BELLE PETERS EARNS 4 GOLDS

By William

HALSTEAD – Facing a 17-team field at the Conrad Nightengale Relays at Halstead on Friday, the Smoky Valley track/field team did not back down on their performances and the Lady Vikings dominated the girls division, winning the team title by 31 points thanks to a stellar performance by Belle Peters.

Peters was by far the star of the meet as she brought home not one, but four individual gold medals for the Lady Vikings by winning the 200 meters, the 100-meter hurdles, the pole vault, and the long jump.

Gracie Lambert also brought home an individual gold by winning the 400 meters.

In the pole vault, it was an all-Lady Viking, all Peters family event as not only did Belle Peters win the event, but sisters Noelle and Breanne took second and third.

In the 10 events which the Lady Vikings scored team points, only one event did they have a finish lower than fourth as they rolled up 101 points total to out distance second-place Cheney by 31 points and third-place Hesston by 33.

“Well, we did not get sun, but we got the best weather day so far as it was cloudy, cool, but not a lot of breeze though the boys 3,200 meters and 4×4’s were contested in a steady drizzle,” pointed out Smoky Valley head coach Jay Myers. “All in all, we had a terrific day when you look at all the results. There were a few disappointments, and we have some events and areas where we need to shore up and some fundamentals to tend to with some diligence, but in the places that we were shining today, we were shining brightly.”

In the boys division, the Vikings finished seventh among the 17 teams with 51 points in a tighter contested team race as only 40 points was the difference between first place Cheney and Smoky Valley. Wichita Trinity, Hutchinson Trinity, and Berean Academy rounded out the top four.

Kort Sjogren had a huge throw of 151 feet in the javelin to bring home one of two gold medals for the Viking boys, with the 4×800 meter relay quartet of Tytus Reed, Lukas Apel, Stephen Peterson, and Ryan Heline getting the other.

Coach Myers continued his post-meet reflections by adding, “It was a pleasure to be with our young athletes today to watch them interacting, how they prepared and went about their business, and how they cheered for one another.”

As for the events and athletes themselves, Coach Myers said, “With Gracie (Lambert) erasing a 100-meter lead by Halstead in the 4×800 meter relay, I saw the best 4×800 splits in my coaching career. For the Viking boys, we won the 4×800 meter relay and this was the energy throughout the day for the boys team while it was also a 27 second personal record for the relay team today. Kort (Sjogren) had a terrific second throw to win the boys javelin while Belle (Peters) had strong events in winning four golds plus we had the Peters girls sweep in the pole vault.”

Concluding his reflections, Myers remarked, “You can see many positives from lots of our efforts – even some of the ones that did not place in the top eight in the toughest meet of the year so far who are continuing to grow and develop – and some of the ones that did place that continue to supply depth, energy, and fun times for these two Viking teams. Great day to be a Viking and special thanks to the girls swim team who showed up in blankets to provide some really cool support.”

Next up for the Viking track/field team will be on Monday when they play host to the rescheduled Smoky Valley Invitational before finishing out the month on Friday, April 30 with a trip to the Hillsboro Invitational.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKINGS TRACK/FIELD at Halstead Invitational

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS RESULTS:

Team Standings: 1. LADY VIKINGS 101; 2. Cheney 70; 3. Hesston 68; 4. Berean Academy 51; 5. Halstead 44; 6. Pratt 41; 7. Hillsboro 39; 8. Kingman 35; 9. Sedgwick 32; 10. Douglass 28; 11. Wichita Trinity 26; 12. Haven 25; 13. Concordia 17; 14. Conway Springs 14; 15. Hutchinson Trinity 12; 16. Wichita Independent 5; 17. Marion 4.

LADY VIKING INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 7 finishes):

100 Meters = 4. Breanne Peters 13.32.

200 Meters = 1. BELLE PETERS 26.54.

400 Meters = 1. GRACIE LAMBERT 2:20.63.

100 Meter Hurdles = 1. BELLE PETERS 15.96; 3. Clara McElroy 17.38.

300 Meter Hurdles = 6. Clara McElroy 53.45.

4×100 Meter Relay = 3. Lady Vikings 53.08 (Noelle Peters, Breanne Peters, Gracie Lambert, Clara McElroy).

4×400 Meter Relay = 2. Lady Vikings 4:19.91 (Keira Mullen, McKinley Johnson, Kajsa Peterson, Gracie Lambert).

4×800 Meter Relay = 2. Lady Vikings 10:29.91 (McKinley Johnson, Keira Mullen, Kajsa Peterson, Gracie Lambert).

Pole Vault = 1. BELLE PETERS 12’ 0”; 2. Noelle Peters 9’ 6”; 3. Breanne Peters 9’ 6”.

Long Jump = 1. BELLE PETERS 16’ 3”; 4. Breanne Peters 15’ 2.5”.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BOYS RESULTS:

Team Standings: 1. Cheney 91.33; 2. Wichita Trinity 77; 3. Hutchinson Trinity 59.33; 4. Berean Academy 57.33; 5. Concordia 55; 6. Halstead 54; 7. VIKINGS 51; 8. Hillsboro 48; 9. Marion 28; 10. Kingman 23; 11. Hesston 19; 12. Wichita Independent 16; 13. Conway Springs 11; 14. Pratt 10; 15. Douglass 6; 16. Haven 4; 17. Sedgwick 2.

VIKING INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 7 finishes):

400 Meters = 2. Lukas Apel 52.90.

1,600 Meters = 2. Ryan Heline 4:43.19.

3,200 Meters = 7. Tytus Reed 10:48.96.

300 Meter Hurdles = 5. Stephen Peterson 45.54.

4×400 Meter Relay = 2. Vikings 3:41.86 (Tytus Reed, Ryan Heline, Stephen Peterson, Lukas Apel).

4×800 Meter Relay = 1. VIKINGS 8:23.48 (Tytus Reed, Lukas Apel, Stephen Peterson, Ryan Heline).

Pole Vault = 5. Stephen Peterson 10’ 6”.

Javelin = 1. KORT SJOGREN 151’ 0”.

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