Chisholm's Hackett gaining confidence
Apr. 20—Chisholm track coach Jim Coleman said his biggest challenge with first-year sophomore hurdler Laiken Hackett is convincing her "how good she could be."
"She had never done it before so she is not very confident, but she is getting there." Coleman said.
Hackett got there Monday.
She swept the girls 100 and 300 hurdles with season-best times of 16.87 and 50.34 respectively. Senior teammate Mollie Burchel was second in the 100 (16.92) while senior teammate Grace Holder was second in the 300 (52.16) and third in the 100 (17.59).
"I'm feeling really good," Hackett said. "I've worked real hard for this. This was definitely my best meet so far."
Hackett is literally getting over the mental hurdles.
"I just had to stay focused," she said, "and not psyche myself out. A lot of it is being confident you can do it because you don't want to get down on yourself."
Burchel and Holder are friendly rivals.
'They definitely help a lot," Hackett said of the two. "They are very supportive. It's fun to run with them. It's good to have people to practice with like that. I still have some things I need to work on, but I'm getting better with every meet."
Hackett teamed with Tess Sumner, Jadelyn Streck and Jimena Castillo to finish second in the 1,600 relay in 4:26.42
She was one of four Chisholm gold medalists — Grace Winter, girls high jump, 4-9; Bryson Young, boys high jump, 6-2; and the 3,200 boys relay of Hunter Combs, Abe Redd, Makinde Oguasola and Ethan Carpenter, 8:45.32.
Winter won in a jump off with teammate Nicole Watkins and Savannah Nunely of Luther after all three went out at 4-10. It was Winter's first-ever time to compete in the event.
"Oh my gosh, that's awesome," a teammate said to Winter.
"I was pretty surprised, I didn't think I was going to get that high," Winter said. "I just wanted to win, but I was just excited to do it. I wanted to be in more events, so I decided to try the high jump."
Young equaled his best jump of 6-2 and barely missed in his last attempt at 6-4.
"I was probably thinking too much," Young said. "If I had cleared my mind, I probably would have gotten 6-4 but I'm really proud of 6-2. If I work hard, I can get 6-4 by the end of regionals (April 29).
"It really helped to be at home, I already have my steps marked out and you feel more at home."
"Hunter and Makinde totally carried us," Redd said. "Everybody ran a good time, it wasn't our best of the year, but we're staying up there. We were just hoping to get first today. We didn't have any other goals."
Oguasola said he ran "probably his best race of the season (2:09 on his leg).
Combs was second in the 800 (2:13.93) while Ogunsolo was third in the 400 (53.78).
The Chisholm girls were second to Watonga (132.2 to 129.7) while the boys were fourth with 74. Luther took the boys crown with 142.2 points.
Other top three finishers for CHS were Alice Watkins, third, girls long jump, 14-9; the girls 400 relay (Paden Pasby, Streck, Emma Tennell and Castillo), second, 51.60; the girls 800 relay (Macie Andrews, Streck, Tess Sumner and Castillo), second, 1:51.64; Matthew Todd, third, 100, 11.59.
"I was really happy with how we ran today," Coleman said.
Other area girls winners were Keely Hussey, Okeene, long jump, 15-5; Riley Coleman, Watonga, 800, 2:24.64 and 1,600, 5:39.45; Jocelyn Turney, Watonga, 400, 58.45 (a school record.);
Other area boys winners were Cy Walters, Watonga, 3,200, 11:16.01 and 1,600, 5:05.75; Sylus Graves, Watonga, shot put, 39-7 1/2 ; Trevor Green, Cherokee, discus, 130-8; Houston Bockelman, Cherokee, long jump, 20-0; and Nicky Lambert, Cherokee, pole vault, 9-6.
Campbell is a former sports writer and current part-time writer for the News & Eagle, enidnews@enidnews.com.
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