One Gold, Plenty of High Finishes For 4A, 5A and 6A Area Track at State
Wichita, KS (westernkansasnews.com) No one in the area wrapped up gold among 4A, 5A and 6A competitors in state track and field, but many personal bests were set in the cooler weather and higher winds at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State.
6A
Garden City Senior Kaylee Kipp placed second in the shot put at 41-05, just behind Astrid Same of Wichita East . The sophomore registered a distance of 41-09.50. Dodge City registered a couple of third place finishes. Junior Jessie Harshbarger in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:17.89, a little more than a full second behind sophomore Riley Kaiser of Shawnee Mission West (2:16.75). Brekk Flax also posted a third place finish in the girls 6A 100 meter dash with a time of 12:34 behind both Jacquelin Darby of Olathe South 12.09 and Kimani Evans of Wichita East 12.16. Flax was fifth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.92. DC’s Tia Bradshaw had a third place performance in the girls 6A triple jump at 36-06.75 and was fifth in the long jump at 16-09.25.
Relay teams both Garden City and Dodge City fared well each in a different event. Garden took fifth in the 4X400 meters with a time of 4:07.48 featuring the team of freshman Megan Powers, sophomore Kyra Bellows, junior Rileigh Greathouse and sophomore Aileen Gurrola. Lawrence had the top time in the event of 3:55.55. Dodge City was also fifth in the 4×800 meter relay with a team of three juniors Jessie Harsberger, Jasmine Duarte, Mariela Aldaba and senior Alondra Romo posting a time of 9:59.87, twelve second behind the top finisher Olathe East.
Over to the boys where both Dodge City and Garden City continued to put up some significant numbers in the field events. Zac Karlin of Garden City had a six foot high jump to finish fourth behind Topeka’s Joel Long at 6-08. In the long jump, junior Devin Hundertmark grabbed a fifth place finish with a 22-foot jump short of first place Isaiah Simmons leap of 22-10. Tyler Trent of Dodge City was sixth at 21-10. Garden City’s Demarcus Elliott made his first trip to state track and had a sixth place showing as a freshman at 48-10. Dalton Lewallen from Shawnee Mission South takes gold at 56-09. Brian Rodriguez of Garden City cleared 14 feet in the boys 6A pole vault placing fourth in the event. Senior Connor McGuire of Garden-Edgerton surpassed 15-06 and was able to take first.
In the team standings Lawrence girls win the state championship with 63 points, Dodge City was 10th with 30 points. Garden City was 15th with 17 points.
Boys results saw Olathe-East nudge out Manhattan for the team championship 62-57. Garden City was 13th at 20.5, Dodge City was 29th with 3.
4A
Ian Rudzik of Ulysses won state Friday in the shot put with a distance of 57-06.5 Saturday was a bit more disappointing for Rudzik after attempts to win both shot and discus fell short. Rudzik fouled twice and finished at 137-07 in 13th place for discus. Connor McMullen won gold with a 173-01. Rudzik was also 15th in the 100m dash at 11.47 preliminaries not high enough to qualify for the state final in that event.
Jessica Arnold of Ulysses nearly took a gold of her own in the girls 100 meter hurdles with a 15.56 .35 of a second behind first place finisher Leah Reichenberger. Arnold slipped a bit in the 300 meter hurdles, but still came through with a solid fifth place showing at 47.76 seconds. Andale’s Leah Reichenberger was first with a time of 45.79. Ulysses Tregg Rodriguez brought home a seventh place finish in the boys high jump at 6-04. Isiah Taylor of Parsons ends his career with a gold going 6-10.
Hugoton also had a strong showing from senior Bradley Hemann in the boys 300 meter hurdles with a third place performance of 40.51. Jacoby Greenwood of Osawatomie took the top spot with a time of 38.85. Isaac Castro was seventh place in the boy’s 1600 meter run, his best event of the day at 4:34.52. Winfield junior Riley Osen beat the competition with his time of 4:19.77.
Both area teams took fourth in relays races. The Holcomb girls of Kim Sinoy, Taylor Deniston, Shae Wyckoff and Courtney Nemechek ran to a time of 4:10.983 in the girls 4×400 meter relay. Independence was number one at 4:02.70. Ulysses took the fourth best time in the boys 4×100 meter relay at 44.58. Shawnee Mission-Miege had the number one time of 43.61.
In the final girls 4A team standings Baldwin wins the team championship with 85 points, Ulysses was 19th at 12 points, Holcomb 29th out of 47 teams at 6 points.
On the boys side, Andale wins state with 68.5 points, Ulysses was 10th at 19 points and Hugoton was 15th at 16 points.
