The Hoisington girls and boys squads finished with some very strong performances at the Class 3A State Track Meet this past weekend. The girls team qualified three individuals for state and picked up medals with two of their team members. Jocelynn Pedigo (10) got the lady Cards off to a good start when she threw the discus 112-02 to pick up the 6th place medal. Senior Rylie Koester took just 5:33.14 to run the 1600 meters as she finished her high school career with the 4th place state medal. The final girl’s team member for the Cards, Maleigha Schmidt (9), competed in the pole vault where she was ranked in the top 5 coming into the meet, but she ended up no heighting to lose out on a state medal. The girl’s team finished with 8 points at the meet good enough to finish 26 out of the 64 schools that run girls track in class 3A.
The Hoisington boy’s team finished in 7th place with 26 points. The squad performed well the whole meet long, but will remember the almosts of the meet as five different members fell short by just one place of bringing home a state medal. Sixteen individuals, or relay teams qualify in 18 different events for the state meet. The top eight qualify for a medal and score points for the team. The Cardinals 4 x 400 Meter Relay team of Sean Urban (10), Christopher Ball (10), Brenner Donovan (11), and Cameron Davis (11) ran a season best time, but finished in 9th place to just miss medaling. In the long jump Brenner Donovan finished in 9th place just inches from 8th place to again just miss medaling.  Christopher Ball also got a taste of how it feels to just miss medaling in a state event when he hit a couple hurdles in the 110HH race to finish in 9th place just a few tenths of a second out of medaling. Landen Urban (11) in the Shot Put, Jake Curtis (10) in the Javelin, and the 4 x 100 Meter Relay team of Jonathan Ball (11), Brenner Donovan (11), Christopher Ball (10), and Cameron Davis (11), all did not medal.
Picking up medals for the boys squad was a pair of brothers, Christopher Ball (10), and Jonathan Ball (11). Christopher placed 4th in the pole vault with a height of 13’6”. Jonathan picked up a 2nd place finish in the pole vault with a height of 14’0”, finished 2nd in the 110HH, and 4th in the 300IH. Ironically Jonathan could have finished in 2nd place in the 300IH but one of the competitors in the event that was running beside Jonathan fell as both came over the final hurdle of the race. The competitor that fell ended up just enough into the lane where Jonathan was, causing Jonathan to have to slow down to avoid running into him. Jonathan having to slow down even though it was just for a moment allowed two other runners to pass Jonathan leaving him with the 4th place medal instead of the 2nd place medal.
Coach Schmidt comments: “I was very proud of all of our kids. I felt really bad for Maleigha Schmidt, Jake Curtis, and Brenner Donovan as all three of those kids were on the runways ready to do great things when the rain storm came through and postponed the meet to the next day. They seemed to all be adversely impacted by having to restart the next day. I was so excited for Rylie Koester as she has always had outstanding regional performances over the years, but fell short of medaling at the state meet. This year you could just tell that nothing was going to stop her from bringing home a state medal. I believe that what we were able to do this year will have a very positive impact on where the track program will be in the future. Kids were talking before the meet was even over about their goals for next year, and let me say they are very high. Our coaching staff had one of those years that you never want to end. With the responsibility of that landing squarely on the backs of our track team members, as they were a ton of fun and full of surprises all year long.”
Jocelynn Pedigo, 10, Discus - 112-02, 6th
Christopher Ball, 10, 110 HH- 16.45, 9th; relay 4 X 100 - 45.3, 13th; Relay 4 X 400 - 0.002488727, 9th; Pole Vault - 13-06, 4th
Jonathan Ball, 11, 110 HH - 15.41, 2nd; relay  4 X 100 - 45.3, 13th; 300M IH - 40.91, 4th; Pole Vault - 14-00, 2nd
Landen Urban, 11, Shot  Put - 43-07.5, 13th
Rylie Koester, 12, 1600MR -05:33.1, 4th
Cameron Davis, 11, relay  4 X 100 - 45.3, 13th; Relay 4 X 400 - 0.0025, 9th
Rudy Gearhart, 10, Boys relay - 4 X 100, Alt.        
Sean  Urban, 10, relay - 4 X 100, Alt.; Relay 4 X 400 - 0.0025, 9th        
Brenner Donovan, 11, relay  4 X 100 - 45.3, 13th; Boys Relay 4 X 400 - 0.0025, 9th; Long Jump - 19-08.75, 9th    
Xavier Robinson, 9, Relay 4 X 400, Alt.        
Jake Curtis, 10, Javelin - 153-08, 12th
Maleigha Schmidt, 9, Pole Vault - NH, 16th