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Untitled Document
Stevens flies at state meet
kirt Manion
news | press
Greg Stevens soared to a new school record and Alex
Heng took his second straight state medal in the 110 meter hurdle race to
lead the Lourdes track program at the Nebraska State Track and Field
Championships at Omaha Burke High School on Friday and Saturday.
Stevens was the first Knight to compete in an event
at the state meet.
He finished fourth in the triple jump after leaps
that looked unlikely to make the finals to say nothing of medals.
Stevens leaped 41’, then 41’9”
before uncorking a 43’6.25” jump on his third preliminary leap
that put him into the finals and ended up placing him fourth for the event
overall.
“I was aiming for the school record all year
and I finally got it,” Stevens said.
As for the leap, Stevens can only say it all came
together at just the right time.
“I just flew, the second phase especially,
stretched out, and had a good landing finally,” Stevens said.
“Ihave been working on that for the last few months it seems
like.”
When the number was issued, however, Stevens realized
how good it was.
“It blew my mind when I first heard
43’6.25”,” Stevens said.
And now that it’s broken, Stevens wants to keep
the record going up in
his name.
“I’ve got to break it at every meet next
year,” the junior said. “I’ve already got the record. I
just got to make it so it will last another 25 years.”
Lourdes Coach Jon Borer said he always knew Stevens
had the potential for such a leap.
“Even last year when he was jumping 38s, we
knew he had a 40’ jump in him because he has got such springs for
legs,” Coach Borer said. “We were extremely excited for him. I
can’t say I was totally surprised because I knew he had it in
him.”
Also medaling for the Knights was senior Alex Heng,
who was returning to state after having medaled eighth in the 110 meter
hurdles last year.
Heng ran what Lourdes coaches believed to be one of
his better efforts for the race during Friday’s preliminaries, then
came back with an effort that had him in position to not only medal, but to
win the event.
Heng said he felt good about the way he came out of
the blocks and was leading going to the sixth hurdle.
The Knight hurdler said he hit the sixth hurdle hard,
cutting down his momentum, then hit the eighth hurdle, further complicating
the race and leaving him at fourth place.
Coach Borer agreed that Heng was in position to win.
But the Knight was satisfied, not frustrated, with
his fourth place medal performance. “It was a really exciting race
with tough competition,” Heng said.
Other athletes and events for Lourdes at state
included Matt Beccard and Ema Rickman in the discus and Stevens in the high
jump and long jump.
Although those efforts didn’t bring home any
medals for the Knights, Coach Borer said he felt good about the way his
team performed, not only at the state meet, but throughout the season.
“Last year we brought two kids to the state
meet and we knew we wanted to improve on that and we did, we
succeeded,” Borer said. “We brought four kids here this weekend
to the state track meet.
“We brought a junior, which was awesome,”
Borer said. “Hopefully he gets back here next year.”
As for next year, Coach Borer said the goal will be
the same for his program.
“The tough thing about this year is three of
the four were seniors,” Borer said of the state qualifiers.
Still, Borer said the program can get some athletes
to state.
Borer pointed to a junior girl on the Knight
team in ErinStukenholtz who made it as a sophomore and who will have a
chance to make it again as a senior.
Some freshmen on the Knight team showed promise by
placing at the district meet this season.
Some eighth grade tracksters, Borer said, have the
potential to help the team next year as well.
“The goal is always to improve and get more
kids to state eventually and maybe make a little bigger splash up
here,” Coach Borer said. “I am pretty excited about the
future.”
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