Track & Field: Dixon boys take team title at Gebhardt-Worley Invitational

OREGON – Boys and girls track and field teams from 13 schools competed in the 44th annual Gebhardt-Worley Invitational at Landers-Loomis Field at Oregon High School on Saturday.

At the end of the day, the Dixon boys were crowned team champion in a 12-team field. The Dukes’ score of 170.5 was more than 40 points better than second-place finisher Rockford Guilford (130). The Forreston-Polo boys also fared well, finishing fourth (63), while Erie-Prophetstown nabbed sixth (45) and Oregon came in seventh (37.5).

For the first-place Dukes, Dean Geiger won the 1,600 meters in 4:46:10, while Aaron Conderman finished second in 4:46.82 and Averik Wiseman took fourth in 4:52.11. Conderman also won the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:49.15. Geiger, Wiseman, Hayden Fulton and Keegan Shirley finished second in the 4x800 relay in 8:41.56.

Tyson Dambman won the 300-meter hurdles (42.36 seconds) and placed second in both the long jump (6.19 meters) and triple jump (12.35 meters). Cullen Shaner finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (16.28 seconds) and third in the 300-meter hurdles (44.64 seconds). Hayden Yingling earned second place in the pole vault, clearing 3.35 meters. Spencer Thompson won the the discus with a throw of 37.93 meters, while teammate Andrew Scheffler took third with a throw of 36.29 meters.

Owen Belzer took third in the 100 meters (11.55 seconds) and fourth in the 200 meters (23.65 seconds), and Kristian Prather nabbed third in the 400 meters (54.68 seconds) for Dixon.

Oregon’s Leo Cardenas won the pole vault, clearing 3.66 meters, while teammate Aidan Guida placed fifth in both the 100 meters (11.73 seconds) and 200 meters (23.80 seconds). The Hawks’ Briggs Sellers and Evyn Carreno finished fourth and fifth in the shot put with throws of 13.11 meters and 12.84 meters.

In the 4x800 relay, E-P’s Tyson Skinner, Lucas Dreisbach, Wyatt Beck and Charlie Link took first in 8:39.12. Link was also fifth in the 800 meters (2:05.65). The Panthers’ Caleb Eads jumped 6.21 meters for first in the long jump and 12.35 meters for third in the triple jump. E-P teammate Nathan Punke cleared 3.05 meters for third in the pole vault.

In the 4x100 relay, F-P’s DeAngelo Fernandez, Brody Schwartz, Brock Soltow and Noah Dewey clocked a 45.49 seconds for second place. The same relay team took third in the 4x200 relay in 1:34.96. In the 110-meter hurdles, F-P’s Eli Ferris (16.82 seconds, third place) and Lucas Nelson (17.22 seconds, fourth place) both finished top five. Ferris also took fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (44.99 seconds) and second in the high jump (1.78 meters).

The Forreston-Polo girls tied Lena-Winslow for second place in an 11-team field with a 92 score, trailing only Rockford Guilford (124.5). The Oregon girls finished fifth (74.5) and Erie-Prophetstown took seventh (61).

F-P’s Bree Schneiderman took second in the 100 meters (13.11 seconds), second in the long jump (4.92 meters) and third in the 200 meters (28.75 seconds), while Letrese Buisker won the 300-meter hurdles (53.14 seconds). Buisker, Schneiderman, Elsa Monaco and Ennen Ferries finished third in the 4x100 relay (53.32 seconds).

Also for F-P, Sydni Badertscher won the discus (34.06 meters) and took third in the shot put (9.62 meters), and Autum Pritchard nabbed fourth in the 200 meters (29.27 seconds).

Oregon’s Sonya Plescia won the pole vault, clearing 2.59 meters, while teammate Rylie Robertson took second in both the 100-meter hurdles (17.60 seconds) and 300-meter hurdles (54.47 seconds). Also for the Hawks, Skylar Bishop finished tied for fourth in the high jump (1.47 meters) and fourth in the 400 meters (1:07.19). Oregon’s Lexi Ebert, Daleanah Koertner, Grace Tremble and Miranda Ciesiel took second in the 4x200 relay (1:55.34). Tremble added a third-place finish in the high jump (1.47 meters).

E-P’s Jessie DeNeve placed second in the 1,600 meters (6:06.91) and third in the 4x800 relay (11:34.19) with teammates Clara Ashdown, Savannah Wuebben and Jillian Norman. The Panthers’ Claire Reymer finished second in the discus (30.44 meters).