Holden Track And Field Teams Record Multiple Top Finishes At Oak Grove Meet

The Holden Eagles and Lady Eagles high school track and field teams competed at the Oak Grove Invitational Meet Friday, Apr. 24 at Oak Grove High School.

Among top finishes for the Holden athletes, Eagle junior year pole vaulter Neil Tebbenkamp tied the Holden school record in the event by clearing a height of 4.11m (13’-6”). Tebbenkamp’s vault height placed him first in the event at the Oak Grove Meet and matches the Holden school record mark previously set by Tyler Hankins.

“He did tie the boys record set by Tyler Hankins at 13ft.-6in.,” confirmed Holden track and field head coach David Diener who tipped his cap to Holden graduate and current pole vault coach Elaina Young. “Coach Young has done a great job with our vaulters this year challenging them and helping them reach peak performances here at the right time!”

Two Lady Eagle vaulters swept the top two spots in the girls competition at Oak Grove with Holden school record holder Addi Wooster clearing 3.2m in a first-place finish at Oak Grove, and Macie McDaniel clearing 2.9m.

McDaniel’s height represents a personal record for the junior year vaulter.

“Macie has been a consistent 8′-6″ vaulter all season, but we know that if she can go 9′-6″, it sets her up for a better state series run,” said coach Diener. “So for her to hit that in our last regular season meet just helps give her some more confidence to be able to get that height in our state series meets.”

Adding a first-place finish on the girls side was freshman high jumper Peyton Koehn who cleared 1.42m to take the top spot in the event.

Junior high jumper Madi Talley placed fifth at Oak Grove with a clearance of 1.32m.

“Peyton is a great talent,” said coach Diener. “She has become a great jumper this year, and in high jump she will be right in the thick of districts and sectionals as a contender. She is starting to really be more consistent and getting used to different jumping conditions to compete in.

“Madi has tried it this year and really improved to start catching some back end points at meets. It’s important to have full line-ups, and she found a spot where she can get another event and has done really well learning the new skill under coach (Griffin) Keller’s guidance.”

On the track, Wooster and Koehn toted the baton with Callie Irr and Abby Miller in the 4x200m relay for a second place finish in a time of 1:57 for one of the Holden girls team’s two second-place relay finishes on the day.

The Holden girls 4x100m relay team of Arionna Johnson, Brionna Johnson, Irr, and Wooster took the other second-place relay finish with a time of 54.10 seconds.

In field events, Brionna Johnson turned in a first-place finish in shot put with a distance of 11.43m and placed second in discus with a throw of 37.99m.

“She has worked hard on a tougher throwing technique that can pay off with bigger throws,” said coach Diener in regard to Brionna Johnson who holds the Holden school record in discus and is the returning Class 3 state champion in shot put.

The shot putter is adapting to the spin technique this season and has put up personal record marks over 12m at previous meets this season.

“Her spin changes some timing, and she and coach (Mark) Weddle have put a lot of time in getting that timing down,” noted coach Diener. “She is in a great spot to be a top medalist in shot put and discus this year at state.”

Arionna Johnson turned in a personal record time in the 100m hurdles by clocking a first-place time of 15.87 seconds.

“Arionna Johnson had a huge PR in the 100m hurdles setting her new best time in the 15 seconds range,” highlighted coach Diener. “Her and coach (Spencer) Gudde have done a great job training, and she put an incredible race together at Oak Grove. That sets her up to be very competitive in the district and sectional meet to qualify for state.”

Arionna Johnson added a fifth-place finish in the 300m hurdles to her showing at Oak Grove with a time of 55.03 seconds in the race.

In top-three finishes on the track for the Holden girls, Jessy Stringer placed second in the 1600m run with a time of 5:53 and placed third in the 3200m run with a time of 13:43. Talley placed third in the 800m run with a time of 2:45.

Field event top-three performances for the Lady Eagles included Liv Wooster placing second in triple jump with a distance of 9.54m and third in javelin with a throw of 33.46m. Koehn placed third in triple jump with a distance of 9.31m.

The Holden girls 4x400m relay team of Abby Miller, Audrey Enneking, Koehn, and Talley placed third in a time of 4:39.

In field events for the Holden boys team, Owen Doogs gathered a title finish in triple jump with a first-place distance of 13.08m. Doogs took the runner up spot in long jump with a mark of 6.03m.

“Owen has been great this year,” said coach Diener. “He is starting to get further on his earlier phases in triple jump and will have tough competition, but really looking forward to see how his state series of meets will perform as he has shots in long jump and triple jump.”

On the track for the Holden boys team, Brody Bockover took a title finish in the 400m dash with a first-place time of 54.36 seconds.

Paxton Zeikle finished just behind Bockover in the 400m with a time of 54.92 seconds.

Eagle distance runner Liam Claxton took two runner-up finishes by placing second in both the 1600m run with a time of 5:00, and the 3200m run with a time of 11:39.
Hurdler Dwight Meads collected a runner-up finish by placing second in the 110m hurdles with a time of 17.55 seconds. Meads placed third in the 300m hurdles with a time of 46.05 seconds as freshman Daniel Greathouse placed fourth with a time of 47.12 seconds.

Meads placed third in high jump with a height of 1.68m.

Eagle junior year runner Evan Robinson took a top-three spot by placing third in the 800m run with a time of 2:13.

The Holden boys 4x100m relay team of Bockover, Lane Kendrick, Evan Killion, and Seth Goodwin placed second in a time of 46.52 seconds for the Holden boys team’s top relay showing.

In throwing events, junior Dylan Taylor had the Holden boys top finishes with fourth-place showings in both discus and shot put. Taylor recorded a distance of 30.69 in discus and put the shot 12.12m into the pit.

Upcoming Schedule
The Holden high school track and field teams compete next at the MRVC-East Track and Field Meet at Carrollton High School this Friday, May 1. Field events begin at 2 p.m. Running events begin at 3 p.m.

The Holden Eagles and Lady Eagles middle school track and field teams also compete in their MRVC-East Track and Field Meet the same day at Carrollton High School.