A dozen track and field athletes have signed letters of intent to attend Chadron State College this fall, and coach Ryan Baily anticipates signing several more athletes in the next few months.
All but one of this group are high school seniors, with the exception being Ryan Bustinza of Gering. He’s been attending Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff since graduating from Gering High in May.
Probably best-known among the signees is Kelsy Wood of Hemingford, who has also been accepted into the Rural Health Opportunities Program at CSC to study pre-dentistry.
Wood had an exceptional track season last spring, winning 4 events – 100 meters, both hurdle races and the long jump – at five meets, winning 3 events at the Best of the West Meet in Scottsbluff – just the fifth athlete to do that since 2000 – and placing second in both hurdles at the Class C State Meet.
Wood’s best marks last spring were 12.84 in the 100 dash, 15.44 in the 100 hurdles, 45.94 in the 300 hurdles and 17-3 in the long jump.
Baily is excited about the potential all 12 of his recruits possess, noting that several of them are expected to provide an immediate impact…including 7 distance runners who will also join the Eagles’ cross country team this fall.
That group includes Bustinza and two more runners from the Panhandle, Nicky Applegarth of Chadron and Cody Franklin of Bridgeport.
Bustinza had bests of 4:39.36 in the 1600 and 10:04.37 in the 3200 last spring….placing second in the latter at the Class B-6 District Meet. He also placed fifth at the Class B State Cross Country Meet in 2010 when he helped Gering finish second in the team standings.
Another member of that Gering team, silver medalist Domingo Torres, was Chadron State’s leading cross country runner last fall and is on the Eagles’ track team.
Applegarth placed ninth at the Class B state cross country meet last fall and qualified for the State Track and Field Meet in the 3200 last spring.
Franklin won the boys’ Class D cross country state title last October and placed fourth in the Class C 3200 at the state track meet last spring with a season-best time of 10:06.30.
From Wyoming comes Lingle-Fort Laramie senior Hank Jackson, second in the Class A 800 and fifth in the 1600 at the Wyoming state track meet last spring. He won the boys’ race at the Chadron High School Cross-Country Meet last September on a course at CSC.
Also competing in both sports for the Eagles will be Josef Gertner of Fort Morgan, Colo., and two women from eastern Nebraska, Hannah Love of Fremont and Chelsea Lukasiewicz of Fort Calhoun.
Two of the recruits are hurdlers from Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs.
Chris Cutcher won the 110 high hurdles and placed second in the 300 intermediate hurdles at the Colorado Springs Metro League Meet and placed in the highs at the Colorado State Meet, both last May. His top times were 14.72 and 39.77 seconds.
Bryce Johnson was fourth in the high hurdles at Metro League Meet and placed in the 300 hurdles at the state meet. His best times were 15.07 and 39.82 seconds.
Another recruit from Colorado is Keri Ruff of Eaton High School, last year’s Class 3A discus champion and who had marks of 132-8 in the discus and 37-7 in the shot put. She and former teammate, Mel Herl, a freshman thrower on this year’s Chadron State team, were coached at Eaton High by Mandy Kubo, a standout thrower for the Eagles in the early 2000s.
Also joining the Eagles will be Stacia Reuswaat, a senior at Rapid City’s St. Thomas More High. She placed second at state in the Class A 100 meters at last year and went 18-5 ½ in the long jump at the Queen City Classic in Spearfish last April…the ninth longest jump in South Dakota history. Her career bests are 12.89 in the 100 and 27.24 in the 200.