High School Track and Field: State Track and Field Championship
The 2017-18 high school sports season wrapped up on Saturday at the State Track and Field Championship meet at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.
Athletes from all over the state in all classes came together to compete for the right to be named among the top track athletes in Kansas.
Ten area athletes medaled in 16 events including eight top-three finishes. The Iola girls and Yates Center boys finished in the top 15-overall in their respective classes.
Below are the results sorted by school:
Iola
The Fillies track team sent two athletes to the state meet in sophomores Elysia Kunkler and Elka Billings.
Kunkler had already grabbed a third-place finish in the girls 4A-II long jump with a jump of 1702.5 on Friday, so Saturday was all about the 100-meter dash and hurdles.
Kunkler ran a 12.71 in the 100-meter dash prelims to qualify her for finals where she ran a 12.68, which was good for seventh place.
Both finishes were improvements after getting 16th in both events her freshman year but it was in the 100-meter hurdles where she really stepped up, running a 14.98 final time which was good for second overall. Last year, Kunkler finished 10th with a time of 16.07.
My goal was to just get on the podium, Kunkler said. But then I got top three in two events which was great. I just feel really accomplished but now I really have to step it up for next year.
I shaved off a second in the hurdles in the past year and Ive added a foot and two inches in the long jump. Its making me realize where Im at compared to other girls my age. I know I can get further up there if I keep training.
When asked where Kunkler planned on ending up next year, her answer was succinct.
First.
Kunklers performance in the three events singlehandedly boosted the Iola girls to a 14th-place finish.
Meanwhile, Billings may not have medaled, but after a 15th place finish in the 800 last year, she improved her time by 10 seconds and finished 10th with a time of 2:26.80.
Humboldt
A rough Friday saw no Cubs put up qualifying performances for the finals but Saturday brought success with three top-five finishes.
Junior Kaylie Johnson took a huge step forward in the triple jump and long jump after finishing 12th and 16th in 2017.
Johnson put up a fifth-place triple jump performance with a distance of 3409.5 and a third-place long jump performance with a distance of 1607.
Junior Tucker Hurst also made the podium after a discus throw of 145 feet put him in fourth place. Hurst finished 11th last year with a throw of about 14 feet shorter.
