2008 Track and Field Special Awards
     The South Sioux City Boys track and field season was highlighted by Tyler Hietman’s indoor and outdoor school records in the triple jump and Ryan Hernandez’s 6^th place finish in the Nebraska State Meet.
     Heitman set an indoor triple jump record of 44’10.75 and an outdoor record of 45’3. Both marks were held by Jordan Spirk in 2007. Tyler marks in these jumps rank in the top three on the class record charts.
     Ryan was the River Cities Conference Champion in the 100 meters. During the season Ryan had hand-help times of 10.8 and 22.3 for 200 meters. The 22.3 is a junior class record. In addition, Heitman and Hernandez were selected as the Most Valuable Track and Field Athletes by their teammates.

The top scorers for the Cardinals during the season were Tyler Heitman with 159 points, Ryan Hernandez with 108 and Tyler Hoch finished with 85 points. 
Most Improved athletes were Tyler Hoch and Sean Dowdle.
Robbie Klassen was selected as the Hardest Working athlete.
Best in the Weight room were Alex Rapp Tyler Hoch Riley Palsma and Mike Munson.

     As coaches; it’s interesting to see how our athletes recognize the same attitude and effort throughout the season when they select our season awards. Tyler Hoch improved as much and any athlete we’ve coached from one season to the next. His best marks 10.9 rank 6^th on the Senior Records and his 22.4 is 4^th on the Senior Charts. 
     This was Sean’s first season in track and field and Sean was willing to try any event we would let him. On the track he ran 100-200-400-3200-400 low hurdles and long jumped.Most meets he just ran out of events before he was ready to stop competing.  
     Robbie Klassen ranks 10^th in the 1600 and 20^th in the 800. Robbie ran two mornings a week during the season. He would have ranked higher had he not broken his toe before the Conference Meet.  Hopefully he can put some time in on the road this summer before football in the fall.
     Four guys were selected for the weight room award. It’s good to see the kids making the connection between strength levels and athletic success. While we aren’t where we would like to be strength wise; we can see some progress. If our younger guys are paying attention; they can see the progress and contribution these four guys made in our athletic program and track and field.
     I think the thing that we’ll all remember is the weather. Every week of the outdoor season we either had a postponement or some change in the schedule. Our athletes, administration, transportation coordinator, meet workers, parents and coaches all worked hard to make the best of multiple difficult situations.

NE State Track Meet
     We finally got two great days for the meet. We saw some great individual performances and felt our athletes competed very well. Like any State Meet a few tenths/hundredths or inches separate the medals. The good thing is all our athletes are juniors and get a chance to return. Ryan has been very consistent the last few meets and responded very well. Tyler jumped well and very competitive in his events. The pits were not very jumper friendly and lots of jumpers were below their season bests. Adam jumped well one more height would have put him in the medals. The wind was strong so they moved the pit and made it a little tougher for the right leg jumpers. We had a tough spring training but these boys overcame that and did a nice job at the State Meet.

Ryan Hernandez 6^th in Class A 100 meters 11.177   Prelims 11.195

Tyler Hietman 11^th in the Class A long jump 20-10.5 12^th in the Triple Jump 42-9.5

Adam Bobier 10^th in the Class A high jump 5-10
 

District Meet Results
State Qualifiers
Adam Bobier 1^st High Jump 6’0
Ryan Hernandez 3^rd  100 meters 11.1  6^th 200 22.9
Tyler Heitman 3^rd in triple jump 42-9.75  4^th in long jump 20’8.5
Tyler Hoch 6^th 100 11.2 5^th 200 22.8.
4x100 Relay 6^th 44.27  Tyler Heitman, Brandon Stolze, Tyler Hoch, Ryan Hernandez

     The District was certainly the best meet we have been at in quite awhile. The events we were strong in were the events that the District was especially strong in.  We thought we did what we could do. Our sprint relay did not run as well as we had hope but the five teams that beat us had a lot to do with our finish.  It’s a long trip to Grand Island and anytime you disrupt the school day routine it can cause problems.
     It was nice to see Adam start to get back in the high jump. Hopefully his knee is fully recovered for his senior year. Ryan Hernandez will get to focus on just the 100 meters and Tyler will get to jump both days. The events at State are even more competitive but we think our kids have a good chance to get in the medals.

Other District Results
Alex Rapp Shot 39-7
Riley Palsma Discus 114-11 Shot 34-8
Cody O’Dell Long jump 18-5.75 100 Meters 11.8
Justin Heitman 16-11
Brandon Stolze 200 23.0
Logan Bell 300 hurdles 49.2
Bobby Johnson 300 hurdles fell
Robbie Kalssen 4.50.5
Zach Mahon 5.15.7
4x100 Relay splits Heitman 12.0 Stolze 10.7 Hoch 10.5 Hernandez 10.6
4x400 Relay Splits Stolze 52.2 Hanish 56.2 Bell 59.0 Klassen 58.4

City 9^th grade Meet
     The good news is that over half of our team is in the Top 10% of the class; the bad news is the City Meet was re-scheduled for the night of the Top 10% Banquet.  Fortunately we did have some kids that could compete in the field events and 100 meters before the banquet.
Luke Jensen 2^nd Discus 101
Breckin Anderson 7^th High Jump 4-6 100 meters 13.4 Long Jump 15-0
Seth Bernstrauch 100 meters 13.5 Long Jump 14-11
Rhett Merchant Long Jump 14-2

River Cities Conference Meet:
     The Conference meet was our 3rd meet in three days so most of our younger kids did not compete. I think the Conference AD’s were determined to have a meet on a nice day after we have been rained or snowed out for the past three weeks! It was a nice sunburn day and we had some good performances.
     Again it was the sprints and jumps with Ryan Hernandez 1^st in 100 -Tyler Hoch 3^rd in 100 2^nd in 200  and Tyler Heitman 3^rd in Long Jump and 2^nd in Triple jump leading the way. These guys plus Brandon Stolze won the 4x100 in a season best 44.0. We beat a couple of good teams from Beatrice and Ralston so we have a chance in the Class A District meet to qualify for the State Meet. Robbie Klassen Mike Munson and Brandon also got us places as well.

Dakota Valley Meet:
     We were glad to have a meet in sunshine and warm weather! We had some good marks especially in the 100 Meters with Ryan and Tyler both running under 11.0 hand held. Tyler Heitman continues to jump well. We have some foot fouls that have kept him from recording big jumps. Robbie Klassen broke his toe at Prom but still ran a decent mile…but that had to hurt. Adam Bobier and Logan Bell continue to improve in their events. Sean Dowdle is interested in trying as many events as he can.

Freshman & Sophomore Meet:
     It was nice to get our 9^th and 10^th graders a meet. Cody O’Dell had his best jumps of the season and ran some nice legs on the relays. Zach Mahon pr’d in the mile and I think he has been pleased with his progress. Rhett Merchant is about as versatile as an athlete as we have. He long jumped, ran the hurdles and the mile. James Goodier got over the high hurdles and we hope will continue to make progress. Kyle Hanish and Justin Heitman are good competitive relay runners.
     Tyler Nelson and Kodi Rippe continue to improve in their first year around the track. Our throwers Riley Palsma Dan Gerkin Bobbie Johnson and Luke Jensen are all throwing about the same distances and will improve if we don’t run out of time. John Ngo Brandon Vandepol and Breckin Anderson all seem to enjoy the competition and will also improve with more experience

PONCA INVITATIONAL
Boys Team Results

Sioux City Relays Results
It’s always great to win two relays in this meet. Our 4x100 ran its best time of the year as did the 4x200. Ryan Hernandez continues to improve as a quality sprinter. Our Freshman also won an event. Hopefully we can get outside and have some decent training days. Robbie Klassen pr’d again in the 1600. Mike Munson and Alex Rapp had some good throws in the past few days. There is only two weeks until the District Meet. I don’t think we ever have had fewer outdoor training days. Our kids and coaches have coped with the weather pretty well.

City Meet & B/G East Invitational:    Full Results / Team Scores
We thought our kids competed very well. We just did not have the numbers to be strong in the relays and that was the difference between being 2^nd and 4^th. We showed some strength in our sprints and jumps. It was nice to see Mike Munson and Adam Bobier get places in the shot and high jump. Logan Bell got a place in the 400 hurdles the first time he had a chance to practice them. Our guys  continue to show improvement. If the weather ever gets decent we might have a track season yet!
Congratulations to the Sioux South City place winners at the worlds longest 5 team track & field meet
100 Meter 2^nd Ryan Hernandez 4^th Tyler Hoch
200 Meter 3rd Tyler Hoch 4^th Brandon Stolze
400 Meter 2^nd Brandon Stolze
800 Meter 4^th Robbie Klassen
1600 Meter 2^nd Robbie Klassen
400 Meter Hurdles 6^th Logan Bell
4x100 Relay 2^nd Tyler Heitman Brandon Stolze Tyler Hoch Ryan Hernandez
High Jump 2^nd Adam Bobier
Long Jump 2^nd Tyler Heitman
Triple Jump 1^st Tyler Heitman
Shot Put Mike Munson to 2^nd 44ft 5 inches

Elk Point Jefferson & Vermillion Invitational Results:
Boys track & field team finishing 4th in the 14 team Elk-Point Jefferson Invitational and 2nd at the Vermillion Invitational
We were pretty concerned to start the meet with meets two days in a row. The kids wanted to try it and based on our performances it worked out pretty well. I think they realized about halfway through Saturday that is was tough. Our sprint relay set a record at Elk Point and 44.4 is as fast as we have ever run this early. Tyler Heitman had a couple of good days in the jumps. Ryan Hernandez continues to improve and Tyler Hoch is continues to show his range and ability.

Robbie Klassen had a couple of hard days and showed some pretty good improvement from last year. Brandon Stolze has been fighting a sore ankle since football and looked like he is getting stronger.

Logan Bell Mike Munson Cody O’Dell Nick Zimmerman Justin Heitman Zach Mahon Rhett Merchant and Kyle Hanish all contributed in different ways.

Most of our younger guys got to see some pretty good athletes from the other schools so hopefully will think about what it takes to improve.

Elk Point-Jefferson Invite:
South Sioux 4x100 Relay set a meet record at Elk Point running 44.4 Tyler Heitman Brandon Stolze Tyler Hoch and Ryan Hernandez.
Tyler Heitman set a meet record in winning the triple jump of 45'3. Tyler also won the long jump at 21'4 . Tyler's 45'3 is also a new school record breaking Jordan Spirks record of 45'2.
Tyler Hoch scored in 4 events and Robbie Klassen, Tyler Heitman andBrandon Stolze scored in three.

Vermillion Invititational:
Ryan Hernandez won three events 100-200- and 4x1 Relay with a personal best in the 100 of 10.9.
Tyler Heitman again won the triple jump with a jump of 44.8
South Sioux won the 4x100 relay with Heitman Hernandez Brandon Sotlze and Tyler Hoch. South Sioux also won the 4x800 relay with Nathan Vagjrt Zach Mahon Rhett Merchant and Robbie Klassen.
Tyler Hoch again scored in four events with Tyler Heitman,Robbie Klassen scoring in three.

Field Events:
Long Jump:   T.Heitman 20’1/2  J.Heitman nm Dowdle 13-9.5 Anderson 15-1  Merchant 14-6  O’Dell 17-11
Discus:   Palsama nm Jensen 95’3Johnson 88 Gerkin 92-11
Shot Put:   Rapp 39’2  Munson 42’8 Palsma nm  Gerkin 30’10 Billups 33’11   Johnson 29-11
Triple Jump:    T. Heitman 44-5.5 J.Heitman 33’1

Running Events:
110 Meter Hurdles:  Bell 19.8

100 Meter Dash:  Hernandez 10.9 Hoch 11.3 Stolze 11.8 Schmidt nm Jensen 12.6  Johnson 12.7 T Heitman 11.6

4 X 800 Meter Relay:  Vajgrt 2.28 Mahon 2.38 Merchant 2.34 Klassen 2.20

4 X 200 Meter Relay:  J.Heitman 25.3  Zimmerman 27.6(w) Odell 25.6 Hanish 26.0(w)  Dowdle 29.6 Rippe 29.6(w) Anderson 28.3 Nelson 27.8(w)

1600 Meter Run:  Klassen 72-2.35-xx-5.20

4 X 100 Meter Relay:   Heitman 11.3 Stolze 10.9 Hoch 11.2 Hernandez 11.8(w)

400 Meter Dash:   Stolze 55.0 Mahon 1.11.5  Nelson  1.03 Merchant 1.04

300 Meter Hurdles:  Bell 48.5

Medley Relay:   O’Dell  25.4 Zimmerman 26.8 (w) Hanish 1.00.4 Vajgrt 75/2.37

200 Meter Dash:   Hernandez23.9 (w)Hoch 24.4(w)Stolze nm Schmidt nm Nelson 27.6

3200 Meter Run:   Dowdle 16.3

4 X 400 Meter Relay:    Hoch 58.1 Vagjrt 1.01 Bell 59.9 Klassen 59.2

Dan Lennon
Monday was a great chance to see our kids against some of the best competition in three states. Tyler was outstanding with another school record. He was a little disappointed in the log jump but was nearly two feet further than he jumped last year. He really has an outstanding opening to  this year.
Our 4x200 relay was also very good in an extremely competitive field. We were about a second slower than last year’s school record but our guys were very competitive in winning their heat.
We didn’t expect to see a lot of improvement from Saturday but we saw some consistent performances and gave us a good measurement of where we are in our training. Hopefully the weather will warm up a little and we can spent some time outside.
Tyler Heitman 2^nd in Triple jump broke his own school record with a jump of 44’10.75.
Tyler was also 5^th in the long jump with a jump of 20’8
Our other place was our 4x200 relay finishing 6^th in 1.37.6 with Tyler Hietman Ryan Hernandez Tyler Hoch and Brandon Lantz
 

Midwest Meet:
It always good to get the season started even though we are still waiting for spring!  Tyle Heitman broke Jordans Spirk’s triple jump record so that was a good start. He was also second in the long jump but we think he’ll jump better.  It was nice to see Tyler Hoch get a place in the 500. Ryan Hernandez also place in the 60 so hopefully he is recovered from injury. Robbie Klassen ran some pretty good races and will improve as the season goes along. Justin Heitman getting a place in the triple was encouraging. Rhett Merchant and Brandon Vandepol are two other freshman that competed well.