Eagle Girls Runner-Up at West Holt Invitational Track Meet
April 25, 2016
Launch the media gallery 1 playerStory Courtesy Mike Peterson
The O’Neill Lady Eagles made the short trip to Atkinson on Thursday, April 21st to compete in the West Holt Invitational. O’Neill had many fine performances to earn the runner-up trophy.
The Lady Eagles were led again by sophomore, Samantha Eichelberger. Samantha started off the day by finishing in 3rd in the 100 high hurdles right behind teammate, Aurora Gutshall. Eichelberger was clocked at 17.1, with Gutshall running a 17.0. Aurora had a nice prelim time of 16.7, her best of the year. Eichelberger then turned around and won the 100 with a time of 13.4. Samantha finished second in the 300 low hurdles with a 50.1. She finished off her day by anchoring the 2nd place 4 x 100 relay.
Freshman, Lilly Thompson, continued her dominance in the area 800 by recording her personal best time of 2:29.1. Teammate, Payton Birkel, also recorded her personal best time in the 800 with a 2:37.5. Lilly was also on the 2nd place 4 x 400 relay team with Claire Morrow, Briaunna Parks and Mikayla Marvin.
Mikayla Marvin battled through some tough lower heights in the pole vault to eventually win the event clearing 10 feet for the third straight meet. Teammate, Amanda Pischel, cleared 8-0 to finish in 6th.
Sophomore Briaunna Parks also had a great day. She made her debut in the 400 by running a 65.0 and placing third. She also finished third in the 200 with a time of 28.6.
Abby Gillham also placed for the Lady Eagles with a 6th place finish in the 3200.
The 4 x 100 relay team also had some success placing 3rd. Team members include, Aurora Gutshall, Briaunna Parks, Allison Ludwig and Samantha Eichelberger. In the 4 x 400 relay, the team posted their fastest time of the year, 4:27.4, to finish in 2nd. Team members were Lilly Thompson, Briaunna Parks, Claire Morrow and Mikayla Marvin. The 4 x 800 relay team finished in 5th place. Team members were Claire Morrow, Kadra Sommersted-Simmons, Tessa Rainforth and Alexis Montes.
Allison Ludwig had her best long jump of the year, 14-9, to finish in 6th. Julia Bauer also had a personal best in the triple jump, 29-8, to also finish in 6th.
Sophomore, Blair Langan, continues to improve each meet finishing in 5th place in the shot put with a personal best throw of 32-7.5.
“I was super proud of our efforts today. The competitive spirit was contagious and every girl on the team gave a maximum effort today. Finishing runner-up was kind of unexpected, but our girls definitely fought hard for that trophy today. We look forward to hopefully getting a few girls into the Northeast Nebraska Classic in Norfolk next Thursday and then hope to continue to improve when we host the Mid State Conference on Saturday, April 30th. We hope to have a nice crowd at our home track to cheer us on.”
