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kirt Manion
hamburg reporter
Lucas Barrett of the Hamburg boys’ track team picked up two open event state qualifying marks and played an integral role in getting a relay team to state during district action last week at Corning.
Barrett placed second in both the 400 and 800 meter races with times of 53.52 and 2:09.24.
Doug Raymond, Klinton Hansen and Kaleb Kahue teamed with Barrett in taking second place in the 1600 meter medley relay. The team ran a season best time of 3:54.50.
Kahue and Raymond ran the 200 meter segments of the race, while Hansen and Barrett ran the 400 and the 800 meter segments.
Elsewhere for the Hamburg team, the Wildcats narrowly missed two other district medals.
Aaron Mincer finished just out of the medals at seventh in the 1600 meter run and the shuttle hurdle relay team of Hansen, Joel DeLong, Colin Nahkunst, and Kahue ran seventh.
In terms of the state performances, Coach Todd Quick said the team met expectations.
“There were three events that we thought we had a shot in,” Coach Quick said of the 400, 800 and distance medley. “It was nice to get all three of those events.”
Barrett scored the first of his state qualifying efforts in the 400 meters and had some time to rest before running in the medley relay.
He took the baton in the relay with the Hamburg team in fifth place and passed three runners to get the team qualified for state.
Coach Quick said all of the runners on the Hamburg relay posted improved splits over previous efforts.
In addition to running good times, Coach Quick said the team did a good job of executing its strategy for the race.
It would seem to the average fan that a race involving two legs of 200 meters, a leg of 400 and a leg of 800 would involve little strategy.
Quick said the Hamburg team’s strategy had Raymond getting the baton earlier in his zone in the 200 meters and Hansen getting the baton a little later in his zone for the 400 meters.
“A lot of it was who we were running against,” Coach Quick said.
With the relay strategy successful and the state spot won, Barrett still needed to run the 800 meters.
The Wildcat had posted a season best time in the open 400 meter race and, despite a short rest before the 800, was able to post another season best time to qualify for state.
“That was a great effort by him,” Quick said.
Barrett’s two events plus the relay effort of Kahue, Raymond and Hansen represent the first time in the last three years that the Hamburg boys’ will have runners at the state meet.
Ryan Haupt qualified for state in the 200 meters three seasons ago.
Finding a three-event qualifier like Barrett is even more rare.
Coach Quick said the Hamburg program hasn’t had a three-event qualifier in the seven years he has been at the school.
Having such performances and sending a relay team to state as well as an individual is something that the Hamburg team is savoring.
“The kids are excited about that,” Coach Quick said. “Just being able to go up and run at Drake is something in itself.”
Girls’ results
The Hamburg girls’ team capped a season of improvements by posting five medals at the district meet at Corning last week.
Megan Gardner picked up a third place medal in the discus with a throw of 85’5”. The cut off for state qualification in the event was 100’, but Coach Matt Peters said his thrower wasn’t as far away from state as the district numbers may have indicated.
Had Gardner matched her season best, Peters said she would have been under two feet away from a state qualifying spot.
In other open events, the Hamburg team picked up a fifth in the 800 meters with Amanda Stockstell running 2:45.81; and took fourth in the 400 meter hurdles thanks to a 1:15.15 run by Melanie Lang.
The Wildcats picked up medals in the shuttle hurdle relay and the 1600 meter relay.
Kimmy Smith, Anna Robinson, Cherie Haupt and Lang recorded a fourth place shuttle hurdle time of 1:19.49.
Robinson, Stockstell, Lang, and Amy Brennan ran fifth in the 1600 meter relay, 4:56.45.
Although the Wildcats weren’t able to get any state marks at the district meet, Coach Peters said he was happy with the effort.
“We really did get better all year long,” Coach Peters said.
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