JEFFERSON CITY – Sometimes it seems like it may never rain, and it’s followed by a downpour; that was exactly the case for the North Platte boys’ track and field program.
North Platte sophomore Drake Keraus ran in the mile and 2-mile at the Class 2 State Meet at Jefferson City High School on May 17 and 18.
Since Johnny Shanks accomplished the feat in 1998, no Panther was all-state in track until three did it this year. The Class 2 State Meet at Jefferson City High School ended a 26-year drought for North Platte on May 18.
The Panthers did it in entirely different ways. Noah Heckman was all-state in the long distance, Corbin Britting was all-state in the sprints and Coen Rainsbarger was all-state in the pole vault.
Heckman has been knocking on the door for all-state quite some time, and finally was able to walk through it. He was the final runner to earn said accomplishment in the 2-mile, ending his final high school race and legacy with a time of 10:09.14.
“Noah qualified all four years in the 3,200; went out every year, gave great effort and just couldn’t hit the medal stand so for him to finish out his career by picking up a medal on that track one last time, I’m proud of him and excited for him,” North Platte long-distance coach Brendan Cary said.
Britting made it to state in two events, only making it out of preliminaries in the 400. He had a season-best time in the 200 in 22.79, missing out on finals by two places.
Britting shined in the 400, breaking the school record with a time of 50.87 seconds in preliminaries. He cooled off ever so slightly in finals, claiming eighth place in 51.60 seconds.
“Corbin came down last year qualified in the 200 and finished ninth so he was the first guy out of the finals. You can choose to go two ways – you can be disappointed or you can work harder and get better and – and he came back, worked harder, ran solid all season in one of the best 400 fields that I’ve seen in Class 2,” Cary said.
Rainsbarger had the highest finish of all the boys, claiming third place in the pole vault. He vaulted 3.93 meters to earn a bronze medal.
“Cohen didn’t qualify last year and dedicated himself to work in practice on getting faster and stronger. Part of pole vault is being solid, clearing bars and opening bars early without misses and he did that to put himself in a great position,” Cary said.
A week after breaking the school record in the mile with a time of 4:35.86 to become the final state qualifier from the competitive Class 2 Sectional 4 Meet, Drake Keraus had a slightly slower outing on the bigger stage. The sophomore ended in 14th place in 4:39.73.
Keraus also ended up taking 12th place in the 2-mile, despite having a season-best time of 10:23.44. Caleb Wright made an appearance in the high jump, clearing 1.84 meters and earning 10th place.