Leavenworth's Aarika Lister completed a perfect season in the 100 meter dash, winning the class 5A girls state title in what was billed as a marquee matchup against Newton speedsters Kalli Anderson and Savannah Simmons.
Lister lit up the crowd at the Kansas State Track and Field championships with a winning time of 11.64, just six-thousandth of a second off her career-best time. Lister also set the class 5A state record, beating the previous mark of 11.90.
Lister was a perfect 9-for-9 in the 100 meter dash this season, including an impressive win at the Kansas Relays in mid-April.
She battled through injuries and finished third at last year's Kansas state championships. But on Saturday, she regained the crown as Kansas' fastest girl that she held after winning the state championship in 2016.
Anderson also broke the previous class 5A record in the event, clocking 11.85 for second place. Simmons was third in 12.17 while Lister's teammate, Wynter Ramos, was fourth at 12.20.
The 2-3 finish by Anderson and Simmons launched Newton's move to repeat as class 5A team champions. By the time they had run the 200 meters later in the day -- a race in which they finished second and fourth -- Newton led the 5A girls team race for the first time the entire meet -- a nine and one-half point lead with just one event remaining.
In another marquee event, Deron Dudley of Wichita South won a thrilling class 6A boys 100 meter dash in 10.59, edging Wichita Southeast's Ollie McGee, who was second in 10.64.
Xavier Sellers of Wichita West was third at 10.80, and defending state champion Philip Landrum of Wichita South was third at 10.85. Seven of the eight runners in the finals ran faster than 11.0.
Dudley got out of the blocks and into his top speed by 30 meters, holding a commanding lead. McGee tried to make up the difference in the last 10 meters but was unable to catch the speedy Dudley, who is just a junior.
In class 4A, Smoky Valley's Timothy Lambert smoked the field in 10.82. Lambert had a huge day, also winning the 200 meters (22.11) and the 300 hurdles (37.85).
The other sprint champions, by classification, were:
Class 1A: Aftin Conway of Osborne (12.41) and Lane Peters of Pike Valley (11.06)
Class 2A: Jamya O'Quinn of Moundridge (12.42) and Devin Berens of Stanton County (10.93)
Class 3A: Mercedes Gassman of Garden Plain (12.25) and Tevin Petrie of Norton Community (10.90)
Class 4A: Emma Ruddle of McPherson (12.37) and Lambert
Class 5A: Lister and Dusty Torres of Liberal (10.89)
Class 6A: Kendra Wait of Gardner-Edgerton (12.15) and Dudley.
Later on Saturday, Newton and Leavenworth -- who own the top two girls 4 X 100 meter relay times in the state -- matched up again in the finals of that event. And they didn't disappoint.
Leavenworth jumped out to a quick lead and seemed to have the event well in hand. But Newton's Taylor Antonowich made up the stagger on the third leg and handed the baton to Simmons in the lead. Lister, running the anchor for Leavenworth, tried to catch Simmons, but the Newton speedster ran solid down the stretch to claim the win in 47.81.
Leavenworth was second in 48.24, and Bishop Carroll placed third at 49.23.
The class 5A girls 4 X 100 relay was notable for another reason, however. Leavenworth's Lister suffered an injury to her right quadricep running the anchor leg and still had the 200 meters to run later in the meet. She did start the 200, but used a standing start and jogged to the finish for eighth place and one team point.
Also in the 4 X 100, Moundridge's O'Quinn and Stanton County's Berens anchored their team to the state title in class 3A. And in class 6A boys, Dudley and Landrum keyed Wichita South's win the 4 X 100 meter relay. O'Quinn capped a pretty good state meet by winning the class 2A girls 200 meter run, her third gold medal of the day.
Mill Valley's Mitch Dervin ran the fastest 1600 meters among Kansas boys on Saturday, winning the class 5A state title in 4:19.66. Dervin ignored the heat and took the lead from the start, pulling away from the chase pack on lap two and cruising to a five second win over Dylan Miller of Blue Valley Southwest.
Hadley Splechter of Yates Center successfully defended his 1600 meter crown in class 2A, which is impressive enough, but he did it about an hour and a half after running the anchor leg of the 4 X 800 meter relay -- where he pulled Yates Center from fifth place into first place. And a few hours later, Splechter fought off a late challenge from Tate Busse of St. Francis to win the 800 in 1:58.36. Buss was second in 2:00.18.
With four more state titles at this year's state championships, Splechter now has won six individual state titles (including cross country) and three relay state titles. By the way, he's just a junior.
Several other athletes also followed up their Friday win in the 3200 by winning the 1600 on Saturday, including:
* Molly Born of Shawnee Mission Northwest (6A), whose time of 4:54.57 was the fastest among Kansas girls;
* McKenzie Wilks of Pittsburg (5A), who posted a career best of 4:56.29; Wilks later won the 800 meters with a career best time of 2:14.04 in an exciting duel with Katie Moore of St. James Academy, who ran 2:15.51;
* Taylor Briggs of Chapman (4A), a freshman who is now 3-for-3 in state meet races (including cross country);
* David Lutgen of Beloit-St. Johns (1A), a senior who was also the 1A cross country champion last fall. He will run at Kansas State University next year.
* Lakelin Conrad of Wichita Collegiate (4A), who followed a familiar script in waiting to kick in the last 400 meters. Conrad, who will run at Texas Christian University next year, has won six state titles in his high school career, including three in cross country.
Halle Johnson of Bennington won the class 2A girls 1600 after placing second in the 3200 Friday. Johnson won the 1600 a year ago, and now has six individual state titles to her credit. She also placed second in the 800.
In the girls 400, Wichita Southeast's Christal Mosley followed up her state record-setting performance in the preliminaries by winning the state title in another fast time of 56.07. St. James Academy's Katie Moore won the class 5A girls title in a time of 56.80 in a good race against Emily Ervin of Blue Valley Southwest (57.76) and Leavenworth's Wynter Ramos (57.93).
Hope Thiel of Remington was also pretty impressive. She won the class 3A girls title in a career-best time of 56.94. And in class 4A, Taylor McGlothlin of Wellington (58.11) won by four one-hundredths of a second over Sophie Jones of Paola (58.15).
The class 6A boys 400 meter dash was virtually a dead heat between Hayden Goodpaster of Shawnee Mission Northwest and Clyde King, Jr. of Manhattan. The results board took a while to flash the results, and when it did, Goodpaster had the 10th fastest time ever run in Kansas -- 47.76 -- with King just one-hundredth of a second behind at 47.77.
Just prior to that race, Liberal's Austin Mullins won the class 5A boys 400 meter run in 48.42. But more compelling to that race was the effort by Mullins' teammate, Dusty Torres, who had earlier hurt his hamstring in the finals of the 100 meter dash. Torres, who probably would have won the 400, limped around the track to finish eighth and add one point for his team. He repeated the scene in the 200 meters.
Christal Mosley of Wichita Southeast had another dominating day on the track. She won the class 6A girls 400 meter run by more than 2 seconds, then followed that up by winning the 200 meters by nearly a half second. Her times were 56.07 and 24.63. On Friday, she set the all-class record in the 400 meters with a time of 54.26.
Then, in the last event of the class 6A girls meet, she said goodbye to high school track and field in a big way -- running the anchor leg of the 4 X 400 in 54.12 to give her team a one second victory over Lawrence. Wichita Southeast's time was 4:00.38 while Lawrence came in at 4:01.35.
Hutchinson's Tayezhan Crough is the undisputed hurdling champion in Kansas. He won the class 6A boys 110 hurdles in Saturday's morning session in 14.45, then fought off Emmanuel Okwuone of Olathe South to win the 300 hurdles in 38.66. Okwuone was second in 38.78 and Junction City's Jamarcus Plato placed third at 39.53.
Kindel Nordhus of Bishop Carroll won the first state title of her career when she outdueled Newton's Maggie Remsberg in the 300 hurdles. Nordhus finished in 44.94 while Remsberg -- who had earlier won the 100 hurdles -- was second at 45.69.
Evann Seratte of Lawrence finally won a state title after several close calls. The junior from Lawrence rallied from 15 meters down with 200 meters to go to nip Blue Valley's Sophie Scott in the 800 meter run. Seratte, who was second in the 400 about an hour earlier, clocked 2:16.09, while Scott -- who was the defending champion in this event -- finished in 2:16.19. Seratte clocked 56.97 on the anchor leg of the 4 X 400, just getting beat out by Mosely's monstrous effort.
Aubry Donley of Lincoln was pretty impressive, too. She won the class 2A girls 400 meters in 58.17, then turned around an hour later to win the 800 meters in 2:21.37, kicking to catch the defending state champion in the event, Bennington's Halle Johnson.
The class 5A girls 200 meters -- which many thought would be another showdown between Leavenworth's Lister and Newton's Anderson and Simmons -- instead became the showcase of Blue Valley Southwest freshman Emily Ervin, who caught Anderson just before the tape to win in 25.06. Anderson was second in 25.10 while Leavenworth's Wynter Ramos was third at 25.57.
Wichita Southeast's Ollie McGee rebounded from finishing second in the 100 meters to win the class 6A boys 200 meter dash, finishing just ahead of Manhattan's Clyde King. McGee was timed in 21.47 while King was inches behind at 21.62. Philip Landrum of Wichita South, last year's state champ in the event, was third in 21.74.
King also placed second by one-hundredth of a second in the 400 meter run, but he still got a state title on the day. His eight points in the 200 meters clinched the class 6A boys team championship for Manhattan.
Complete results from the Kansas State Track and Field championships are available online at www.heartlandtiming.com.