Jackson Heights' Ericka White (shown above) leaps over the bar while competing in the high jump at a track meet earlier this season. White and several other young Cobras have had a lot of success this spring, which coach Lyle Alley has taken as a positive sign for the team both in regards to the near and distant future.

Panthers, Cobras compete in dual track meet at Seneca

Thu, 05/07/2015 - 10:42 holtonadmin

By Kelly Breckunitch

As the championship stretch of meets approach, track teams are looking for athletes to keep progressing and keep pushing themselves to be at their best when they enter those competitions.

Both the Royal Valley and Jackson Heights track teams were pushed in a meet hosted by Nemaha Central on Tuesday and each team had a number of athletes rise to the occasion.

For Royal Valley, its standard bearers continued to perform as expected with Patrick Broxterman winning the varsity boys high jump and Eugene Masquat taking second in both varsity hurdle races.

Lucas Broxterman has also been at the forefront of the team and got the chance to compete in the JV division in Seneca, winning both the long jump and high jump on Tuesday, while Kate Hanson and Macy Putnam turned in results in the girls varsity division on par with what they have been doing all season.

Some other athletes are starting to join that previously mentioned group and rise to the top, and Jarrett Roy’s performance in the javelin on Tuesday was the perfect example.

“Jarrett Roy had a great day throwing. He PR’d by about eight feet from what he did at De Soto, which was a personal record, too. He’s really starting to perform well here down the stretch,” RV coach Denise Visocsky said.

Another athlete who got a chance to compete against a more level competitive field was freshman Katie Hanshaw, who continues to progress on the track and went on to win the 3200m run and take second in the 1600m run on Tuesday.

“Katie Hansahw did great Tuesday night. She PR’d in the two-mile last night. She’s starting to really cruise along,” Visocsky said.

Coming out of that tough meet, Visocsky said the RV athletes will continue to keep pushing and work to improve their marks and set new personal bests as the Panthers prepare for the start of the championship stretch.

Royal Valley will first host its May Invitational at 4 p.m. on Thursday before heading to Effingham for the Big Seven League meet next Thursday.

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The Cobras saw some of the same benefits from the meet in Seneca on Tuesday and once again in a split (varsity/JV) meet, the young athletes excelled as the boys took first in the JV division while the girls finished runner-up as a team.

While coach Lyle Alley said that is a good sign for the future of JHHS track, he also noted it is paying dividends immediately for the Cobras as well.

“I just think that the success that you can generate during the season, it just makes going to practice easier,” Alley said. “They have a tendency to work harder when they’ve had some success because they can see that the effort they’re putting forth is making them better and they’re being rewarded. It’s just a win-win situation.”

Young athletes like Hanna Davault and Wyatt Olberding continued to excel this spring, while veteran performers like Kaitlynn Little and Seth Holliday continued to cruise along as well.

The meet also helped the athletes condition for the upcoming championship stretch and Alley said he hopes that will lead to the Cobras really stepping things up a notch for league competition next week.

“It’s just another stepping stone to get to where we need to go, but overall we did okay,” Alley said. “If our season has eight rungs on the ladder, Tuesday was rung number six and now we’re looking forward to stepping up to the next one.”

That next rung for Jackson Heights is a meet in Onaga on Friday starting at 1 p.m.