Slagle breezes past Aurora 400 record at CNTCs

Jordyn Slagle has officially gone where no other Lady Husky has gone before.
The Aurora senior blazed a single lap at Monday’s frigid Central Nebraska Track Championships in Grand Island, setting a new school record time of 57.75 that was more than fast enough to win the 400 meter dash.
Slagle’s time of 57.75 was also a CNTC meet record, setting her apart as the first Aurora girls runner to run under 58 seconds in school history.
Aurora coach Kyle Peterson was still smiling about Slagle’s 400 performance an hour after the race ended, noting that was a determined effort for a single lap around.
“That was so much fun to watch,” Peterson said. “She was so aggressive from the 200 mark and around the curve. I don’t know that she’s had that confidence to run that fast that early. But, when she does that, she can put up big numbers.”
Aurora’s previous school record in the 400 was held by Erin Oswald, who ran a best time of 58.65 back in 2001 and 2002.
Two other Aurora girls, Kyla Carlson in 2018 and Emily Standage in 2016, ran in the 58-second bracket. 
“She now has some confidence,” Peterson added. “She’s raced some top competition and defeated them. But, she ran that final 200 a lot more aggressively than she ever has.”
Slagle broke the tape and fell into complete shock when seeing her name and time on the Northwest video board, having enough in the tank left to run down former Husky 400 runner turned assistant coach Kyla Carlson to celebrate the accomplishment. 
Slagle’s new personal best time of 57.75 is the seventh-fastest time in the state as of Monday night. 
“It was probably a little bit of a surprise given the weather conditions today,” Peterson said, referencing the chilly temperatures and gusty winds. “We knew she was going to run pretty fast at some point this year, but I figured on a sunny, 85-degree day.”
She wasn’t done there, though, as Slagle ended the night with a solid try in the 200, finishing third with a 26-flat. 
It wasn’t the only Husky school record broken Monday afternoon as Derek Russell improved on his discus mark from a few weeks ago.
The Husky junior let the wind take his first throw of the finals, soaring to a new personal best of 188-5 to win the event by more than 13 feet.
Russell’s new best throw is currently the second best in the state thus far and is the 33rd best in the country. 
“Derek put out a pretty decent series today,” Peterson said. “It’s nice that he’s now gone over 180 in his last three meets, so his confidence is there. We just need one of those meets where there’s some other kids who can really push him. He just has to relax and let one go because he’s capable of even bigger throws.”
He wasn’t done there, though, as Russell took back the area’s best shot put throw of the season, ending up second at the CNTC’s with a throw of 55-4.50. That throw bested Collin Stolpe’s toss of 53-5 Monday as the Husky duo finished second and third, respectively. 
Jayden Slagle continued his successes in the jumps, winning the triple jump with a mark of 46-8.75 while setting a new personal record in the long jump, reaching the 23-foot mark at 23-1.
Incredibly, that still wasn’t enough to win the event as Doniphan-Trumbull’s Jack Poppe soared 23-9.75 to win. 
Currently, Slagle has the best triple jump mark in the state with a 48-2 set last week at the Northwest meet and his new long jump mark is ninth-best. 
“We have kids who aren’t afraid of competition,” Peterson said. “We take our kids to a lot of challenging meets.”
Colten Nachtigal matched his new best time from last week Monday night, running 14.97 in the 110 high hurdles to win the event. Nachtigal added an eighth place effort in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.80. 
Peter Russell nearly came away with a win in the pole vault, clearing a new area-best mark of 14-2. 
It was also a solid day in the distance races for Ella Eggleston, who set new personal bests in both the mile and two mile, finishing fifth in the 1600 with a time of 5:31.03 and 12:10.70 in the 3200. 
“Ella put together two really good races today,” Peterson said. “There wasn’t a lot of time in between those races today and not to mention the weather isn’t great. But what she was able to do today was as impressive as anything else.”
Makinley Eggleston finished on her sister’s heels in the 1600, ending up sixth with a time of 5:45.69 while Kailey Dick ran ninth in the 3200 with a time of 12:58.30. 
Both Kaitlyn Staehr and Stella Peterson battled in the long and triple jump events on the day. Staehr finished sixth in both events with a long jump of 16-7.25 and a triple jump of 34-9.25. Peterson ended up seventh in both events, including a 34-2 triple jump and 16-6.75 long jump. 
Aurora’s 400 relay team of Savanna James, Kaitlyn Staehr, Samara Whited and Jordyn Slagle didn’t have its best run of the year, ending up seventh with a time of 52.60. 
Brett Mellies finished seventh in the 800 run with a time of 2:08.88 while Novella Stevens was eighth in the discus with a throw of 101-9.

Area athletes compete
There was also plenty of area competition on hand Monday during the all-class event with kids from H&H, Giltner and High Plains giving it a go. 
A couple H&H relay teams found some success as the 3200 relay foursome of Trent Goertzen, Mason Wiens, Brooks Burgess and Holden Switzer set a new area-best mark with an 8:34.97, finishing second to Doniphan-Trumbull. 
The Bearcat 1600 relay group of Maddox Regier, Brayden Wolinski, Nevada Gloystein and Holden Switzer also set a new area-best time of 3:35.98 in a fourth-place effort. 
Maddox Regier was H&H’s lone field event qualifier, finishing fifth in the high jump after clearing 6-1. Last week, Regier hit a new area-best mark of 6-2.
Nevada Gloystein ended up eighth in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.22 while Trent Goertzen finished sixth in the mile at 5:00.22.
H&H’s 400 relay team of Rylee Scheidemann, Brayden Wolinski, Waylon Tessman and Samuel Friesen also finished eighth with a time of 45.84.
Madelyn Janzen ran to a top five effort in the 3200 with a time of 12:19.40, a new personal best. 
Tara Buzek added a 10th place effort for the Bearcats in the 800 with a time of 2:31.86 while Brooks Burgess was 11th in the 800 with a mark of 2:11.43.
Giltner had two athletes on hand during the event as Peyton Schutt tallied a fifth place effort in the pole vault, clearing 10-2. Avery Reeson was also in action during the mile run, finishing eighth with a new season best time of 5:52.46.
HPC also had a couple competitors on hand as Brodey Spurling ended up fifth in the long jump with a leap of 20-3.50 while adding a seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 41-9.75.
The Storm girls 3200 relay group of Peyton Hofmann, Jacey Dubas, Bailey Gress and Dakota Gress finished 12th with a time of 11:32.71.