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Panthers have ‘a great day’ at CNDC

By Sue Sitter - | Apr 10, 2021

A year off from track and field did little to keep the Panther boys’ squad from winning their first meet of the season, held in the Minot State University Dome April 1.

The team finished first in the Central North Dakota Conference Invitational over 10 other teams at the meet.

“It was great to get a meet in after two years,” said their coach, Scott Grochow.

The Panthers saw four first-place finishes in individual and relay events and finished with 128 team points. Harvey-Wells County came in at a distant second place with 91 points.

In the 55-meter dash, JD Matehs finished first with a time of 6.46 seconds. Next for Rugby was Hudson Hooker, who took tenth place with 7.10 seconds. Kory Vetsch finished in 7.32 seconds for 17th place and Cole Fahnestock finished 35th in 7.86 seconds.

The Panthers finished farther behind the pack in the 200-meter dash, with Austin Scheibel taking the fastest time for the team in 26.06 seconds for 14th place. Hooker finished 19th with 26.55 seconds.

In the 400-meter dash, William Lundberg finished in fourth place with a time of 59.02 seconds. Hooker finished 10th with a time of 1:02.12, while Isaac Christenson finished the event in 15th place with a time of 1:04.95.

The Panthers had a stronger showing in the 1600-meter run, with Austin Dibble taking first place with a 5:21.44 finish. Connor Ramsey finished in 12th place with a time of 6:15.29 and Maddex Kirchofner finished with a time of 6:19.83 for 14th place.

Matehs took another first place in the meet, finishing the 55-meter hurdles in 8.05 seconds. Vetsch finished in sixth place with a time of 9.70 seconds and Lundberg’s time of 10.03 seconds gave him seventh place.

In relay events, the team of Vetsch, Tim Mueller, Warren Walker and Matehs took third place in the 4×160-meter race with a time of 1:19.46.

The team of Dibble, Walker, Mueller and Matehs gave Rugby a first-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:51.75. The Panthers saw another third-place finish in the 4×800-meter event with Dibble, Kirchofner, Ramsey and Kristian Fritz finishing in 11:02.08.

Cole Slaubaugh, who took the 2019 state title for Wolford High School in the high jump, finished first for the Panthers with a distance of six feet. Walker finished fourth with a 5 foot, 6 inch jump.

In the pole vault, Vetsch’s 10 foot, 6-inch distance earned him third place. Lundberg finished in fifth place with a 9-foot vault, while Austin Schneibel’s 7-foot vault earned him seventh place.

In the long jump, Mueller earned points for the team with a distance of 18 feet, 10.5 inches for sixth place. Slaubaugh 18 feet, 4 inch jump gave him ninth place for the event.

Mueller took first place in the triple jump with a distance of 40 feet, 4 inches. Slaubaugh took fourth place in the event with a distance of 39 feet, 2 inches. Isaiah Bundy-Smith finished eighth for the event with a jump of 36 feet, 3.5 inches.

Ethan Brandt threw the shot put 37 feet, 10 inches for third place in the event. Bundy-Smith’s throw of 37 feet, 5 inches earned fourth place, while Cole Schneibel’s 37-foot throw took fifth place. Austin Schneibel’s 34-foot, 2-inch throw put him in 10th place.

“I thought both the boys and girls had a great day,” Grochow said. “It showed us how much some of them improved and where we need to work on things. I am looking forward to getting outdoors.”

The Panthers would travel to Hazen April 6 for the Early Bird Invitational. Results from that meet will appear in the April 17 Tribune.