Seven Tigers looking to return home with medals

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Fort Scott High School will send seven athletes to compete in eight events at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships this weekend at Wichita State University's Cessna Stadium.

This is the 101st State Championship Meet. Girls' championships began in 1972. Because all six classes -- boys and girls -- compete at the same location on the same weekend, the Kansas meet is said to be the largest high-school championship meet in the nation.

This list shows each qualifier from a Tribune Area school, which event they will compete and what time that event is scheduled to take place.

Senior Brady Fink is the Tigers' only returning medalist from last year, finishing seventh in the 400-meter dash. he returns in that event after winning at last Friday's Girard Class 4A Regional in 50.30 seconds. That is the sixth-best time among all the Regional qualifiers, according to a list compiled by CatchItKansas.com. Rhys Powell of Wichita Collegiate has the best Regional time of 49.44 seconds. He finished third in this event last year in Class 3A (51.13). Lindsborg-Smoky Valley senior Nicker Deterding had the only other sub-50-second time in Regionals, taking first at Buhler in 49.57. He is the highest-returning Class 4A medalist, taking third last year (50.48).

Fink also qualified in triple jump, in which he'll be appearing at State for the first time. Fink was fourth in Regionals at 41' 2 1/2, which ties for 15th among the qualifiers. Defending champion Dallas Natt of Ottawa won the Baldwin Regional at 45' 6" and is the defending State champion (46' 3 1/4").

Fink also medaled in in boys' high jump last year tying for seventh with Parsons' Wes Krull. However, he doesn't return to State in that event.

Senior Dezmund Willard is also a returning State qualifier and is also back in the 400 meters, in which he finished 13th last year (53.12). He was fourth at Girard in 51.75, which ranked 16th.

Willard also will be making his first State appearances in the 100 and 200 meters while senior Nick Nuzum makes his first State appearance in the 100.

Willard finished third in the 100 at Regionals at Girard in 10.89 seconds while Nuzum was fourth in 11.32. These are the third- and 13th-best Regional times, respectively. Girard Regional champion James Newton has the best Regional time of 10.64 while Girard runner-up Brandon Oakes was second at 10.84.

The State race should be wide open as the top five finishers from last year do not return. Denzel Chilcoat of Hiawatha is the highest-finishing returner, taking sixth last year (11.35). His Regional time of 11.19 ranks tied for 11th with Baldwin's Asher Hannon, who was seventh in this event at State last year (11.37).

Willard finished fourth in the 200 at Girard last weekend in 23.29 seconds, which ranks 16th among qualifiers. The best time was turned in by Powell, who was second in Class 3A last year (23.55). Powell won the Circle Regional in 21.71. The second-best Regional was turned in by Deterding in 22.06. Deterding, as in the 400, is the highest-finisher returning this year (fourth in 22.61).

Senior Mallory Shelton is the only female athlete returning to State in the same event in which she competed last season, high jump. She also the only Tiger who is competing in a third State meet. She finished 16th in that event last year and 10th as a sophomore.

Shelton finished fourth at Regionals with a mark of 5 feet even. She has gone as high as 5' 2" this season. Among the competitors at State will be Tonganoxie junior Jennifer Whitledge, won won the Baldwin Regional at 5' 4" and is the defending State champion. Her teammate, Haley Griffin, also cleared 5' 4" at Baldwin, but was placed second on tie-breakers. Griffin tied for eighth at State last season as a freshman. No other State qualifier went over 5' 2" at Regionals.

Sophomore Katren Rienbolt is a returning State qualifier but not in either of the events she has advanced in this year. Last year, Rienbolt made it to Wichita in the 300-meter hurdles and finished 11th. This year, she has qualified for State in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Junior Paige Denton qualified in both events last season, but will be running in only the 1,600 this year.

Rienbolt turned in the best qualifying time in the Class 4A in winning the Girard Regional in 5:20.85 while Denton's was seventh-best in 5:29.32. Emilea Finley, a Colby senior, is the defending champion, taking it last year in 5:05.62. Her Regional time, while it was good enough to win at Buhler, was only fourth-best in 5:23.18. Cheyenne Becker of Pratt, fifth last year (5:23.69) had the second-best Regional, 5:21.47, at Circle, while Labette County's Michaela Ozier was third-best in finishing as runner-up to Rienbolt at Girard in 5:23.09. Denton finished 12th in the 1,600 last year (5:35.64).

Ozier had the best 3,200-meter time in Regionals as she won Girard at 11:40.42. Becker, seventh last year (12:07.21), had the second-best Regional at 11:44.36 while Rienbolt was third-best in 11:45.97. Finley, second at State last year (11:20.75) had just the eighth-best Regional, 11:59.75. Denton, though not returning in this event, placed 10th last year in 12:22.60.

The final Fort Scott qualifier is sophomore Jillian Lattimer, who will make her first State appearances in both javelin and shot put. She has the second-best Regional distance in javelin as she went 126' 7" at Girard last weekend. Although the defending State champion is not back, the runner-up and third-place finisher are. Cheney's Carlea Holt took second last year (123' 2") and had the best Regional mark of 132' 7" at Circle. Chanute's Haley Taylor had the third-best Regional throw, 126' 5" while defending third-place finisher Aimi Orton of Circle (120' 1") had the fourth-best Regional at 122' 2". No other medalists return in this event.

Lattimer broke her own Fort Scott High record in finishing third in shot put in Girard last weekend at 38' 7". That's seventh-best among the qualifiers. Defending champion Cassie Caswell of Nickerson (42' 2") returns with the best Regional mark of 45' 3 1/4". Morgan Gilliland of Paola, who won Girard at 43' 6 1/2", was fourth here last year (38' 8"). Kaylea Britton of Ulysses finished third last year (40' 4") and has the fourth-best Regional mark of 41' 11 1/2". Third-best in Regionals was Baldwin's Katie Kehl at 42' 11 3/4".

Friday's events begin at 7:45 a.m. with Rienbolt running the 3,200 meters. Classes 4A, 5A, and 6A will compete in the early session on Friday this year with its events scheduled to conclude at around 2 p.m. Classes 1A, 2A and 3A will begin track events at 2:10 and field events at 3 p.m. All six classes will run Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. for field events and 8:30 a.m. for track events.


UNIONTOWN

Neither of Uniontown's athletes have State experience. Abby Dixon qualified in girls' discus with a distance of 93 feet, 9 inches at the Jayhawk-Linn Class 2A Regional last Friday. This was the 12th-best distance among the 16 State qualifiers.

Plainville's Cheyenne Armbruster has the best Regional mark of 126' 3" followed by Oskaloosa's Jordan Miller at 119' 3", Washington County's Jordyn Alexander at 117' 7" and Mauri Steimel of Stanton County at 112' 2". Alexander was second at State last year (130' 7"), while Steimel was fifth (121' 5") and Miller was sixth (118' 0").

Da'Nisha Robinson has the 12th-best mark of shot put qualifiers, 33' 6 1/2". Four of the top five finishers from last year are back, although the State champion is not among them.

Steimel, last year's runner-up (39' 0") has the best distance of the qualifiers, 39' 3". Kiah Blau of Oberlin, who was third at State last year (37' 7 3/4") and Miller, who was fifth last year (37' 0") share this year's second-best mark of 37' 9". Last year's fourth-place finisher, Alexander (37' 6 1/2") has the sixth-best distance of 36' 8".

JAYHAWK-LINN

Junior Austin Coleman will be returning to State in javelin and will also make a first appearance in discus. Last year in the former event, he finished in 10th place (153' 6") and comes from Regionals with the third-best mark of 174' 10". Jake Brinkman of Olpe, who won the Jayhawk-Linn Regional had the best throw of 196' 3". Hill City's Adam Pfeifer has the second-best of 175' 3".

Meade's Dylan Reimer was last year's State runner-up (182' 4") was just seventh among the qualifiers at 171' 3". Republic County's Dylan Grove, fourth last year (165' 8") has the fourth-best Regional of 174' 2".

Coleman's Regional discus mark of 127' 4" ranks 14th. Defending State champion Jameson Klein of Plainville (152' 3") is the only returning medalist. He had the third-best Regional mark of 146' 5". It was also third-best out of the Smith Center Regional as Ellsworth's Trevor Miley won it at 157' 7" and Smith Center's Kale Terrill was the runner-up at 155' 2".

Jacob Grimes will be making his first State appearance after taking third at his home Regional in shot put at 44' 2 1/2". The only returning medalist is Chase County's Chris Mushrush, who was seventh last year (46' 10 3/4"). Mushrush won the Jayhawk-Linn regional at 49' 11", which is the third-best qualifying mark. The top mark was posted by Miley at 52' 6 1/2. Lymon Morehead of Kiowa County has the second-best mark of 50' 11 1/4."

Sophomore Ashtynn Miller (who competed here last year as Ashtynn Dixon) returns in girls' shot put. She finished 15th last year with a mark of 30' 4 1/2". She has the 11th-best time of Regional qualifiers at 34' 1 1/2". For more information about shot put, see DaNisha Robinson's entry under Uniontown's notes.

Sophomore Megan Leavitt finished 16th at State last year in the 1,600 meters in 6:16.19. She has the 14th-best time in Regionals, 5:58.87.

The best Regional times have been turned in by runners from Shawnee Maranatha Academy. Lauren Harrell won the Herington Regional in 5:36.88 and Hope Manning was second in 5:37.11. Last year's State runner-up, Paige Wells of Leoti (5:22.04) had the fifth-best Regional of 5:39.02 while last year's third-place finisher, Jenna Farris of Lincoln (5:25.75) had the third-best Regional in 5:38.16.

PLEASANTON

Junior Preston Coffman returns to State as the defending Class 1A runner-up in pole vault, though the Blu-Jays were moved up to Class 2A this season. He cleared 13' 6" last year to earn his medal, which is the same height he cleared to win the Jayhawk-Linn Regional. That is tied for third-best among this year's qualifiers with Ethan Penner of Elbing Berean Academy, who had the same mark but was placed lower on tie-breakers. Coffman would have been the only returning State medalist in the event had Pleasanton stayed in Class 1A.

Nick Beach of Smith Center, the defending Class 2A State champion (14' 6") has the best Regional mark of 15 feet even while Stanton County's Quinn Kendrick is second-best at 14 feet. Kendrick was third in Class 2A last year (13' 6").

Only one State medalist returns in high jump, which will be Matt Bauer's event. Bauer won the Jayhawk-Linn Regional at 6' 2", a height matched by four others at different Regionals (Lakin Liebst and Tyler Ward of Medicine Lodge, Jack Nuss of Ellsworth and Mitchell Walter of Herington). The only returning medalist is Solomon's Mason DeMars, who was seventh (6' 0") last year. He was one of five athletes to clear 6 feet in Regionals.

The Blu-Jay boys' 4x100 relay team has the slowest time of the Regional qualifiers, 46.86 seconds. The best time of 43.90 was turned in by Plainville at Smith Center while Ellis was runner-up at the same Regional in 44.07. The fourth- and fifth-best times also come from Smith Center. Ellis finished fourth last year (44.61), Meade fifth (44.77) and Lyndon sixth (44.80). All three return their relays with slower times.

The three remaining Pleasanton qualifiers will be joining their counterparts from Jayhawk-Linn in those events, so the list of Regional times and returning State bests have already been covered. First is Baker Inman, who will be making his first appearances in discus and shot put. Inman's discus mark at Regionals was 129' 4", which ranked 12th. For more information on 2A discus, see Austin Coleman's entry under Jayhawk-Linn's notes.

Inman's shot put distance of 43' 11" at Regionals was 12th best, putting him one spot behind Jayhawk-Linn's Jacob Grimes. For more information about 2A shot put, look under Grimes' entry.

Finally, Mason Coffman had the 12th-best Regional distance in javelin, 158' 7". For more information, see Coleman's entry under Jayhawk-Linn's notes. Coffman did not qualify for State last year but was here in 2010 as a pole vaulter, failing to clear the opening height.

The Tribune Area's only three-event qualifier this season is junior Karesa Lewis, who returns in both the girls' 100- and 300-meter hurdles and will make her first State appearance in long jump.

Lewis' time in the 300 hurdles was 49.36 seconds, fifth-best among the State qualifiers. She missed out on a medal in this event last year, finishing eighth in Class 1A (50.70).

The defending champion is Herington's Brianna Blackwell (46.38), who ran the best in Regionals, 47.32. Sterling's Jill Oden had the second-best Regional at 48.09.

Lewis finished 15th in last year's Class 1A 100-meter hurdles (17.63). This year, her Regional time is 17 seconds flat while the time of teammate Autumn Secrest, a sophomore, is 17.39. Those times are the 13th- and 16th-ranked among qualifiers, respectively.

Secrest is a returning State qualifier, but not in this event. Secrest made it to Wichita for Class 1A pole vault last year but was unable to clear the opening height.

The defending Class 2A State champion in the 100's, Heather Melton (15.43) returns with the only sub-15 second time of the qualifiers, 14.47 in winning her home Regional at Kiowa County. The runner-up was Sophie Hayes of Ellinwood, who finished in 15 seconds flat. Four of the five fastest Regional times were turned in at Kiowa County.

Lewis had the 12th-best distance in high jump at Regionals as she cleared 15' 4" at Jayhawk-Linn. There are no returning medalists in the event. The four best distances were recorded at Kiowa County: 17' 2 1/4" by KC's Chelsea Oberle, 16' 10" from Pratt-Skyline's Anna Petrowsky, 16' 6 1/2" by Meade's Tarah Wiens, and 16' 5" from Syracuse's Mia Wilson.

The final area State qualifier is first-timer Taylor Rothenberger in girls' discus. She finished with an effort of 91' 11" last week at Jayhawk-Linn, the 14th-best Regional mark. For more information about discus, see Abby Dixon's entry under Uniontown's notes.


KSHSAA streaming live coverage

The KSHSAA Network will stream the preliminaries and finals from the 2012 KSHSAA Track, 6A Softball, 3A Baseball and 5A Girls Soccer championships live beginning Friday on www.KSHSAANetwork.com

The KSHSAA Network is a partnership between the KSHSAA and PlayOn! Sports that features live coverage and on-demand access of high school sports in Kansas both online and on television. The KSHSAANetwork.com video portal provides fans access, at no charge, to a wide variety of events, all of which will be archived and available for on demand viewing and for purchase as DVDs.

Planned KSHSAA Network programming from the State Track and Field Meet will only include running events held inside Cessna Stadium but will include every preliminary and final in all six classes.

Track and Field coverage begins at 7:45 a.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

The 5A girls' soccer final will be broadcast at 2 p.m. Saturday followed by the 6A softball final at 4 p.m. and the 3A baseball final at 5:30.