Jayhawk-Linn boys tie for second in 3A

WICHITA -- Jayhawk-Linn junior Briar Snyder helped lead the Jayhawks to a tie for second place in Class 3A with a victory in the 110-meter hurdles finals at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships here Saturday.

Snyder qualified for the finals by turning in the best time of preliminaries Friday, 15.48 seconds. Saturday, he bettered that time by over 2/10ths of a second, finishing in 15.23 seconds. Ryan Mesh of Hutchinson Trinity was second in 15.41.

Snyder earned 10 team points for that win and another eight for finishing second in the 300's as the Jayhawks went on to finish with 33 points, tying with Oskaloosa and Herington in Class 3A. Garden Plain dominated in winning the championship with 72 points.

Jayhawk-Linn finished sixth in Class 3A last season.

Snyder also had the best qualifying time in the 300-meter hurdles on Friday but finished second in the finals in 39.96. John Thurston of Oskaloosa won the event in 39.51.

Snyder added another medal to his collection as he helped the 4x100-meter relay team finish in seventh place in the finals in 44.83 seconds. Ryan Sutherland, Dylan Thyer and Steven Mann were also on the relay with Mann winning his third medal of the meet and seventh of his career. He was second on long jump and third in triple jump on Friday.

Mann also competed in the 100-meter dash on Saturday. He finished the morning preliminaries in 13th with a time of 11.96 seconds and did not reach the finals.

Jayhawk-Linn's girls finished in a tie for seventh place with Norton with 32 points, picking up all of their medals on Saturday.

The top finish for Jayhawk girls Saturday was turned in by the 4x100-meter relay team of Chelsea Beckman, Morgan Eastwood, Cassie Rockers and Taylor Dawson, which finished in 51.09. Douglass was the winner in 50.52.

Eastwood added two more hurdles medals to her State collection -- she now has five -- as she finished third in both finals. She finished the 100-meters in 16.35 while Ashley Baier of Holcomb was second in 16.33. Cara Barnes of Douglass won the race in 15.56.

Barnes also won the 300's in 46.25 with Julie Zeiner of Marion second in 46.35 and Eastwood third in 47.53.

Taylor Dawson won her third individual State medal as she came in fourth in the 400-meter finals in 1:00.59. Mandy Wilson, a freshman from Rossville, was the winner in 58.39.

Rockers was second in her flight after preliminaries in triple jump but finished ninth overall with a mark of 34 feet, 1 1/4 inches. Zeiner was the winner with a mark of 38' 5 1/2".

Meriel Long rounds out Jayhawk-Linn's results with her 2:35.60 in the 800-meter run, which put her 15th.