East's Duffy withstands challenge

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By RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

A little fear can be a good thing for a runner.

Twice down the homestretch of the 800-meter run Monday,  Lincoln East’s Grant Duffy had to turn back a surging Jon Ronhovde of Fremont.

The second time required Duffy to lean at the tape and just nip Ronhovde to earn the gold medal in the Harold Scott Invitational at Beechner Athletic Complex.

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Lincoln Southeast's Ali Tewes runs away from the field to win the girls 3200-meter run during the Harold Scott Invitational on Monday. (Eric Gregory)

Lincoln Southeast's Ali Tewes runs away from the field to win the girls 3200-meter run during the Harold Scott Invitational on Monday. (Eric Gregory)

“I was scared out of my head that he’d catch me,” said Duffy. “Sprinting and I don’t get along too well. When there was still 500 meters left, I took the lead. I knew the last 100 would be a toughie and I figured he was coming on.”

Coming off the final turn, Ronhovde moved up to Duffy’s shoulder but the Spartan senior pulled away to a five-meter lead with 50 meters left. Again, Ronhovde started to gain on Duffy, who lunged at the tape to earn the win.

“I saw him pop up again, so I leaned and got him,” Duffy said.

Duffy’s electronic time was  1 minutes, 56.52 seconds, with Ronhovde, the state cross country champion last fall, being timed in   1:56.53. Both times were converted to hand-held times and Duffy’s time atop the season chart will be 1:56.3, as will Ronhovde’s.

“When we first competed, our sophomore year in cross country, I was ahead of him. By track that year, we were pretty even,” Duffy said. “But in cross country our junior year, he destroyed me and I didn’t run track last spring because I got burned out a little.

“I came back in cross country, but I didn’t train enough and he got me.”

That provided motivation for Duffy over the winter.

“I figured it was fun to run fast and be at the top, so I decided to train hard over the winter,” he said. “I wasn’t ready on Thursday, when the meet was supposed to be. I woke up scared. This morning when I woke up, I just said that I could do this and prove that all the workouts the coaches have me do will pay off.”

Ronhovde helped Fremont earn the boys team title with 123 points, outdistancing second-place Omaha North, which had 71.

Omaha Central won the girls team championship with 111 points, led by freshman LaQue Davis, who won the 200, the 100 hurdles and the long jump.

Jessica Hugo of Lincoln Pius X, which was second in the team race with 97 points, also won three gold medals. She posted a school record with her :46.9 in the 300 intermediate hurdles. She also ran on the winning 3,200 relay with Jordan Searcey, Katherine Lange and Kelli Rice and on the victorious 1,600 relay with Searcey, Claire Bertrand and Tara Grosserode.

“That’s my PR (personal record), so I’m really happy,” Hugo said of winning the hurdles event. “I didn’t even feel the wind. I try not to let outside factors affect my races because we run in bad weather so often. We haven’t had nice weather for a meet yet this spring.”

Hugo said she still has room for improvement.

“I got my PR, so now I’ll try for 45 seconds. At the end of the curve is the hardest part for me. I stumbled a little,” she said. “And when you stutter-step, you end up jumping over instead of gliding. You need your steps smooth all the way through.”

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.