Chase Co. takes 4th at Ed Moore Invitational

Facing a tough field in Ogallala’s Ed Moore Invite, Chase County boys’ track coach Carl Zuege liked what he saw last Thursday.
“I saw our athletes really compete and show great signs of the culture that we aim for every year,” Zuege said.
While the team has won several times in the last five years, this fourth place finish was maybe one of the most satisfying, he added.
Ryan Bernhardt took the Longhorns’ lone win in the long jump, tying for first place with a personal best jump of 20’5.25”.
Brit Gockley was second in the pole vault and Cedric Maxwell second in the 400 meter dash.
Clay Meeske placed third in the 400 meter dash and notched a personal best in the race. Meeske went on to place fifth in the 800 meter run.
All three CCS entries advanced to the finals of the 100 meter dash. Dawson Mollendor placed third, Bernhardt was fifth and Chase Rowley finished eighth.
Rowley and Mollendor went on to finish seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 200 meter dash.
Kade Anderson was sixth in the 110 meter hurdles and eighth in the 300 meter hurdles. Freshman Easton Fries was seventh in the 300 meter hurdles.
CCS took second in the 400 meter relay, fifth in the 1,600 meter relay and seventh in the 3,200 meter relay.
Also earning team points in field events were Carter Leibbrandt, fifth in the pole vault with a PR, and Jaret Peterson, eighth in the discus.
    “I thought that our kids competed about as well as I could

have hoped for, maybe even better,” Zuege said.
CCS seniors and juniors set five PRs at the meet.
    “I thought guys like Ryan Bernhardt, Cedric Maxwell, Clay Meeske, Brit Gockley and Chase Rowley really led the way for us,” Zuege said.
    Though Maxwell and Meeske are still a little behind in their training due to state basketball, Zuege thought they showed great character and leadership all day long for CCS.
    Zuege also mentioned Mollendor and Anderson as having excellent days.
    “We also got some good contributions from our younger vaulters and jumpers, and I was especially pleased with our two freshman throwers who have already improved a great deal since just last week,” Zuege said, then added, some of these events where CCS is really young are going to be big time strengths over the next several years.
    “We have some very talented young guys,” he said.
The Longhorns will be at Cambridge’s Don Stine Invite Saturday. Attending will be Arapahoe, Chase County, Cambridge, Dundy County-Stratton, Lexington JV, Loomis, McCook JV, North Platte JV, Ogallala, Southern Valley, Southwest and Wauneta-Palisade.
Zuege said he loves that the meet is JV and varsity.
    “Every opportunity that our JV guys get to compete helps them to develop and helps to develop the overall depth of our team,” Zuege said.
    He added that it will be fun to see some of the southwestern Nebraska teams at Cambridge that CCS hasn’t seen yet this year.
    The Longhorns biggest goal for this meet will be to continue to improve as individuals and as a team, Zuege said.
    “We’d like to see a bunch of PRs and to see our depth begin to play a part in some of these smaller meets. Over the last several years our depth has been our greatest strength, and with nearly 40 guys out for track, we sure think that can continue,” he said.

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