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NEK All-Americans
      Click Here for the pictures from 2010 Indoor Nationals

       

      Update from Indoor Nationals 2010

      NEK brings home 16 individual champions, 112 medalists and maybe even a team title.

      40 members of the North East Kansas Track Club returned home from the AAU Indoor National Championships with the team’s best ever showing, and a whole bunch of questions.

      The Pentathlons provided the clubs first 6 medals of the meet, and two national titles. Kyle Parr competing in the Midget Boys Pent, established an early lead with a very strong showing in the hurdles, and never looked back in winning his first ever national championship. Cody Purdum, was pulling double duty, placing 6th in the Intermediate Boys division, and also adding a second medal by finishing 3rd in the Pole Vault. Newcomer, Mattie Swisher of Emmet was showing her versatility by finishing 2nd in the Sub-Youth Girls pent. While Gavyn Yetter (1st), Mindy Wilson (3rd)and Hannah Twenhafel (5th) were piling up the points in the Intermediate Girls division. Purdum wasn’t alone on the Vault runway, as Samantha Twenhafel finished 3rd in Intermediate Girls, Laramie Leakey and Molly Bassette finished 2nd and 3rd in the Youth Girls, and Phil Steinlage of was the runner-up in the Young Men’s Vault. Race Walk provided another 19 medals for the club and another 6 national champions. Abbie Sise won her second consecutive title in winning the Sub-Midget Girls, Caroline Craig won the Sub-Youth Girls division, Rebekah Topham began her quadruple gold weekend by winning the Youth Girls division, she was followed across the line by Leakey and Bassette. The Intermediate Girls continued their assault on the all-time points record, finishing 1st-Keara Lenard, 2nd-Rachel Taylor, 3rd-Ashley Lake, 4th-Madison Wiegers, and 6th-Samantha Twenhafel. The team went 1-2-3 in the Young Women’s age group with Karly VanCampen, Megan Wherrel, and Shelby Tajchman occupying those spots. The boys team got in on the medal rush as Zach Scheibe (2nd in Bantam Boys), Khristian Scheibe (1st in Midget Boys), and the 1-2-3-4 finish of Gavin Scheibe, Josh Schirmer, Elika Liftee, and Ryan Kramer brought the medal count to 30 for the night.

       

      Saturday was a replay of Saturday night as the team continued to pile up points, this time the big push was from the field events. The Shot Put proved lucrative as the Primary Boys placed both Kade Lenard (5th) and Noah Scheibe (8th), Zach Scheibe (6th) won his second medal of the meet, Sise added her second medal by finishing 5th, Leakey and Bassette continued their tandem medal collecting finishing 5th and 6th. Brooke Rieger had a massive PR that propelled her to 2nd in the Intermediate Girls, Parr and Khristian Scheibe both returned to the medal stand finishing 4th and 5th, VanCampen and Tajchman grabbed the 5th and 6th place spots in the Young Womens, and Kramer, Steinlage, and Schirmer were 2nd, 4th, and 6th in the young mens, Henry Sise added a silver to the bronze that he won in 2009. High Jump was very competitive, the team was able to crown another national champ as Parr won the Midget Boys, he was joined on the podium by Khristian Scheibe, Kyle’s sister, Shannon finished 3rd in the Intermediate Girls and had Wilson (5th) and Hannah Twenhafel (7th) add to the team point toatal. Purdum was able to finish 8th, while Swisher and Tajchman both won their third medals of the meet, Zach Scheibe added a bronze to his growing medal collection. The Long Jump provided six more medalist With Craig, Yetter, and Shannon Parr all adding to their own personal medal totals, While Bryce Campbell (6th in Young Men) and Jasmine Helms (5th in Intermediate Girls) both won their first ever national medals.

      The competition on the track was heating up as Craig was 7th in Sub-Youth Girls, Topham added gold #2 and a national record in the Youth Girls 3000. VanCampen added a silver, Tsianina Whitetree was 3rd and Wherrel were fourth in Young Womens. Wiegers, Lake, and Taylor added to their RW medals from the night before finishing 5th, 6th, and 7th. The boys had a trifecta of medals as Blake Goodin (6th in IB), Liftee (6th in YM), and Gavin Scheibe (5th in YM).  Swisher finished 8th in the 200, Mandy Wilson, Yetter, and Keara Lenard were 2nd, 4th, and 7th in the 800, Kade Lenard and Noah Scheibe were 6th and 7th in the Primary Boys, Goodin was 3rd in IB, and Tyler Newkirk charged home for a 7th in the Young Men’s division. The Golden queen, Topham was finishing off her competition with another championship in the 800. Several hurdle finals were run on Saturday, and the Intermediate Girls of NEK were dusting the competition with Parr winning the title, ahead of teammates; Yetter (2nd), Mindy Wilson (3rd), Lake (6th), and Hannah Twenhafel (7th) nearly overpopulating the awards stand with NEK jerseys. Swisher continued to impress finishing 4th in the SYG division.

       

      Going into Sunday the club held the lead in team points and had some serious competition to fight off. Purdum earned his 4th medal with a 6th place in the hurdles, Kyle Parr was 5th in the MB division. Mandy Wilson was 6th in the IG 400 meters. In the 1500 Goodin was 2nd, VanCampen ran an incredibly smart race beginning her kick extra early to burn up a pair of very fast girls and raced to a win, she was joined by Whitetree in 3rd, and Wherrel in 5th, Newkirk added another fantastic finish with an 8th. The star of the entire meet was Topham, as she battled down the final straightaway for her fourth title. The Triple Jump saw Bassette and Leakey back on the podium with 2nd and 3rd place finishes, The Newkirks made it a family affair as Cole (7th in IB) and Tyler (8th in YM) both garnered medals. The Intermediate Girls left no doubt who the best team at the meet was as they finished the individual events off with a 1-2-3-4-5-6 finish in the Triple, led by Wilson, the rest of the girls (Helms-Lenard-Hannah Twenhafel-Taylor-Samantha Twenhafel) played follow the leader to the awards stand. It was the younger kids day at the Long Jump, where Kade Lenard brought home his third medal of the meet, finishing 8th in the Primary Boys division. The final points for the team came courtesy of the 4x400 relays, with the Intermediate Boys team of Aren Coppoc, Morgan Swisher, Blake Goodin, and Cole Newkirk finished 3rd behind two teams who both broke the national record. The intermediate girls A team was 4th and B team was 5th.

       

      The Youth Girls, Intermediate Girls, Young Women, and Young Men all brought home team championships, and the team finished in a controversial 2nd place. The Elgin Sharks were crowned the team champions as they were the only team that entered athletes in the Primary 1500 and the Primary 4x400 relay, both are events that the AAU does not allow the Primary age division to contest. Those uncontested 82 points that the Sharks added resulted in a 33 point win 641-608. We asked for clarification on why meet management intentionally disobeyed the direction of the AAU’s board of governors, and were told that they ( Elgin) asked for the events to be added. Congratulations to the Elgin coaches on their persuasiveness, but if you ask me, NEK is the true national champions!

       

       

       


      Day 2:

      A huge day two has kept us in the lead. We are currently leading the  
      overall team scores with 484.5 points, and Elgin Illinois is in second  
      with 359. With a great day tomorrow we have a chance to win a National  
      Championship. Who would have thought that a bunch of kids from the  
      middle of nowhere had a chance to do this. Tomorrow looks promising  
      with the Triple Jump, 4x400, 1500, a couple of finalist in the 55  
      hurdles, and the 400.


      Day 1:  North East Kansas Track Club was on quite a roll on Friday night at  
      the AAU Indoor National Championship. After the Multi's, Race Walk,  
      and Pole Vault the club had already won 30 individual medals, 9 of  
      which were Gold and scored a whopping 226 points. The following is a  
      recap of the individual placings and age/gender team points from  
      Friday night.

      Bantam Boys- 8 points
      Zach Scheibe-2nd in Race Walk

      Sub-Midget Girls- 10 points
      Abbie Sise- 1st in Race Walk

      Midget Boys- 20 points
      Khristian Scheibe- 1st in Race Walk
      Kyle Parr- 1st in Pentathlon

      Sub-Youth Girls- 18 points
      Caroline Craig- 1st in Race Walk
      Mattie Swisher- 2nd in Pentathlon

      Youth Girls- 38 points
      Rebekah Topham- 1st in Race Walk
      Laramie Leakey- 2nd in Pole Vault, 2nd in Race Walk
      Molly Bassette- 3rd in Pole Vault, 3rd in Race Walk

      Intermediate Girls- 62 points
      Keara Lenard- 1st in Race Walk
      Rachel Taylor- 2nd in Race Walk
      Ashley Lake- 3rd in Race Walk
      Madison Wiegers- 4th in Race Walk
      Samantha Twenhafel- 6th in Race Walk, 2nd in Pole Vault
      Gavyn Yetter- 1st in Pentathlon
      Mindy Wilson- 2nd in Pentathlon
      Hannah Twenhafel- 5th in Pentathlon

      Intermediate Boys- 9 points
      Cody Purdum- 3rd in Pole Vault, 6th in Pentathlon

      Young Women- 24 Points
      Karly Van Campen- 1st in Race Walk
      Megan Wherrel- 2nd in Race Walk
      Shelby Tajchman- 3rd in Race Walk

      Young Men- 37
      Gavin Scheibe- 1st in Race Walk
      Josh Scirmer- 2nd in Race Walk
      Elika Liftee- 3rd in Race Walk
      Ryan Kramer- 4th in Race Walk
      Phil Steinlage- 2nd in Pole Vault
      .

       
       
      NEK doubles medal record at AAU Junior Olympics!

      North East Kansas Track Club won 28 medals at the AAU and USATF Junior  
      Olympic meets, smashing the club's old record of 13 set last year.

      Dante Brooks began the medal rush finishing 8th in the Midget boys  
      Turbo Javelin at the USATF meet in Greensboro, NC. The remaining  
      national participants (all 55 of them) took part in the AAU JO Games  
      held in Des Moines, IA. The first of the NEK athletes to make their  
      way to the awards stand was 10 year old Abbie Sise in the Bantam Girls  
      1500 Race Walk, Abbie came in ranked 16th, but finished more than 2  
      minutes ahead of her seed time finishing 5th. Next on the track was 11  
      year old Caroline Craig who earned her 7th national medal of her young  
      career finish 3rd in the Midget Girls 1500 Race Walk with a new PR of  
      9:29.46. Saturday and Sunday were filled with the multi-event athletes  
      and their competitions, 16 year old Carson Barnes had a strong showing  
      finishing 7th in the Intermediate Boys Decathlon and improving his PR  
      by more than 140 points. 14 year old Madison Schrock had an incredible  
      day in the Youth Girls Pentathlon finishing with PR's in 4 of her 5  
      events and earning a 6th place medal in the most competitive  
      competition of the week, as both the 1st and 2nd place finishers in  
      that competition smashed the AAU record by more than 200 points.  
      Sunday saw the only time in club history that 2 athletes from NEK have  
      been on the awards stand together at the JO Games, as Keara Lenard  
      (2nd) and Rachel Taylor (8th) both were medalist in the Youth Girls  
      3000 Race Walk.

      With the weekend behind them and 7 medals in tow, the kids of NEK had  
      the daunting task of a full week of qualifier rounds and finals ahead,  
      with the competition growing ever more stiff as the fields were  
      narrowed. Monday saw a pair of Field Event medalist with Shannon Parr  
      adding another All-American honor to her High School State  
      Championship that she won in May, finishing 6th in the Intermediate  
      Girls High Jump. A huge upset was in the making as Keara Lenard earned  
      her 2nd medal of the meet finishing 8th in the Youth Girls Triple  
      Jump, coming in as the 22nd seed, she was able to win her flight, and  
      then had to sit through an hour worth of jumps before finally earning  
      her spot in the finals. On Wednesday the club started back in to  
      medals game as 15 year old Hudson Phillip finished 3rd in the  
      Intermediate Boys Steeplechase, and 13 year old Derrick Zaldivar (in  
      his 1st full year of track) placed 5th in the Sub-Youth Boys Pole  
      Vault. Thursday saw the clubs first National Champion of the meet as  
      Rebekah Topham won the Sub-Youth girls 1500, the first of her two  
      national titles of the week. The Boys team countered with Blake Goodin  
      running 4:06.56 in the Intermediate Boys 1500, this coming just one  
      day after being edged out of a medal in the 800 finals, Jaxon Wright  
      added his name to the All-American list coming out with a phenomenal  
      3rd place finish in the Youth Boys 100 Hurdles, in his first ever  
      Championship meet. Friday morning 12 more medals were earned as the  
      Youth Girls team of Connor Strader, Keara Lenard, Brooke Bischof, and  
      Lauren Leonard finished 6th, the Intermediate Girls team of Gavyn  
      Yetter, Mandy Wilson, Jaycee Wells, and Kaitlyn Barnes finished 4th,  
      and the Intermediate Boys team of Carson Barnes, Colin Duffy, Blake  
      Goodin, and Hudson Phillip finished 5th. The last day of competition  
      brought the final two medals and one more National Championship to the  
      club as Rebekah Topham won the Sub-Youth Girls 3000, and Blake Goodin  
      closed out his week with his 3rd medal earning 6th in the Intermediate  
      Boys 3000.

      That is a recap of our medalist, but those 8 days were so much more;  
      they were a chance for all 55 kids to show how those of us who weren't  
      born in New York City, L.A, Houston, Atlanta or any other urban center  
      are capable of competing in the largest track meet in the world, and  
      against the very best competition in the United States. It was a  
      chance for our kids and parents to make new friends within our club,  
      and outside of it. During this meet we had 57 kids achieve new  
      personal best, which resulted in them moving up a cumulative 360 spots  
      from their seeded positions. Some of my best memories will be watching  
      our kids who didn't win a medal, battle it out trying, sometimes it  
      was so close to being a medal we could taste it, other times it was  
      finishing off your event by chasing someone down the homestretch and  
      moving up that one place for pride's sake. Whatever the reason, our  
      kids and our families have a lot to be proud of.

      What a week it was for us as our current national medal count now  
      stands at 153. It was a very nice moment of nostalgia for me to visit  
      Drake Stadium again, as this is the place where the club earned it's  
      first ever national medal, just 5 years later NEK has taken it's  
      rightful place as one of the very best Youth Track and Field programs  
      in the United States. This has happened because of many great people  
      who have given their time, money, and energy to helping these kids  
      achieve the greatness inside them. A huge thank you goes out to the  
      administrative board who spent countless hours meeting and planning  
      every detail of this and all of our other years, I was overwhelmed in  
      the days that we used to have just a few kids and I tried to do this  
      on my own, I wouldn't have a prayer now. To the Parents and  
      Grandparents of our athletes who finance these trips, and take the  
      time to be there to nurture, cheer, celebrate, and mentor not only  
      their own but everyone's children. To the former athletes and parents  
      who still take the time to help with practices, meets, fundraisers and  
      even take an active role in maintaining this website; you guys were  
      the one's who laid the ground work for some maniac to chase this  
      impossible dream, some of your records may be broken, but you will  
      never be forgotten. To all of our coaches who give of their time and  
      talent preparing these young people for competition, people identify  
      me as "the" coach of NEK, I am simply one piece in this puzzle, these  
      kids are a direct reflection of you, so congratulations on your 153  
      national medals. To our athletes who give up their summers and winters  
      to prepare themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally, whether  
      you won a national championship or finished last you are all winners  
      in my book, while many sit around and talk about wanting to be better,  
      you guys go out and do something about it!
      • NEK Track member Jareb Stallbaumer was named to the All Big-12 Academic Team!!!

      Read this article about Jareb.

      • Welcome Julie and Diana Pickler to NEK Track.  Our track club is very fortunate to have them help coach our athletes this summer.  Julie and Diana were heptathlon athletes at Washington State University.  Diana completed in the 2008 Olympics