4/7/26 Nerdsletter
- jayslagle
- 23 hours ago
- 14 min read
Contributor: The Nerd
Concordia tragedy
Last month the Concordia track team, and Concordia's entire community, suffered a blow after four CUNE track athletes were involved in a motor vehicle accident while returning from a spring break trip to Florida. Matthew Wing, a junior sprinter from Missouri, was killed in the head-on collision caused by a drunk driver driving the wrong way on an interstate in Missouri. His teammate Noah Ramirez, a jumper and javelin thrower from California, suffered a traumatic brain injury and will spend an undetermined amount of time at a rehab hospital. Two other occupants in their car escaped with less serious injuries, and a car with another set of teammates was the first to arrive on the scene.
Matthew married his high school girlfriend, Bri Worley Wing, in May 2025, and she is pregnant with their first child. A GoFundMe account has been created to support Bri and their child: https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-matthew-wing-support-for-brianna-wing. A GoFundMe account has also been created for the Ramirez family from California who will be incurring significant lodging costs to stay near Noah during his recovery: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-cover-medical-expenses-for-the-ramirez-family
All seven Concordia students in those two cars are faith leaders on campus. Please keep these seven students, their families and the Concordia community in your prayers.
New State records (*pending)
We're aware of the following performances that will be forwarded to the NSAA for record certification:
#5 - Brock Bailey of Dundy County Stratton threw the shot 63-10.00 at the Perkins County meet on Friday, April 2nd. This mark breaks his previous but not-yet-certified-by-the-NSAA Class D record throw of 63-04.25 (see #2 below) at the Southern Valley meet on March 27.
#4 - Abigael Spargo of Dundy County Stratton set the Class D 300 hurdles record with her 44.12 mark at the Perkins County meet on Friday, April 2nd. She broke the record of 44.76 set by Skylar Hadley of Loomis in 2018.
#3 - Noah Rau of Chase County set the All-Class and Class C discus record with his 205-07 mark at the Ogallala meet on Friday, April 2nd. He broke his previous All-Class record of 203-09 that was set at last year's State meet as well as the previous Class C record of 196-11 set by Derric Werner of Elkhorn Valley in 2002. Because Chase County moved from Class B in 2025 to Class C in 2026, Noah has the unusual distinction of holding both the Class B (203-09 in 2025) and Class C (205-07 in 2026) State records. Fun fact A: The steel measuring tape used to measure Noah's throw was borrowed from Cozad coach, who now carries it in case Chayden Hoffmaster (see #1 below) decides to break another record. Fun fact B: Ogallala also moved from Class B to Class C this year, which means Ogallala's Shaydyn Rasby, the current Class B record holder in the 300 hurdles at 43.45, has an opportunity to crack the Class C record of 43.29.
#2 - Brock Bailey of Dundy County Stratton threw the shot 63-04.25 at the Southern Valley invite on March 27, topping the Class D mark of 63-01.25 set by Steve Kriewald of North Loup-Scotia at the State meet in 2000.
#1 - Chayden Hoffmaster of Cozad posted a long jump of 24-05.50 leap at the UNK indoor meet on March 20. There was initial confusion about whether an indoor mark qualified for a State record, but Cozad does plan to submit the mark. The previous mark of 23-08.25 was set by Tyler Wullenwaber of Centennial in 2009. Chayden topped the previous record again this past week, jumping 23-10.00 at Holdrege meet on March 27 but the wind reading was 2.4 m/s, just over the limit of 2.0 m/s. Speaking of wind readings, I'm going to post the NSAA's State record criteria one more time...
Primer for Nebraska State records
The NSAA is responsible for certifying and compiling State records. The most updated list is located at https://secure.nsaahome.org/nsaaforms/tr/staterecords.php.
Each season I receive DMs and e-mails telling me about a phenomenal result in a sprint race or the horizontal jumps. My usual reply: "was it wind legal?" The usual response: "I don't think they measured it."
As we dive into the outdoor season, this is our annual reminder that a wind reading is required in five events for any performance to be considered for a State record. Here is the 'wind-legal' overview that Doane coach PJ Grosserode helped us first publish in 2023.
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A gauge called an anemometer is used to measure the advantage that the wind provides to a runner's velocity. A certified manual-start anemometer can cost as much as $350, and most timing companies have access to them. For State-record purposes, wind readings are required for the 100, 200, 100/110 hurdles, long jump and triple jump. In races the anemometer is to be set 50 meters from the finish line, 1.22 meters off the ground and no more than 2 meters from the running surface. For the two jumps, the anemometer is set 20 meters from the board, 1.22 meters off the ground and no more than 2 meters from the runway. The anemometer is used to measure the average athlete velocity displacement for a certain amount of time - for the 100/110, it's the entirety of the race, for the 200 it's essentially the straightaway, and for the jumps it's when the athlete is sprinting and jumping.
Wind readings are rounded to the nearest tenth, so a meter/second reading of 2.04 would be rounded down to 2.0. When you see race results, a wind reading of +2.5 or 2.5 reflects a tailwind while a reading of -2.5 reflects a headwind. If there is no wind reading (or 'NWI') next to a mark, that means a wind reading wasn't taken. If the average wind reading is 2.0 or lower, the performance is 'wind legal.' If the average is 2.1 or above, it's not wind legal and isn't eligible for a State record.
Is the wind reading synonymous with the wind miles-per-hour we see on weather apps? Google has links to several calculators, and the one I referenced says that 2.0 meters/second is equivalent to a wind speed of 4.5 miles per hour. (Last Friday the average wind speed at the UNK collegiate meet was over 20 miles per hour, and the meter/second reading ranged between 4.0 and 8.0 for most of the events where it was measured.) However, because the anemometer captures a very brief span of time - generally 15 seconds or less - there might be a lull in wind velocity that would allow for a wind-legal mark on a day that featured gusts of 25 mph. The presence of nearby buildings or hills can also amplify or block winds.
Wind also plays a key part in the pole vault. In 2022 I asked the Concordia jumps coach whether pole vaulters have higher jumps indoors or outdoors. He responded that crosswinds typically reduce pole vault performance, but a reasonable tailwind can lead to higher jumps at outdoor meets. However, the pole vault isn't subject to wind readings.
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So if you're a coach of a great athlete, what's the moral of this story? Coordinate with meet hosts to ensure that either the timing company or someone else is responsible for taking and recording anemometer readings. Your school may have to pay for the anemometer, but that's a small price to pay when a record is on the line.
Outstanding performers of the week
As always, we do our best to chase down the results for every high school meet in Nebraska, and we post them at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/trackresults. Using that page, we do a quick summary to highlight a few great performances for the week:
Beau Fujan, Bishop Neumann - On Tuesday, March 31 at the Columbus Scotus meet, on a day so windy that his coach didn't request an anemometer (wind gauge), Beau posted times of 13.98 in the 110 hurdles and 21.52 in the 200. The Class C records for those two events are, respectively, 14.01 and 21.78. To top off the tremendous day, he added a 10.82 100 and a leg on a 44.89 4x100.
Kerstyn Chapek, Bishop Neumann - At the same Columbus Scotus meet, Kerstyn swept the 100 (12.08), 200 (25.42) and 400 (59.61), and was a member of the winning 4x400 squad (4:11.74).
Ethan Laux, Creighton Prep - Ethan swept the hurdles races at the Prep meet, running 13.98 and 38.15, both the top marks among all Nebraska classes for this young season.
Hazel Haarberg, Kearney Catholic - The UNL commit swept the 100 (11.79), 200 (24.02) and long jump (17-01) at her home meet on March 31. The 200 time was faster than her existing record of 24.04 but it was not wind legal.
Avery Arens, Crofton - The freshman raced the maximum allowable distance for one meet at the Hartington Cedar Catholic meet on March 31, winning the 800 (2:26), 1600 (5:05) and 3200 (11:10), plus running a leg on the winning 4x800 squad (11:07). You read that right - her solo time in the 3200-meter run was just three seconds slower than the winning 3200-meter relay time. We're excited to see her race at Papio South on April 16 against a number of other top runners from Nebraska and South Dakota.
Maizie Stoklasa, Clarkson-Leigh - The junior posted the best marks in the long jump (18-06.75) and triple jump (37-09.50) last week, and also added the 100-meter and high jump titles at the Stanton meet. She's got serious hops.
Ian Hanson, Kearney - Ian improved his PB by nine inches in winning the Buffalo Bill (North Platte) pole vault with a mark of 15-00. With that jump, he matched the season-best height set by Jax Rickertsen of Gothenburg on March 27.
We've included a longer list of top performances by event for the week at the end of this Nerdsletter. With the performance database (see below) now live, this is the last time we'll provide such detail.
The performance database
Nerd Junior worked over the weekend to bring the 2026 performance database to life and it's now posted at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/rankings. The database is updated every time Junior gets around to pushing a button, so it's not exactly real-time. We have the top-15 performances for each event in every Class, plus an all-Class listing. We also have a hypothetical 'Team Rankings' by Class and 'The Best 50' performances so far this year based on a top-secret formula that Nerd Junior concocted.
The NSAA lists every State record on their website; we've included the State records for each event as part of the database.
There's a good chance that we've omitted someone. For example, Noah Rau's State record discus is not populating in our database right now, so we have to figure out why that athletic.net data isn't uploading. (Update: our spreadsheet wasn't configured to accept a 200-foot throw. Not only is Noah breaking records, he's also breaking our spreadsheet.) If you find an omission or error, shoot us a DM or send an email to jayslagle@hotmail.com and we're research the error.
Big news... eventually
Some people make New Year's resolutions to lose weight, exercise more or read the Bible every day. My resolution was, by the start of track season, to finish the first draft of the novel I've been writing since 2022. I accomplished that goal and now have a few copies out in the community to collect constructive feedback before I move onto the second draft. If all goes well, I hope to publish the book by August 2027.
What's the topic? It's about high school distance runners, a subject I should know well after nine years of Nerding and twelve years as a father of distance runners. It's a story about adventure, love, sword fighting... no wait, that's the Princess Bride movie. My novel is a story about success, failure, self-doubt and an unexplainable love affair with a sport that isn't always fair. If I'm struggling for Nerdsletter material, perhaps I'll drop an excerpt or two to give you a taste of what's coming.
Reverse 200's
Derek Fey of Green Ferret Timing passed along this issue, which I'll try to explain using small words that I understand.
Spring days in Nebraska are often windy so track meet directors often determine the layout of events based on wind direction. For example, most tracks allow the direction for the jumps and pole vault to be adjusted so that the wind is at the athlete's back. The same approach goes for the 100, 100/110 hurdles and 200. Reversing the direction on the 100/110 isn't a big deal; it's a straight line and the distance is unchanged regardless of the direction they run.
That isn't always the case with the 200. In a normal 200, the athletes start at the 200-meter mark and finish at the finish line where the 300-3200 races finish. Each lane on a track has specific markings for a stagger start so that the athletes run the same 200 meters regardless of which lane they're in. In a reverse 200, the athletes start at the finish line and end at the 200-meter mark. At most tracks, for the reverse 200 the athletes line up at the 800-meter stagger markings.
This is where it gets technical. A correctly-placed 800-meter stagger mark accounts for the extra distance that each athlete runs in their lanes over the first curve compared to being in lane one. However, that stagger mark also takes into account that, for example, an 800-meter runner has to drift from lane five to lane one - and that shift to lane one involves extra distance. Consequently, the stagger marks in lane two through eight for an 800-meter race are pushed further away from the lane one starting point than they are for the stagger marks for a 200-meter race where the athletes never leave their lane.
If you're a visual learner, go to the track schematic on page 2 at this website: https://www.rigbytaylor.com/wp-content/uploads/LineMarkings_Athletics400m.pdf. If you read the dimensions, it shows that the 800-meter stagger for lane 8 is 26.933 meters from the start line, while the stagger for lane 8 of a 200-meter race is 26.516 meters. Simply put, the 800-meter stagger is further out to account for the required drift to lane one once the athlete reaches the break line at the completion of the first curve.
In order to make the distance in all eight lanes the same for a reverse 200, the track needs to have a specific set of staggers just for the reverse 200. The new UNL outdoor track has those specific marks (the black lines shown above in lanes 7 and 8), which appear to fall about 16" behind the 800-meter staggers. The Burke Stadium track is also marked correctly.
The net result of using the 800-meter staggers on a reverse 200 is that the only athlete running 200 meters is the athlete running in lane one. The rest of the athletes are running less than 200-meters. Admittedly, the difference in distance isn't much, but advancing to finals, winning a race, breaking a State record or qualifying for State often comes down to hundredths or thousands of a second. Fortunately, the fix is easy; just add the correct starting stagger in lanes 2 through 8.
I'm interested to hear what coaches think about this issue. Send me an email to jayslagle@hotmail.com.
Photos!
Ninety-eight percent of our Nerds' time is devoted to taking and editing pictures, and albums are dropping almost every day. As a reminder, the easiest way to find an album on Facebook is to go to https://www.facebook.com/PrepRunningNerd/photos_albums. Albums there are listed in the order they were uploaded. If you'd like to see all of our albums in date order, we periodically update our website at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/2022 to list those.
We do label every album on Facebook but we can't control how they are presented to our followers. Here are examples of the albums we've uploaded since our last Nerdsletter:
Top performances
This is the last Nerdsletter where we'll compile top performances of the week now that the performance database is active.
Boys
100
Caleb Neidhardt, JR, North Platte, 10.76
Dallas Davison, SO, Papio South, 10.76
Beau Fujan, SR, Bishop Neumann, 10.82
Logan Arch, SR, Papio South, 10.84
Andy Ricchio, SR, Battle Creek, 10.97
Bryson Snider, SR, Cozad, 10.97
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110 hurdles
Beau Fujan, SR, Bishop Neumann, 13.98
Ethan Laux, SR, Creighton Prep, 13.98
Drey Puppe, SO, LCC, 14.59
Wyatt Liebentritt, JR, Skutt, 14.97
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200
Beau Fujan, SR, Bishop Neumann, 21.52
Caleb Neidhardt, JR, North Platte, 21.99
Silas Bush, SR, Creighton Prep, 22.10
Andy Ricchio, SR, Battle Creek, 22.11
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300 hurdles
Ethan Laux, SR, Creighton Prep, 38.15
Paul Connot, JR, Papio South, 39.41
Cael Johnson, SR, Wakefield, 39.64
Kevin Garcia-Guzman, SR, Dundy County Stratton, 39.90
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400
Brody Galyen, JR, West Holt, 48.63
Bryson Neels, SO, Gothenberg, 49.39
Damani Allen, SR, Omaha Westview, 50.76
Cale Johnson, SR, Wakefield, 51.09
Osiel Sierra Torres, SR, Scottsbluff, 51.10
Hayden Jansen, JR, Freeman, 51.16
Parker Hatch, JR, Minden, 51.16
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800
Trevin Opp, JR, Lincoln Christian, 1:57.45
Aiden Gehring, SO, Papio South, 157.80
Lucas Schautman, SR, Lincoln Pius, 1:58.67
Byrson Neels, SO, Gothenburg, 1:58.99
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1600
Joe Majerus, SR, Lincoln Pius, 4:19.61
Axton Stone, SR, Gering, 4:29.83
Trevin Opp, JR, Lincoln Christian, 4:31.17
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3200
David Krier, SR, Lincoln Pius, 9:27.78
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4x100
Papio South, 42.49
Kearney, 43.10
Hershey, 43.15
Cozad, 43.39
Scottsbluff, 43.45
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4x400
West Holt, 3:25.07
Papio South, 3:25.97
Gothenburg, 3:28.37
Sidney, 3:29.18
Holdrege, 3:29.70
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4x800
Creighton Prep, 8:16.33
Lincoln Pius, 8:19.13
Scottsbluff, 8:24.09
Skutt, 8:24.39
Alliance, 8:24.72
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Long jump
Will Janssen, SR, Syracuse, 22-07.00
Chayden Hoffmaster, SR, 22-05.00
Wyatt Liebentritt, JR, Skutt, 22-05.00
Daniel Young, JR, Scottsbluff, 22-03.00
DeMarcus McCarty, SR, Papio JV, 22-01.00
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Triple jump
John Becker, JR, Creighton Prep, 47-06.00
Trevor Duryea, SO, Anselmo-Merna, 45-00.00
Chayden Hoffmaster, SR, Cozad, 44-10.50
Grant Kozisek, JR, East Butler, 44-05.25
Jack Poppe, SR, Doniphan-Trumbull, 44-04.00
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High jump
Isaac Cronin, SR, Valentine, 6-08
Jahiem Hamik, SO, Winside, 6-05.00
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Pole vault
Ian Hanson, Kearney, 15-00.00
Jax Rickertsen, SR, Gothenburg, 14-09.00
Trevor Fuss, SR, Kimball, 14-00.00
Braiton Snider, SR, Cozad, 13-09.00
Otto Henkel, JR, Yutan, 13-06.00
Isaiah Onnen, SO, Kearney Catholic, 13-06.00
Tanner Jackson, SO, Falls City, 13-06.00
Jackson Saner, SR, Sutherland, 13-06.00
Isaac Hernandez, JR, Bertrand, 13-06.00
Tommy Lampert, SR, Creighton Prep, 13-06.00
Brayden Fuss, SO, Kimball, 13-06.00
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Shot put
Brock Bailey, JR, Dundy County Stratton, 63-10.00
Noah Rau, SR, Chase County, 56-08.25
Jake Brock, JR, Creighton Prep, 56-05.00
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Discus
Noah Rau, SR, Chase County, 205-07
Brock Bailey, JR, Dundy County Stratton, 179-02
Cole Vorderstrasse, SR, Thayer Central, 163-11
Calef Offner, SR, Falls City, 160-01
Girls
100
Hazel Haarberg, SR, Kearney Catholic, 11.79
Taylor McIntyre, SR, Central Valley, 12.03
Kerstyn Chapek, SR, Bishop Neumann, 12.08
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100 hurdles
Annisten Wortmann, JR, Hartington Cedar Catholic, 14.47
Addison Darnell, SR, Auburn, 14.67
Fiona Thorne, JR, Papio South, 14.80
Aubrey Fujan, JR, Bishop Neumann, 14.98
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200
Hazel Haarberg, SR, Kearney Catholic, 24.02
Taylor McIntyre, SR, Central Valley, 24.94
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300 hurdles
Abigael Spargo, SO, Dundy County Stratton, 44.12 (State record)
Addison Darnell, SR, Auburn, 44.90
Aubrey Fujan, JR, Bishop Neumann, 45.69
Rylee Luce, SR, Gering, 46.45
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400
Malea Robinson, SO, Omaha Northwest, 58.94
Alyssa Bauer, SR, Kearney, 59.03
Mabel Henningsen, SO, Marian, 59.39
Pavan Larson, SR, West Holt, 59.40
Annie Trausch, SR, Adams Central, 59.40
Kerstyn Chapek, SR, Bishop Neumann, 59.61
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800
Alexis Chadek, SR, Papio LaVista, 2:17.91
Kori McClain, SR, North Platte, 2:20.89
Klaira Sander, JR, Lincoln Pius, 2:23.97
Savannah Bausch, SO, Kearney, 2:24.52
Lucy Zabouldil, JR, Gretna, 2:24.73
Addison Richards, Maywood-Hayes Center, 2:28.15
Anna Paus, SR, Sandy Creek, 2:28.24
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1600
Avery Arens, FR, Crofton, 5:05.58
Kori McClain, SR, North Platte, 5:12.35
Ashlyn Carter, JR, Papio South, 5:18.60
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3200
Emily Hegge, FR, Papio South, 10:59.99
Avery Arens, FR Crofton, 11:10.67
Dawson Kreycik, SR, Kearney, 11:18.48
Maya Freyer, SO, Marian, 11:18.50
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4x100
Omaha Marian, 49.47
Gretna, 49.84
West Holt, 50.03
Adams Central, 50.31
Lincoln Pius, 50.50
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4x400
Omaha Marian, 4:01.87
West Holt, 4:04.85
Kearney, 4:07.51
Adams Central, 4:09.43
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4x800
Papio LaVista, 9:45.55
Gretna, 9:58.79
Omaha Marian, 9:59.71
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Long jump
Maizie Stoklasa, JR, Clarkson-Leigh, 18-06.75
Finley Moore, JR, Papio South, 18-04.00
Addisyn Gruver, SO, Chadron, 17-11.00
Annie Trausch, SR, Adams Central, 17-09.50
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Triple jump
Maizie Stoklasa, JR, Clarkson-Leigh, 37-09.50
Eleri Bredehoeft, SR, Omaha Marian, 37-04.00
Andie Yost, JR, Gretna, 36-11.00
Kasi Johnson, SR, Papio South, 36-10.00
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High jump
Ell Forney, SO, Columbus Lakeview, 5-06.00
Finley Rotherham, FR, Gering, 5-05.00
Alex Otto, JR, Raymond Central, 5-04.00
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Pole vault
Alyssa Onnen, SR, Kearney Catholic, 11-06.00
Danielle Hunter, JR, Scottsbluff, 10-09.00
Peyton Jacobsen, SO, North Bend Central, 10-08.00
Afton Byelick, SR, Fort Calhoun, 10-06.00
Kambryn Vaughn, JR, Holdrege, 10-06.00
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Shot put
Kennedy Bailey, SR, Dundy County Stratton, 45-07.50
Autumn L’Ecuyer, JR, Fairbury, 42-07.25
Jaxie John, JR, Gering, 40-01.75
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Discus
Kennedy Bailey, SR, Dundy County Stratton, 156-02
Erin Briggs, SR, Columbus Lakeview, 148-10
Chelsea Kottich, JR, Elm Creek, 141-11
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First published at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle on April 7, 2026. If you find an error, shoot us an e-mail at jayslagle@hotmail.com and we'll get it fixed.
Like this coverage of the Nebraska T&F and cross country scene? There's more of this at www.preprunningnerd.com. Check out the Blog tab for our frequent stories and the Results tab for every Nebraska high school meet we can find. If you want to see meet photos or just need to kill a few hours on social media, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @PrepRunningNerd or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd.
Finally, if you think runners, jumpers and throwers are the best things on earth, you'll enjoy our two most popular articles. In 2018 we published "The Runner with the Broken Heart" about a high school boy who finished last in nearly every race he ran. In 2022 we published, "The Fall and Rise of Emmett ," a story about a high school triple jumper who became a quadrapalegic after a swimming accident.