Harper wins pair of medals

Uniontown junior Shalina Harper leads Lincoln's Aubry Donley (837) and Meade's Brooke Reimer early in the Class 2A girls' 800-meter run at Wichita Saturday afternoon. Harper went on to finish eighth in this event to earn her first State medal in three appearances. She also won an eighth-place medal in the 1,600 meters later in the day. (Scott Nuzum/Tribune)

WICHITA -- Uniontown junior Shalina Harper won her first two State medals in her third appearance at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships here Saturday afternoon.

Harper, who qualified in javelin as a freshman and in the 800 and 1,600 meters last year, finished eighth in both of her running events.

The 800 meters came first on Saturday with Harper turning in a time of 2:31.50. She ran her first lap in 1:13.63, keeping pace with the leaders. In the end, though, it was a day for freshmen as they finished 1-2-3 with Faith Little of Holton-Jackson Heights winning in 2:23.26.

Harper shows off her medals, the first for a Uniontown girl since 2013. (Uniontown High School photo)

Little also won the 1,600 in 5:21.06 as freshmen took four of the top five spots. Harper turned in a time of 5:39.19, able to keep up with the leaders for the first two laps.

Harper was the first Uniontown female to earn a State medal since Da'Nisha Robinson took fourth place in shot put in 2013. She is the first Eagle of either gender to medal in a distance event (800 meters or longer, not including relays) that the Tribune has in its files going back to 1999.

NOTES -- Harper finished 15th in the 800 and 13th in the 1,600 at State last season. She improved by 4 seconds in the 800 and by 15 in the 1,600 from last season....

1. Blue Rapids-Valley Heights 73, 2. Bennington (BEN) 49, 3. Hill City 46.5, 4. Moundridge 40, 5. Ellis 39,

6. Olathe Heritage Christian 36, 7. Meade (ME) 30, 8. Herington (HE) 28.5, 9. Shawnee Maranatha Academy 27, 10. Holton-Jackson Heights (JH) 26,

11 (tie). Lincoln (LIN) and Alma-Wabaunsee 20, 13 (tie). Chase County (CC), Pratt-Skyline and Kiowa County (KC) 19,

16. Ellinwood (EW) 18, 17 (tie). Elbing Berean Academy and Salina Sacred Heart 14, 19. Sublette 13, 20. Ness City 12,

21. Smith Center 11.5, 22 Olpe 11, 23 (tie). Republic County, Washington County and Hillsboro 10,

26 (tie). Plainville, Canton-Galva, Coldwater-South Central and WaKeeney-Trego 9, 30.(tie). Horton and McLouth 6,

32. Solomon 5.5, 33 (tie). Jefferson County North (JCN), Oberlin, Claflin-Central Plains and Spearville 4,

37. Wichita County 3.5, 38 (tie). Stanton County and Colgan 3, 40. Troy 2.5,

41 (tie). Uniontown (U) and Montezuma-South Gray 2, 43. Allen-Northern Heights 1.

800-meter run: 1. Little, JH, 2:23.26; 2. Shippy, HE, 2:26.92; 3. Donley, LIN, 2:27.24; 4. H.Johnson, BEN, 2:27.29; 5. Reimer, ME, 2:27.75; 6. Eidman, CC, 2:29.26; 7. Erickson, KC, 2:30.60; 8. Harper, U, 2:31.50.

1,600-meter run: Little, JH, 5:21.06; 2. H.Johnson, BEN, 5:23.22; 3. Shippy, HE, 5:24.19; 4. K.Johnson, BEN, 5:27.33; 5. Donley, LIN, 5:30.14; 6. Strecker, EW, 5:38.02; 7. McAfee, JCN, 5:38.83; 8. Harper, U, 5:39.19