by Anthony Bozarth

The Shawnee Mission North Relays, the largest high-school only track meet in the Kansas City area, had a bit of everything Kansas Friday night: A formal crowning of the track queen and king, followed Saturday by a formal dance, tremendous performances from athletes around eastern Kansas, schools both big and small, and unfortunately an early end to the meet when tornadic thunderstorms threatened.

Meet Director and SM North coach Ryan Colburn made a gutsy call to end the meet early when threatening thudnerstorms began to form to south of the Kansas City area and lightning began to enter the area. Colburn's early call before bad weather arrived was justified when six tornadoes later swept to the south and east of the metro area. His early ending of the meet allowed athletes to return home in time to seek safety and shelter. Never the less, once again the SM North proved to be a highlight of the Kansas season. Event reports follow:

Boys 400: Drew Morano (St. Thomas Aquinas) got the finals portion of the meet off to a rousing start with a meet record 46.94. Morano made up the stagger on the field, then powered down the homestretch, looking
as if he was ready for another lap. Gerling (SMNW 50.26) and Sheilds
(Ottawa 51.1) followed.

Girls 400: Emporia's Kara Euler and Kansas City Turner's Keyon Harrison staged a crowd pleasing stretch battle, with Euler prevaling 57.90 to 57.94. Leavenworth's Roschana Ross was third at 60.24

Boys 3200: Paul Hefferon (Blue Valley West) used a steady diet of sub-70 400's to pull away from the pack at the mile, and win the 3200 by a wide-margin with a 9:18.29 clocking. Dylan McClain (Lawrence) held with Hefferon through the mile before falling back and clocked 9:41.25 in second, while freshman Tucker Weems of Shawnee Mission Northwest kicked to third in 9:50.95, with seven under 10:00

Girls 3200: Elle Pishny (Blue Valley West) continued the to-the-front running of the red-clad BVW sqaud, clocking an 11:08.97 wire-to-wire win. Connie Abbott (SM South) returned from injury to move from the pack and clock an 11:37.69 for second with Grace Del Nero (Aquinas) third at 11:50.90.

Boys 300H: Luther Wilson (SMNW) began his hurdle double with a 39.56 win, pulling away in the late stages from Nick Busbly (SM West) 39.74).
Rester (Lawrence Free State) was third at 40.94

Girls 300H: Stephanie Dyke (Olathe North) ran to a 46.31 to win in dominating fashion from Lawrence High's Audrey Pope (47.76) and Kendra Fischer (SM North 48.38).

Boys 1600: Paul Hefferon (Blue Valley West) completed his distance double, this time using a homestretch kick to win a tight race in 4:25.89. Hefferon's was challenged in an exciting race by Brian Collett (Aquinas 4:26.06) and Ariel Ludwig (Lawrence Free State 4:26.64) with Olathe South's Jeremy Holthaus also in the hunt at 4:28.36.

Girls 1600: Lawrence Free State freshman Alicia Valencia made a stunning debut, roaring through a 2:28 800 on her way to a front-running 5:11.24 win. Valencia summoned a home-stretch surge to hold off quickly closing Elle Pishnsy (Blue Valley West 5:12. 04) and Alysha Galbraith (Olathe South 5:14.13).

Boys 110H: Luther Wilson (SMNW) completed his hurdle double with a 14.71 win over Nick Busby (SM West 15.04) and Pete Crall (DeSoto 15.34).

Girls 100H: Stephanie Dyke (Olathe North) also completed her double with a narrow 15.58 win over Kelley Perme (Lawrence Free State 15.61) and Alexandra Rampy (Blue Valley 15.64). Dyke also took fourth in the LJ with a leap of 17'5.5

Boys 100: Drew Morano (Aquinas) and Chris Fulton (Lawrence), the premier sprinters in Eastern Kansas, brought the crowd to it's feet with hard fought 100, Morano pulling away late to win in 10.73 (Fulton 10.83). Kansas City Harmon's Bryon Walker was in the fight with a third place 10.90

Girls 100: Victoria Howard (Blue Valley) used a brillant start to roll to a 12.25 victory, with Shari Lassister (Lawrence) second (12.59) and Fairley (BVNW) third at 12.70

Boys 3200 Relay: Lawrence Free State broke to the front early then used a sub 1:57 anchor (unofficial split) from Ariel Ludwig to roar to a 7:57.43 win. Emporia (8:08.01) and Shawnee Mission East (8:10.85) broke from a tight pack on the anchor leg to finish 2-3 with 8 teams total under 8:20.

Girls 3200 Relay: 1600 winner Alicia Valencia clocked a 2:25 anchor to lead Lawrence Free State to a sweep of the 3200 relay titles. Lawrence Free State clocked a 10:07.98 to defeat SMNW (10:12.10). Independence clocked a 10:14.03 for third.

Boys 800 Relay: Shawnee Mission East (1:31.4) and Olathe North
(1:31.8) dueled around the track as skies began to grow threatening.
Lawrence was third at 1:32.27

Girls 800 Relay: Leavenworth rolled to a 1:42.48 win, with Olathe East
(1:44.34) and Olathe North (1:46.19) second and third.

Boys 800: Jeff Daniel (SM West) defended his SM North Relays title with a wire-to-wire win in 1:56.60. Dallas Henry (Leavenworth) kicked late to take second (1:59;83) from Brian Collett (Aquinas 2:00.11).

Girls 800: Kristen Wolkey (SM North) charged to a big lead in the first lap, and held on for a dominating 2:21.87 win. Lisa Morrisey
(Ottawa) was second at 2:26.01, with Taryn May (BVNW) third at 2:26.27.

Girls 400 Relay: In the last event before the meet was called, Olathe East roared to a state-leading 49.15 (FAT) with Leavenworth (49.63) and Olathe North (49.97) second and third.

Girls Discus: Olathe East's Rachel Falke unleashed a 136'7 throw to dominate the competition. Baker (Lawrence Free State) was second at 122'10, and Meg Objefule (Lawrence) third at 122'2.

Boys Discus: Mike Rivera (SMNW) won the competition at 157/7 with Lus (Blue Valley) second at 150' 0.5 and Blakesly (Ottawa) third at 144' 8

Girls Javelin: Lisa Lambert (DeSoto) threw 122'9 to win, with Reider
(Lansing) second at 117'0" and Leavenworth's DeWalt third at 113'6"

Boys Javelin: Lionell Womack (Kansas City Schlagle) threw 180'0 to win the javelin, comendable considering the wet conditions on the run-way. Second went to Olathe North's Brian Christie (170-4) and Andrew Miller
(Tonganoxie) was third at 167'9".

Girls Long Jump: Tara Stuart (Mill Valley) and Keyon Harrison (Kansas City Turner) staged an exciting duel with Stuart prevailing 18-2 to Harrioson's 18-0.75. Third went to Stephanie Miller (Emporia 17-11) with six total over 17 feet.

Boys Long Jump: Raphael Robinson (Kansas City Turner) jumped 22-8.75 to win the long jump, with McMurtrey (Kansas City Sumner) second at 22-6. Sylvester Birdson (Lawrence) was third at 21-5.5

Girls Shot Put: Meg Ofiefule (Lawrence) led early and held on with a winning put of 40-4.25. Discus champ Rachel Falke (Olathe East) was second at 39-10.75 with Solari (Blue Valley West) third at 35-1.

Boys Shot Put: Mill Valley's Goodin (no first name recorded) threw 52-1.25 to edge Blakesly (Ottawa) 50-4.25, with Newman (Lawrence) third at 48'6.

Girls High Jump: Blue Valley West's Jacklyn Blake jumped 5'4 to outleap Samantha Frisbee (Lawrence Free State 5-2) and Leavenworth's Burke (5-2).

Boys High Jump: A close competition kept the crowd on edge as SM West's LJ Brackson cleared 6-7 in a jump-off with Jay Cullinane (Aquinas 6-6). Kyle Daveron (Lansing) was third at 6-4.

Girls Triple Jump: Stephanie Miller (Emporia) continued to hammer meet records with a 39-6.5 win. Alyssa Smith (Olathe East) was second at 36-.75

Boys Triple Jump: Stephan Dyer (Olathe North) jumped to a big win at 46-1, with Stanley Redwine (Lawrence Free State) second at 44-8.5 and Milton (Kansas City Sumner) third at 43-8.

Girls Pole Vault: Dana Al-Meer (BVNW) lept 10-0, and won on misses from Libby Harmon (SM South). Sena Eusteace (Lansing) was third at 9'6.

Boys Pole Vault: Matt Snow (BVNW) vaulted 13'0 to win, with Andy Aphiae (SM East) second at 12'8.

Friday 5/9/03

Redbud Relay @ Wellsville HS

Gardner-Edgerton crushed the boys field at the Redbud Relays, scoring 106 points to second place Osawatomie's 50, whle Baldwin shaded Osawatomie 71-54 for the girls title in this traditional 20 team meet bringing together many of eastern Kansas' top small and mid-sized schools.
Devin Kueser highlighted boys track action with a 4:35.6 1600 win, while strong field event marks were turned in by K. Stoeppel (Osage City) with a 6-4 HJ win and and Vinnie Wuertz (Central Heights) with a 14-0 vault.
Multi-time state champ Jenni Snyder (Osawatomie) was the track star on the girls side, winning the 100 (12.5), 100H (14.5) and 300H (45.7). Field event highlights included Anna Stadel's (Osage City) 137-4 DT win, a 5-6 HJ win from Fields (Northern Heights), and Laura Gjerde's (Louisburg) 10-0 PV win.

Derby Invitational @ Derby HS
Wichita Heights used speed, strength and endurace to edge Garden City 125-117 for the boys win, with Derby a close third 106 in this eight team invitational in the Wichita suburbs. Heights was led by sprinters Mikey Moore (10.56 100 win) and Ryan Everett (49.78 400 win), with Ryan Wilson contributing a 1:57.87 800 win that saw him beat the field by almost 10 seconds.
Heights also won a 3:24.03 4 x 400, with Garden City also showing good team speed with a 42.93-43.15 win over Hieghts in the 4 x 100.
Wichita Kaupan-Mt. Carmel won the girls title with 102 points over Derby (97) with Newton a close third (88). Erin Floyd led Kaupan with a 2:30.62 / 5:46.96 middle distance double, then anchored Kaupan's 4:08.67 4 x 400 win to clinch the meet. Top individual marks were turned in by Newton's Abri Houser with 15.09/ 44.50 wins, the latter a state leading mark.

Salina Invitational @ Salina District Stadium
Marc Roberts hit 7-0 in the HJ to lead Salina South to a boys title, and Manhattan used team strength to win the girls title in a loaded Salina Invitational field. The meet brought together many of the top athletes in the central Kansas region.
Roberts HJ mark was the individual highlight for a strong South team that edged Hays 114-102 for the team title, with Great Bend third at 96 points. Other top marks included a 1:57.44 win for Tyler Penn (Great Bend) in the 800, and top hurdle marks from Jude Fox (Hays 14.19 110H) and Kyle Roberts (Hutchinson 38.65 300H). Junction City cruised to a 42.96 4 x 100 win, and Great Bend's Jay Barnett won the 200 in 21.82. Brady Maska (Hays) won the DT at 173-0 and Manhattan's Andrew Gerth won the JT (193-2) with state-leading team mate Matt Schwandt sitting out the meet.
Manhattan scored 114 points to defeat Hays (83) and Buhler (69) in the girls race. Top sprint marks included a 11.84 100 win from Erica Singleton (Wichita Southeast) and a 25.17 200 win from Chrisdell Harris (Wichita West). Lauren Bonds (Hutchinson) won the 800 in 2:21.93 over the 2:24.03 from Manhattan's Lauren Miller. Lauren later joined sister Morgan on a 4:01.23 4 x 400 champion team.
Ashleigh Keats (Salina Central) continued her strong season with a 135-3 JT win and Amy Becker of 1A Canton-Galva won the vault at 10-0 over her large-school competitors. Manhattan's Jesse Funk had a strong meet with a 17-8 LJ win, and 12.10 (3rd) / 25.54 (3rd) spring contributions.

Buckin Inviatational @ Bucklin HS
South Central's Whitney Shuck cleared a state leading 5-8 in the HJ.

Sterling Relays @ Sterling HS
Rachel Talbert, a home-schooled athlete from Wichita, swept the throws with marks of 40-0 (SP), 138-9 (DT) and 131-8 (JT). Sterling swept the boys and girls team title's.

Topeka City Track and Field Carnival @ Highland Park HS
Highland Park's Jared Huske thrilled the home crowd with 14.6/ 41.3 hurdle wins, and placed second in the 100 (10.6) to Topeka High's Will Tunstall (10.5). Tunstall and Huske edged sub 48 400 man Ryan Irvin (Topeka Seaman), who later won the 200 (22.4). Irvin did not run the 400 in the non-scoring meet.
Topeka Hayden showed good distance strength with Adam Reilly winning the 1600 (4:45.8) and 800 (2:02.8) and Jeanie Lacore winning the girls 1600 (5:33.3). Topeka High's Jenise Brown won the girls HJ at 5-6. Trisa Nickoley (Shawnee Heights) won the 400 in 56.9 and also contributed legs on the 3200 and 1600 relay wins. Nickoley leads the state in the 800 with her 2;12.53 KU Relays win.


Thursday 5/8/03

Hesston Invitational
Hillsboro scored 113 to win the boys title from Smoky Valley (96) and Garden Plain (87) in this 12 team meet in south-central Kansas. Top throws marks from Goldsmith (Cheney 170-10 DT) and Kelly Mies (Garden Plain 190-11 JT). Fast times in the sprints were turned in by Alan Yoder (Hillsboro 10.8) and Jordan Regehr (Halstead 50.3).
Garden Plain overwhelmed the girls field with 176 points to second place Hesston's 77. Monica Adcock (Moundridge) had the top individual mark with a 139-10.5 DT win.

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