Records set at first-ever meet, held at Joe Quintal Field

Mitchell Christian School sophomore Aaron Lemon took advantage of the beautiful weather Thursday and broke two MCS track records at the first-ever Mitchell Christian Invitational at Joe Quintal Field in Mitchell.

Lemon ran the 400-meter dash in 53.34 seconds, which broke the previous school record of 54.18 seconds set by Luke Olsen in 2009. Lemon also broke his own record in the long jump event with a leap of 18 feet, 7 inches. Lemon set the school record earlier this year with a jump of 18-feet-4.

“It feels good,” Lemon said of setting the two records on Thursday.

“I’ve just been trying to improve all year and just trying to get better in all my races and hopefully qualify for state.”

Lemon has not qualified for the state meet, but he says he’s working to reach the qualifying time.

“I just want to push myself hard and try as best I can to succeed,” Lemon said.

Mitchell Christian track coach Bob Lemon said no one on the track team has qualified for the state meet, but he feels like the season has been going.

He’s hoping several athletes will be able to pull out qualifying times in their upcoming meets.

The MCS girls 800 relay team, consisting of Taylor Krall, Lindsay Thompson, Brittany Zoss and Alexa Van Laecken, also broke a school record on Thursday with at time of 1 minute, 58.76 seconds. The previous record was 2:00.80 set in 2006. Chandler Nelson recorded a personal best at the meet in the shot put.

He had a throw of 39 feet-11 inches beating his previous best of 39-1.5.

For full results from Thursday’s track meet, see Page B2.

Bob Lemon said the team is finally starting to find its rhythm on the track.

“We had kind of a lull (in the season. We had a two-week break between meets because of weather and other school events so we’re starting to get back into it,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to the next few weeks and really glad that the weather’s been great.”

Plankinton looking forward to co-op with Mount Vernon

Plankinton track coach Lawron Bohr said the team hasn’t had any athletes qualify for the state meet, but the team has a really young roster this year.

“We have a few athletes that are extremely close (to qualifying),” Bohr said.

“Toward the last two weeks of the season here, it’s crunch time. We’re just kind of seeing where we’re at and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.”

Even though Plankinton hasn’t had any state qualifiers this year, he said the main goal is to improve every meet.

“We’re progressing every track meet. We’re just so darn young and that’s our problem. We don’t have any seniors and we have one junior … so we’re extremely young,” Bohr said.

Despite the team’s youth, Bohr said he’s excited for next year, when Plankinton will have a co-op with Mount Vernon. All Plankinton sports teams will form a co-op with Mount Vernon next year besides the football team. The football teams will join forces for the 2013-14 school year. The mascot will be the Titans and the colors will be blue and silver.

“We’re going to have a pretty good track team,” he said. “I’m very excited about it. (Mount Vernon) offers quite a bit, and so do we.”

Hanson’s Robinson wins shot, discus

Hanson track coach Kim DeRouchey is pleased with how the season’s been going.

Her squad is fairly young, but she sees potential in a lot of her athletes.

One of those athletes is senior Ashley Robinson, who has already qualified for the state meet in the shot put and discus events. She qualified in the discus at the Scotland Invitational on April 3, which was Hanson’s first meet of the season, with a throw of 112-feet.

She qualified for the shot put during the Fighting Cougar Invitational on April 10 with a throw of 35-feet-9.

But her best throw of the season came during the Flyer Invitational on April 19, when she had a toss of 38-feet-8.

On Thursday, Robinson won the shot put event with a throw of 38-feet-4.5, and she won the discus with a toss of 117-feet.

“Most of it is just technique and getting your footsteps down,” Robinson said of being able to compete well in her throwing events.

“You have to have all the technique to be able to get (the throws) down and you have to have a lot of power.”

Deinert wins 110, 300 hurdles for MV

Cameron Deinert has been a standout for the Mount Vernon boys’ track team this season, and he’s already qualified for the state meet in the 300-meter hurdles.

On Thursday, Deinert won both the 300 and 110 hurdling events.

He took first place in the 300 with a time of 42.68 seconds and won the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.13, which was his best time this season.

In order to qualify for the state meet in the 110 hurdles, Deinert will need to run a 16.10, which is something he’s hoping he’ll be able to do in his upcoming track meets. This spring, Deinert is also playing baseball and golf.

“It’s hard to balance and find time to practice all three sports,” Deinert said.

Head coach Myron Steffen said he’s pleased with the way Deinert has been competing this year, and he’s hopeful that other athletes will be able to compete in the state meet as well.

“We just try and improve every meet,” Steffen said.

Ethan/Parkston gets boys’ medley team qualified for state

The Ethan/Parkston team also had a successful day at Joe Quintal Field qualifying its boys’ medley relay consisting of Payton Monson, Jesse Thuringer, Kendall Lindeman and Tyler Hohn for the state meet with a time of 3:44.39.

“The boys have been doing excellent,” coach Craig Bruening said.

“We’ve got a lot of boys out this year and that’s different than the past. We’ve got 28 boys and our eyes are on conference championships, but anytime you qualify a team it’s a good thing.”

Bruening said the team has been dealing with a lot of injuries this season.

He said it’s always a goal to make it to the state meet and the team is hoping to send as many individuals and teams as possible.

He said he’s pleased with the way his team has been improving times every track meet.

Tags: track and field, mitchell christian, mount vernon, sports, updates, ethan, parkston, plankinton