OMAHA — Think, for a second, how long those memories might last for Simon Wiedel and Catherine Mick.
If we wrote a movie script about the pair of Nebraska recruits — the jumping, sprinting, vaulting, hurdling duo — they wouldn’t have let us write what we witnessed at Burke Stadium on Saturday. That’s just how fun it was.
Both had their signature — that one event they could autograph for the crowd to watch. For Wiedel it was the 100 meters and Mick it was the pole vault. Both were four-time champions in those events. But, they were both four event standouts, each qualifying in the maximum number of allowable events every year of their high school career.
And, for all their expertise on the track, they are even better kids. The one you hope your son or daughter brings home for Christmas one year. Surely, there must be some special memory that’s personal, maybe. One that would be truly meaningful to this type of once-in-a-generation athlete.
“I don’t know,” Mick said. “I think just having my dad here for all of this.” Her father, John, is the pole vault coach for BDS. “And, last year when he got to give me the all-class gold medal that was pretty special.”
He did it again on Saturday afternoon, as the sun came out and his daughter closed out one of the greatest track and field careers in Nebraska prep history.
And, for Wiedel, surely one of those golds had to be more special than the others. Right?
“For me, the greatest thing about state track is the kids I competed against,” he said. “Some of the really, really good ones are the best kids. That’s been the most fun.”
In all over the weekend, they combined for 72 points (38 for Mick and 34 for Wiedel) in individual events. Mick added gold medals in the 100 and 300 hurdles to her all-class gold medal and Wiedel getting the 200 and long jump to his signature 100 win.
Not a bad way to go out. Next stop, Lincoln.
Giannou Embraces Repeat
Cross County senior Aaron Giannou knew he’d have to perform well to earn a repeat title in the Class C 400 meter dash on Saturday. Like everyone else that entered Omaha Burke Stadium, he had heard the name Noah Vedral.
The Wahoo Neumann standout athlete — he holds multiple football offers, including a recent one from new Central Florida coach Scott Frost — doesn’t do too bad on the track, either. After leading the Cavaliers to the state basketball title in March, he also helped them claim a track title yesterday with wins in the 300 hurdles and 1,600 meter relay and a second in the 110 high hurdles.
But, he couldn’t get Giannou in the 400.
“Knowing he’s from a bigger school, they were Class B last year,” Giannou said. “That motivates you a little bit, but winning it last year was my big motivation.”
Giannou was in control of the race almost from the beginning. He caught a glimpse of Vedral at about the 110 meter mark, but once he passed Vedral couldn’t keep up. Giannou’s time of 49.81 was good enough by .13 seconds.
“I could see him,” Giannou said. “I was peaking over and I could see him, and then towards the end, I got the point I couldn’t see him anymore. Then, I felt a lot better.”
One After the Other
Mick, Tara Murphy and Kayla Bachle gave Striv schools a turkey in the 110 hurdles early in the final races on Saturday.
Mick (BDS) won first in Class D, then Murphy (Nebraska Christian) controlled the Class C race while Bachle (Northwest) did the same in Class B. Bachle’s time was 14.86, just .05 off the state record, while Murphy’s time of 15.14 edged Mariah Willey of Pawnee City.
Team Titles
We’ll have more later in the week from championship coaches Don Perry (York) and Collin Johnston (Millard West) as Striv schools brought home six team trophies from the state meet. They included: Millard West (A boys champion), York (B boys champion), High Plains (D boys champion), Thayer Central (C boys runner-up), Heartland (D boys runner-up) and York (B girls runner-up).
