Boys track notebook, 5/16

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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

Beatrice’s Sugden wins Class B high jump

Cory Sugden of Beatrice was torn when he found out Nebraska football recruit John Levorson scratched from the Class B high jump competition.

“I really like jumping with John. It helps he’s not here, but I wish he was here,” Sugden said.

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Sugden cleared every height on his first attempt through 6-feet-7-inches to win the title over Northwest’s Travis Englund. Sugden took the bar to 6-9¾ to try to break the Orangemen school mark but missed on all three tries.

Levorson took over the state lead in the high jump last week when he cleared 6-7¼ at the district meet but then pulled a hamstring while warming up for the final relay.

“Both my teammate, Tommie Bardsley, and I got PRs (personal record) and placed at state,” said Sugden, whose previous best was 6-6. Bardsley went 6-4 to finish sixth. “Without John here, Tommie and I had to motivate ourselves. John, Tommie and I went 1-2-3 at every meet. I beat John at four meets and he beat me in two meets.”

* Back in time: Matt Shipp of Bertrand has been on top of the medals platform before. He was the all-class gold medalist last year in the 800 and also won the Class C 400.

After running the fastest time in the state in the 800 earlier this season, a foot injury kept him off the track for nearly six weeks. He pulled on some sneakers last week and qualified for the 400 with the second-slowest time. On Friday, he won his heat from the outside lane and posted the fastest time going into the Class D finals.

“To be frank, I haven’t been this scared since I was a freshman,” Shipp said. “I just didn’t know how my foot would respond. It’s on fire right now.

“The strategy changes when you’re in lane eight — you run like a scared rabbit.”

Shipp said he was just glad to have a chance to run in his final state high school meet.

“When I first got hurt, I thought I wouldn’t be to be on the pink again,” he said. “It’s a great feeling.”