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St. Thomas Aquinas Invitational

Only in Kansas: Tornado delays meet, afterwards fine marks abound!

4/27/07 Blue Valley District Activities Complex, Overland Park KS

by Tony Bozarth, Heartland Editor

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS INVITATIONAL @ Blue Valley District Activities Center, Overland Park KS 4/27/07

Only in Kansas track and field can a story begin "After the tornado went by and the meet resumed....", but that was exactly the situation at the St. Thomas Aquinas Invitational Friday night at the Blue Valley District Activity Center at Blue Valley Northwest High School. While the afternoon started with sunny skies, clouds soon appeared on the horizen and quickly covered the whole sky. Although the 4 x 800's and some field events had started, soon lightning cleared the stands, and then all competitors and fans were sent to shelters as a tornado warning was issued due to funnel cloud sightings. After about an hour the storm had blown clear to the east, the skies were sunny again, and the meet re-started under lovely conditions: 70's, clear skies, little wind. However, while the track was clear, the field events area was a different story. The storm had flooded all the field event venues, with some added hail for variety, forcing the cancellation of a number of events.

Nevertheless, the large field of seventeen teams from both the Missouri and Kansas sides of the Kansas City metro area provided some fine competition. On the ladies side, middle distances were a highlight, with Elizabeth Keaveney (St. Teresa's Academy, Kansas City MO) winning a hot 1600 in 5:11.69, edging Katie Wilbur (St. Thomas Aquinas, Overland Park 5:13.86) and Kara Windisch (Blue Valley West 5:16.36). Caitlin Laskowsk (Blue Springs MO 11:29.09) kept a hot pace on in the 3200 to pull away from Keveaney (11:39.70) with Ashley Wurth (Blue Valley West) third at 11:53.08. Hot relay action saw Blue Springs (49.58) and St. Thomas Aquinas (4:09.40) win the sprint relays. A very high quality 4 x 800 was won by St. Thomas Aquinas (9:51.09) with Shawnee Mission East (9:57.77), Blue Springs MO (10:02.72), and Blue Valley West (10:05.00) following.

Field event action was limited by weather, but Allison Mayfield (St. Thomas Aquinas) lept 5-6 to win the HJ.

On the gentleman's side, Olathe South's Evan Pierson won a tough 100 match-up in 10.94. Solid distance event wins went to Robin Krezinsky (Shawnee Mission East 1:59.50 800), Colin Coomer (St. Thomas Aquinas, Overland Park 4:33.09 1600), and Phillip Hickman (Blue Springs MO 9:58.90).

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