MORRILL, Neb. – Sophomore Shelby Ekwall paced the Southeast High School track and field team with the team’s lone win of the day at Morrill, Neb.’s Early Bird Invite on Saturday morning.
Ekwall’s throw of 33 feet, 1 inch was good enough to win shot put in the first meet of the season. Ekwall beat out freshman teammates Harper Boche and Kodi Andersen. Boche placed fourth with a toss of 29-11, while Andersen came home 21st with a throw of 25-6.
The trio also finished in the top 12 in discus. Boche’s toss of 76 feet was good for ninth, beating out Ekwall’s throw of 75-4 which was good for 10th. Andersen was 12th at 74 feet.
In the other field events, freshman Sasha Haines finished sixth at a height of 6 feet, 6 inches in pole vault. Haines also finished 29th in long jump at 12-2. Senior Emma Short placed 32nd at 11-9, while freshman Sydney Moeller’s distance of 10-2 was good for 38th.
In the triple jump, senior Hattie Waltemire finished 21st in 23-8.
In running events, the 4x100-meter relay team of Haines, Short, Sadie Cross and Waltermire finished seventh in 1 minute, 0.63 seconds.
Haines just missed making the finals of the 100-meter dash, finishing ninth in 14.47 seconds, while Short was 16th in 14.91. Waltermire was 28th in 15.98.
Freshman Kailey Porter was 26th in the 200-meter dash preliminaries in 34.2 seconds.
In the 400-meter dash, freshman Kailey Poter was 17th in 1:17.65, and Moeller was 27th in 1:31.2.
As a team, the Lady Cyclones finished 12th with 15 points. Crawford, Neb. won the team title with 68 points, while Bayard, Neb. was second with 67.
In the boys’ division, junior Ryan Clapper led the Cyclones with a trio of top five finishes.
Clapper finished fourth in the 100-meter dash in 12.18 seconds while placing second in the 200-meter dash in 24.28 seconds. Clapper also ran a leg of the 4x100 relay, along with Matthew Chapman, Dawson Mullock and Reece Robertson to place fifth in 49.97 seconds.
In the 400-meter dash, freshman Zach Jurek came home 23rd in 1:16.8, and Mullock finished ninth in the 300-meter hurdles in 51.77.
In field events, Mullock placed 15th in long jump with a leap of 17-3, while Robertson was 19th at 16-6. In triple jump, Mullock finished eighth at 36-4, while Robertson placed ninth at 35-1 3/4.
The Cyclones finished tied for ninth with Kimball, Neb. and Guernsey-Sunrise with 14 points. Mitchell, Neb. dominated the team standings with 135 points. Leyton, Neb. was second with 81.
Southeast travels to Bayard, Neb. on Thursday, April 1. Action gets underway at 8:30 a.m.
