Sports

For the Sandy Creek boys track and field team, the old ABC Wide World of Sports’ theme introduction came to mind, as the Cougars certainly gained some key high moments during the 2023 Class D State Track and Field Championships, but the Sandy Creek boys also felt the agony of defeat in the form of a tough injury to sophomore Rowan Jarosik, which most certainly put a big hit on the plans for the Cougars this past weekend in Omaha.

The Cougars, who qualified for state in seven events, one in the field and six on the track, did come away with a pair of state meet medals, led by the Cougars’ 4x100-meter relay.

The team of Itzamna Diaz, Owen Oglesby, Oliver Oglesby, and Ben Sullivan earned bronze medal hardware in the one-lap sprint relay.

The Cougars’ third-place finish came with a time of 44.81 seconds.

Xavier Marburger left his Harvard track and field legacy on the track and in the field during the Class D State Track and Field Championship meet at Omaha Burke High School May 19 and 20.

That legacy could perhaps be built on a winning drive and a competitive aura about the Cardinal senior, as he closed out his Harvard career claiming three state medals in four events this past weekend.

As the lone state track qualifier, Marburger made the most of his final two days as a Cardinal, earning two medals on the track and one in the field.

His weekend in Omaha began with a huge effort in the triple jump.

Marburger opened the event Friday morning with a season-best 42’ 2.25” leap, which ultimately qualified the Harvard senior for the finals, where on his last jump in the finals, Marburger sailed 42’ 4” to place sixth in the final standings.

Maurice Reide of Parkview Christian earned the event title with a leap of 44’ 1”.

Before the 2023 track and field season even began, Nathan Baldwin shared that back when he picked up the two throwing events in junior high, he wasn’t sure that he’d even stick with each event, saying, “I wasn’t very good and the discus and shot put were frustrating to me.”

His early frustrations a few years ago, however, soon led to amazing rewards, as Baldwin capped his high school career with three straight gold medals, a new state meet record, and school records that could easily stand for a long time to come.

The Concordia University commit for track and field now looks forward to what lies ahead for him, after closing out his high school career with the new state meet record, winning the Class C discus for the third straight year with a final throw of 183’ 10”, erasing a 21-yearold record held by Derric Werner of Elkhorn Valley. Werner’s old mark stood at 182’ 7”.

Xavier Marburger left his mark on the D-6 District track and field championships Wednesday, May 10 at Sandy Creek High School. The Harvard senior claimed gold in four events for the Cardinals, and scored 40 of Harvard’s 46 team points in the process.

Marburger began his day with a pair of wins in the long jump and triple jump, claiming the long jump title with a 19’ 3.5” leap, beating out second-place medalist Tate Kosse of Blue Hill, who sailed 18’ 8” to claim silver.

Marburger then stepped onto the triple jump runway to claim the event title by nearly one foot with his 40’ 2.75” leap. Axtell’s Cayson Havranek followed Marburger with a 39’4.25” leap.

On the track, Marburger dueled it out with Sandy Creek senior Itzamna Diaz for the top two spots and state track berths for both in the 100 and 200-meter sprints.

As would be expected, Sutton senior Nathan Baldwin lived up to his billing as one of the best throwers in the State of Nebraska, regardless of class, as the two-time defending Class C discus champion and the one-time Class C shot put champion earned district gold in the C-7 District meet in Hebron, Thursday, May 11.

Sutton finished sixth as a team in the 10-team meet, collecting 43 total points, while collecting three district championships along the way.

BALDWIN DOMINATES THROWS Baldwin started his day with a win in the discus, taking the district title by nearly 25 feet with a 174’ 11” throw, beating second-place Tyson Kreshel of Wilber-Clatonia who hit the 151-foot mark for the silver medal.

Baldwin’s district performances qualify him for state with the second best district throw in Class C. Trent Uhlir of Battle Creek spun his way to a district title in Northeast Nebraska with a 178’ 6” throw.

SC Boys, Herndon advance to state golf

When freshman Emma Fisher broke into the long-distance scene during the 2023 track and field season, many competitors may not have known anything about the Sandy Creek runner, but as she stepped off the Sandy Creek track after the D-6 District championship, Wednesday, May 10, many in the long-distance world figured out that they best be ready for the Sandy Creek youngster.

Fisher helped lead the Sandy Creek girls to a fourth-place team finish, tied with Deshler, as both teams tallied 62 team points in the D-6 meet. Axtell outpaced second place BDS, 112-96, while Silver Lake placed third with 67 points.

Fisher not only claimed three district titles last week, but in the process, the freshman qualified for state with the fastest qualifying time in the 800-meter run, and had the third fastest qualifying times in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs.

The Sutton boys track team closed out the 2023 regular portion of the track and field season with a thirdplace finish in action at the Mustangs’ home invitational, scoring 91 team points on the day. Milford ran away with the team title, outscoring second-place Heartland 172-95 in the final standings.

Field events totalled 47 team points, led by senior thrower Nathan Baldwin, as Baldwin claimed wins in both the discus and shot put. The discus title came by 44 feet with his throw of 169’ 9” throw. Second place went to TJ Hiett of High Plains Community with a 125’ 9” throw.

Senior Alvino Sanchez secured third place in the discus with a 117 foot toss.

In the shot put, Baldwin also claimed a big win with his 54’ 2” throw, with Heartland’s Garett Regier placing second with a 43’ 5.75,” while Sanchez placed third with a 40’ 7.75” loft.

In what could very well be the tune-up for the upcoming Class D-6 District track and field championships at Sandy Creek High School, the Harvard track teams headed to the SC track complex to the annual Russ Snyder meet, hosted by Lawrence-Nelson, Thursday, May 4.

Senior Xavier Marburger continued his domination of the two jumps and two short sprint races to tally 40 of the Cardinal boys’ 51 team points in the meet.

Marburger’s day began with a nearly two-foot win in the triple jump with his 40’ 11” leap for the gold medal, while silver medalist Randyn Uden of Kenesaw placed second with a 39’ 1” jump.

Marburger then claimed gold in the long jump with an event-best 20’ 1.5” leap, with Blue Hill jumper Tate Kosse taking second with a 18’ 9” jump.

On the track, Marburger’s wins in the 100 and 200-meter dash races would see the Harvard speedster finish the 100 in 11.21 seconds to upend Kosse’s second-place time of 11.77 seconds.

Sutton sophomore Jadyn Friesen certainly found his groove at the Superior Country Club, Thursday, May 4, winning the Southern Nebraska Conference golf meet with a 75.

Not only did Friesen earn top honors in Superior, he dethroned the two-time defending conference champion in the process, edging out Alex Schademann of Fillmore Central by three strokes, as Schademann finished in second place with 78.

Two other golfers also finished play with a 78, including Clayton Zavedny of David City and Jackson Martin of Fairbury. Schademann defeated Zavedny and Martin in a playoff.

Friesen began his day with a 33 on the front nine holes of the 18-hole tournament. The Sutton sophomore then wrapped up his day with a 42 to seal the gold-medal performance with his impressive 75.

Harrison Herndon fell short of the SNC top 10 on the day, placing 12th overall, shooting an 85 throughout the tournament.