Saturday's Highlights
Girls 1600m Sprint Medley: Ponderosa Colorado, anchored by Breanna Hemming won in a lean over Lee's Summit North, 4:17.11 to 4:17.12. Blue Valley Northwest placed third in 4:23.24 with Junior Paige Kochuyt on anchor, and the sophomore trio of Auna Fulton, Alyson Youngdoff, and Lauren Coady.
Boys 1600m Sprint Medley: Shawnee Mission Northwest won a very tight competiton which featured teams from 4 different states in the top 4 positions. They ran 3:39.69 with Aaron Thornburg on the anchor leg. Des Moines Roosevelt placed 2nd in 3:39.84, followed by Hazlewood Central (MO) in 3rd with 3:39.85, and Omaha Gross Catholic was 4th in 3:39.95.
Girls 4x200m Relay: Raytown South ran a very fast 1:42.93 to best the field by more than 2 seconds. Lincoln College Prep placed 2nd in 1:45.29, followed by North Kansas City in 1:45.63, and Highland Park (Topeka, KS) was 4th and the top Kansas team in 1:46.03.
Boys 4x200m Relay: Grandview, MO continued it's impressive weekend with a solid win in 1:29.48. Shawnee Mission West showed it's one of the Kansas teams to beat by placing 2nd in 1:30.12, and Liberty rounded out the top 3 in 1:30.95.
Boys Discus: Brady Rutt (Hastings, NE) threw 173' 10" to win by more than 4 feet. Steven Deshazer of Raytown (MO) was a bit inconsistent, but came up with a big final throw of 169' 5" for 2nd, and Evan Boehm of Lee's Summit West came up up with a 164' 9" throw for 3rd.
Girls 4x880y Relay: Ladue Horton broke a 25 year old meet record by taking it out hard from the gun with Emily Warner on the leadoff leg. Mid-distance sensation Samantha Levin threw down an impressive anchor leg to bring them home in 9:21.39 for the full 2 miles, and an 18 second win. Neosho (MO) ran a strong race to place 2nd in 9:39.88, and Lindbergh rounded out a top-3 Missouri sweep in 9:46.92 (the top 6 teams were all from Missouri).
Boys 4x880y Relay: Rockwood Summit's anchor Daniel Mazar pulled away from the field to secure an 8:02.17 win. Fort Zumwalt West (MO) placed 2nd in 8:08.45, and Topeka Seaman's young quartet of Matt Bryan, Josie McNorton, Cody Scheck, and Wyatt McKay grabbed 3rd in 8:13.36.
Wichita State Men's 4x880y Relay (left to right: Brian Beachum - Wichita Heights, Marius Sava - Romania, Ryan Hocker - Olathe East, Jake Wike - Derby). Wichita State got off to a good start in the 4x880 with Ryan Hocker on the lead leg who closed well to hand off in first. Brian Beachum held onto the lead for his entire leg to hand off to Jake Wike. Wike then built up a sizebale lead over the field on his 2nd lap before handing off to Steeple specialist Marius Sava. And Sava completed the job by holding off Iowa Central's anchor Calvin kibby.
Girls Long Jump: Le'Tristan Pledger (Washington HS, KC KS) won her first event of the weekend with a leap of 18' 6". Maggie Malone of Fillmore Central (Nebraska) jumped 18' 5.25" for 2nd, and Jakyra Shelton of North Kansas City jumped 18' 2.5" for 3rd.
Girls 4x100m: Raytown South's girls continued their dominating weekend with an impressive 48.49 win. Piper (KC KS) came in 2nd at 49.48, followed by Highland Park Topeka at 49.79.
Boys 4x100m: Olathe North showed they're on a mission for history making with a dominating win in 42.39. Raytown South (MO) came in 2nd at 43.01, and Grandview placed 3rd in 43.20. Basehor-Linwood (Trey Kincheloe, Lane Young, Miles Brown, and Daniel Prioleau) broke the Sunflower Showdown meet record with a solid 43.44.
Girls 100m Hurdles: Le'Tristan Pledger (Washington, KC KS) showed why she's one of the top Kansan's ever in the 100m Hurdles by blazing through the prelims and the finals in 13.91 and 13.98 (both wind legal). Penney's Lindsay Vollmer ran a strong 14.32 to place 2nd, and Freshmen sensation Alexa Harmon-Thomas of Lawrence Free State ran 14.61 for 3rd.
Ryann Krais of Kansas State: Krais, an All-American heptathlete from Philadelphia won the women's 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles while competing in her first Kansas relays.
Boys 110m Hurdles: Dapo Akinmoladun of Grandview pulled off the hurdle sweep for the weekend with a 14.29. Rashod Tullis of Des Moines Roosevelt came in 2nd at 14.42, and sophomore Ezekiel Elliott (John Burroughs) ran 14.45 for 3rd.
Girls 100m: Peyton Chaney led an impressive Missouri trio in 12.03 which will give her a chance to qualify for the Adidas Golden 100m in New York City if she can meet the qualifying time this season. Amiris Warren of Raytown South was 2nd in 12.11, and Lauren Cheadle came in 12.23 for 3rd.
Boys 100m: Joe Fisher of Valley Center got out of the blocks very fast, but Adonis Saunders of Olathe North just managed to beat him by a nose at the line 10.59 to 10.60. It was confirmed by Adidas officials after the race that Saunders that he punched his ticket to the Dream 100 in NYC in June.
Girls 400m: Clara Nichols from Millard South (Omaha, NE) ran a big personal best of 55.71 to win over a stellar field. Montena Roye of Ladue was 2nd in 56.18, and Cape Giradeau's Asia Thomas ran 57.18 for 3rd.
Boys 400m: Mike Hester from Hazlewood Central (MO) ran 48.54 to put on a show for his soon to be home in Lawrence. Max Bamburg of Liberty came in 2nd at 49.18, and Tyler Banks ran 50.02 for 3rd.
Boys Long Jump: Blake Smith of Jackson, MO bested the field by more than a foot with a leap of 23' 1.25". Grain Valley's Riley Williams jumped 22' 0.25" for 2nd, and Trace Norfleet (Park Hill, MO) and Joel Struckhoff (Kensington) both jumped 21' 11.50" for 3rd and 4th.
Girls 1600m: Colleen Quigley (Nerinx Hall HS, MO) outlasted a strong field in the 1600m after a 68 second opening lap to win the Adidas Golden Mile qualifier by more than 5 seconds. Maggie Montoya (Rogers, AR) soloed a huge personal best of 4:58.60 in the 2nd section with more even splits to place 2nd overall. Kickapoo's Liz Reida (Springfield, MO) ran 4:58.71 for 3rd.
Boys 1600m: The boys 1600m featured many of the top runners from throughout the region. Daniel Mazar (Rockwood Summit, MO), Caleb Hoover (College Heights, MO), and Daniel Everett (Westminster, MO) made sure there was going to be an honest pace from the gun with a 62.x opening lap. With 600m to go it looked like it was going to be down to a 2 man race between Mazar and Everett, with Everett right on Mazar's heels. Everett started to really wind up his kick and managed to perfectly time passing Mazar while entering the turn at 200m to go and then ripped it open down the final stretch to run 4:12.58 and break Colby Wissel's meet record. Reid Buchanan (Manhattan, KS) threw down a very impressive final 400m to move from 6th to 2nd and run 4:16.81. Connor Martin of Westfield was 3rd in 4:18.19.
Girls 4x400m: Ladue Horton (MO) capped off an impressive weekend with a six second win of 3:56.62. Ponderosa, CO put together a quick 4:02.61 for 2nd, and Lindbergh (MO) ran 4:04.00 for 3rd. Shawnee Mission East came in 4th and was the top Kansas team with 4:04.87.
Boys 4x400m: Hazlewood Central ended their weekend with another big win in 3:21.26. Liberty was 2nd in 3:24.55, and Shawnee Mission West ran well for 3rd in 3:25.25.