Sports

The annual Twin Valley Conference track meet turned out to be a huge show for Harvard’s Xavier Marburger, as the senior earned gold in four events, scoring 40 of the Cardinals’ 48 team points in the nine-team meet at Franklin High School, Saturday, April 29.

For the girls, senior Alyssa Ferguson placed first in the 3,200-meter run and gained fourth-place honors in the 1,600-meter run to tally 14 of the Harvard girls’ 16 team points in Franklin.

Marburger started his day off with a pair of gold medal performances in the long jump and triple jump.

Marburger won the long jump by over a foot with his leap of 19’ 10.5,” to outdistance second-place medalist Tate Kosse, of Blue Hill, as Kosse sailed 18’ 9” for the runner-up finish.

Marburger also earned the win in the triple jump by over one-foot with his leading effort of 39’ 8.” Trailing Marburger in the event was Randyn Uden of Kenesaw, as Uden hit the 38’ 6” mark to gain the silver medal.

Those of you who thought you might have heard some sonic booms throughout South Central Nebraska at around noon, Saturday, April 29, what you might have heard were the bombs that Sutton senior Nathan Baldwin was releasing into the Hebron sky.

Baldwin, who owned the Sutton school record in the discus with his 179-foot throw to win his second straight Class C state discus title at the 2022 state meet in Omaha, took his throwing game to a new level during the 2023 Southern Nebraska Conference track and field championships at Thayer Central High School Saturday.

Baldwin claimed the SNC discus title with a 190’ 9” throw to stretch out his standing school record, and erase a 27-year-old conference record, set by Wilber-Clatonia’s Greg Uher in 1996. Uher’s record stood at 175’ 2.”

As the Sutton Fillies gear up for the upcoming Southern Nebraska Conference meet Saturday, April 29, in Hebron, the Fillies took part in the four-team Doniphan- Trumbull quadrangular, Tuesday, April 18, coming away with 19 total medals.

In field event action, Sutton garnered seven medals, led by a second-place finish in the discus by Jacee Haight, as her throw of 93 feet followed only Ava Larmon of Shelby-Rising City who claimed the win with a 111-foot throw.

In the high jump, Alivia Huxoll and Addison George both placed, with Huxoll gaining a third-place tie with D-T jumper Ridley Sadd, as both cleared the bar at 4’ 6”, while George cleared the bar with a 4’ 6” effort as well, to place fifth.

The shot put also gained two medals for the Fillies, with Haight placing fifth with a 30’ 2.5” throw, while Tori Peterson placed sixth with a 30’ 2” throw.

Xavier Marburger added a new title to his name in action at the Exeter-Millgian Invitational, as Marburger is now a school record breaker. The Harvard senior broke a 93-year-old school record in the 100-meter dash.

Marburger replaces Clyde Higgins in the record books, as his time of 10.99 seconds broke Higgins’ record of 11.0 seconds in the race Tuesday, April 18, at McCool Junction High School.

Marburgers record breaking effort placed him second in the race, as Ryland Garretson of McCool Junction ran to a winning time of 10.82 seconds to claim first place.

In all, Marburger scored 28 of the Cardinals’ 39 team points in the meet. To start the meet, Marburger claimed gold in both the long jump and triple jump.

He hit the 41’ 3.25” mark in the triple jump to edge out Mead’s Beau Lacroix for the win, as Lacroix hit the 40’ 11” mark for second place.

A total of eight junior and senior division trap shooting team members for Sutton capped the Central Nebraska Trapshooting Conference as members of the 2023 all-conference teams as the Sutton Trap team closed out their season in action at the Crooked Creek Gun Club, Saturday, April 22.

In the senior division, Vance Smith was tabbed to the first-team of shooters for the guys, while on the girl’s side of the weekly shooting, Ingelise Andersen and Leah Cool earned first-team honors for Sutton.

Nolen Engel was a second- team selection, while Ryan Tiemeyer was honored as a third-team selection in the final week of shooting near Stockham.

For the junior division, Aniston Jasnoch and Elsa Andersen were tabbed as firstteam selections for the girls, while Gavin VanderLey was selected for the second team.

Jake Dane, for the second straight week paced the Sandy Creek golf team in action at the Fillmore Central Invitational, Tuesday, April 11, at the Hidden Hills Country Club in Geneva.

Dane fired an 18-hole 89 to pace the Cougars and lead Sandy Creek to a runner-up finish behind the Sutton Mustangs.

Sutton gained a four-stroke win over the Cougars, 368372, while the Cougars held off the Heartland Huskies by one stroke for the second- place finish.

Dane opened the tournament with a front nine 40, before rounding out his play with a 49 on the back nine, while facing heavy south winds on the backside of the tournament. Dane finished eighth overall in the tournament Following Dane was Garrett Fisher with a 92, as Fisher finished with a 47 on the front and a 45 on the back to place 10th overall.

Connor Rempe and Logan Sanders also medaled in Geneva, with Rempe placing 11th and Sanders 12th.

Paced by sophomore Harrison Herndon, the Sutton Golf team captured team gold in action at the Fillmore Central Invitational Tuesday, April 11.

The nine-team invitational would see the Mustangs outshoot

TORY DUNCAN | CLAY COUNTY NEWS second-place Sandy Creek by four strokes to gain the team title, winning 368-372 over the Cougars, with Heartland trailing Sandy Creek for third place by one stroke.

The tournament was played under comfortable conditions for the most part on the front nine, but Mother Nature turned the tide for play during the back nine, with players battling strong winds out of the south.

The win for Sutton was a pleasing win for coach Randy Ahrens, as Ahrens shared, “The team has high expectations and they build off each other. The competition at practice has led to improvement.”

Ahrens added, “they talk about the game, and they practice and play the game a lot.

Paced by several multiple scoring events, the Sutton Fillies track and field team fell just two points short of a runner-up team finish in the 2023 Heartland Invitational Thursday, April 13, in Henderson.

Hastings St. Cecilia ran away with the team title, scoring 166 team points, while McCool Junction outlasted Sutton 88-86 to claim the runner-up spot on the day.

Sutton’s three relay teams combined to score 26 total points, as the 4x100 relay team earned gold, while both the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams placed second overall. The 4x100-meter relay team, made up of Kennedy Perrien, Alivia Huxoll, Madilynn Bautista, and Chloe Bergen earned the win with a time of 53.02 seconds to edge out second place St.

Cecilia, who finished with a time of 53.44 seconds.

Emma Fisher and Ella Martin would combine to score 30 of the Sandy Creek girls’ 58 team points during Sandy Creek’s annual home track and field meet Thursday, April 6. In all, Sandy Creek ended the day with eight track medals and two field event medals, as the team placed fifth in the meet.

Fisher dominated the two long-distance races, winning the 1,600-meter run with a time of five minutes, 49.44 seconds, to out-run second place Anna Fitzgerald of Doniphan-Trumbull, who placed second with a time of 6:15.61.

Fisher also outran Fitzgerald in the 3,200-meter run with a winning time of 12:50.12. Fitzgerald finished the race with a time of 13:30.18.

Martin’s big win came in the highly contested 400-meter dash, as Martin held off Hannah Dunning of Doniph an-Trumbull, by a mere one-one hundredth of a second, with Martin finishing in 63.9 seconds and Dunning finishing with a time of 63.91 seconds.

Jake Dane recorded an individual winning effort in action at the Cougars’ home quadrangular outing at the Crooked Creek Country Club in Clay Center, Thursday, April 6. Dane fired a ninehole 37 to be the lone varsity player to shoot under a 40 in the event.

Teammate Logan Sanders followed up with the tie for second place overall with Sutton’s Jadyn Friesen, as the two both carded a 40 to follow Dane.

Rounding out the varsity field for Sandy Creek were Garrett Fisher and Connor Rempe, who tied for fifth overall, as both rounded out play with a 43, while Brady Claycamp finished out play with a 60.

On the junior varsity side of the outing, Sandy Creek was led by Keaton Corman with a 40, while Mason Hinrichs carded a 55 and Cage Kackmeiester, a 64.

TEAM SCORES: Sandy Creek 163, Lawrence-Nelson 174, Sutton 181, Fillmore Central 210.