x400m relay, second - S. Goerzen, Banman, Weston Hiebert, G. Hiebert, 3:28.44.
*State meet record
