Calvary Lutheran earns medals in three relays

Reece Going (center) of Calvary Lutheran pushes himself to the finish line in the Class 1 boys 200-meter dash finals Saturday at Adkins Stadium.
Reece Going (center) of Calvary Lutheran pushes himself to the finish line in the Class 1 boys 200-meter dash finals Saturday at Adkins Stadium.

There was no chance the Calvary Lutheran Lions were going to drop a baton this year.

Sam Felger, Austin Meisel, R.J. Mays and Reece Going made sure their handoffs were perfect during the boys 4x200-meter relay.

"We worked every practice," Going said. "When everyone was feeling 100 percent, we worked. When someone was not feeling 100 percent, we kind of slowed down. But every chance we got we worked on those handoffs."

Their dedication was rewarded with a third-place finish Saturday in the Class 1 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium.

The Lions were one of three teams to finish in the 1:34 range, clocking in at 1:34.24. Van-Far (1:32.05) and Lockwood (1:32.20) took the top two spots.

Felger, Meisel and Going were all on the 4x200 team that was disqualified after dropping a baton during the preliminaries of last year's state championships.

They had no hiccups during Friday's prelims, finishing with the third-fasted time. And they matched that performance in the finals to earn Meiser and Felger their second-career state medal and Mays' first.

Going now has four state medals after winning three Saturday.

The same relay group placed fourth in the 4x100 in 45.81 seconds. Going capped off his day with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 22.94 seconds.

"I was nervous coming in fatigue-wise, but the coaches push me hard and I was ready for it," Going said.

The Lady Lions were able to reverse the curse of the ninth-place finish in the 4x800.

Sarah Johnson, Baileigh Morris, Madeline Wilson and Emma Homfeldt ran the relay in 10:31.87 to place fifth.

"It was so nice to kind of get our revenge and get on the podium," Wilson said.

Wilson, Johnson and Homfeldt were on the 4x800 team that placed ninth last year. The 4x100 and 4x200 relays also finished one spot from the podium.

"I think that just fueled our fire so much more and we worked so hard this year to get on the podium," Wilson said. "It's really rewarding to be up there after getting that ninth place."

The Lady Lions had their ups and downs during the race, running in fourth after the first leg, ninth halfway through the second leg, sixth going into the third leg and 10th with one runner remaining.

Homfeldt made a late charge, making it up to eighth after her first lap and chasing down three more spots during the final 400 meters.

"She is such a powerhouse," Wilson said of Homfeldt. "She's got incredible speed. We would not be in the same place that we are without Emma."

The Lady Lions finished tied for 18th with 14 points in the team standings. The Calvary Lutheran boys tallied 17 points to finish 17th.

West Platte and Worth County each scored 50 points to be co-champions for the Class 1 girls. New Haven was third at with 44 points and Glasgow was fourth with 40 points.

Van-Far won the boys team title with 64 points. Worth County was second with 47 points. Pattonsburg, Valle Catholic and Lutheran: Kansas City tied for third with 32 points.

III

There were three Class 1 records broken Saturday.

Gage McAdams of Tarkio cleared 15-.25 in the boys pole vault to become the record holder.

In the boys javelin, Gage Rush of Stewartsville recorded a mark of 169-8.

Merrideth Spiers of Worth County broke the girls discus record with a throw of 135-9.