Lady Buffs track WAC champs again; Dodge girls third
Dodge City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-For the third straight year, the Garden City girls track team not only won the Western Athletic Conference title-they dominated.
Senior Kayla Doll set a new track record in the 1600 meters at Dodge City High School with a 5:09.28; Alex Miller outraced her teammate Chelsea Jackson by a good 15 seconds in the 3200 meter and Taryn Tempel soared to victory in the long jump.
“My goal all season was to break 5:10,” an exhausted Doll said following her victory. “After last week, we had three meets real close together. But after some rest, I felt that really helped me.”
Doll also raced to victory in the 800 meters-edging Dodge City’s Jessie Harshberger by two seconds.
In the two mile, Miller, who’s set to enroll at Kansas State next month alongside Doll, paced herself perfectly-moving past Jackson after the first lap. She widened the lead and pushed herself down the final stretch to one of her best times of the season-11:39.41
“I honestly felt great,” Miller said. “I kept hearing everyone cheering us on, and it felt awesome.”
The senior finished second behind Doll in the 1600 meters and third in the 800.
Dodge City girls placed second-thanks to a big day from Brekk Flax, who stormed out of the gates to victories in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Briana Bradshaw won the 100 meter and 300 meter hurdles.
On the boys side-the day belonged to Liberal speedster Trenton Hammond who won the triple jump and 110 meter hurdles. His team finished second behind conference champ Hays.
Dodge City came in third-although senior Oscar Carmona, who began the school year in Texas before transferring over, set a new track record in the 800 meters with a blazing time of 1:55.38.
“I knew the guy from Liberal would be tough,” Carmona said. “So I let him take the lead; then I passed him. It felt good.”
The senior went onto sweep the 1600 and 3200 meter races.
Garden City placed fourth-freshman Brecken Vargas won the 110 meter and 300 meter hurdles. Dustin Tempel was tops in the long jump.
