WICHITA — Black and orange came roaring down the track to the finish line in Saturday’s Kansas Class 2A boys’ 400-meter dash final. The top three finishers in the race wore those school colors.
On the inside was Humboldt High’s Tanner McNutt, who came into the state meet with the top 400-meter time in 2A.
“I just tried to get out in front in the race. But that guy (Zach Werth of Ellis) had more of a kick at the end than I did,” McNutt said of the final.
McNutt, a sophomore, captured the Class 2A 400-meter silver medal in 51.17 seconds. Werth got the gold in 50.91 while Clinton Todd of Onaga was third in 51.39 seconds. Daniel Ellis of Bennington was fourth in 51.72 seconds.
“It feels good to get my first state meet medal,” McNutt said. “Weather was a problem this weekend for me. I found it really hard to breathe. It was cooler but the air was heavier.”
McNutt also qualified for the 2011 Kansas All-Class Track and Field Championships in the long jump and triple jump.
As soon as he ran the 400 final, McNutt had to return to the long jump competition Saturday afternoon. He had to quickly make his final preliminary jumps. He didn’t advance to the finals.
“I was tired. That was tough that I had to run the 400 first then go back,” he said. “Yesterday (Friday), I wasn’t feeling it when I competed in the triple jump.”
McNutt was also on the Cubs’ 4×400-meter relay team that qualified for the Class 2A meet. He combined with seniors Derrick McCall and Jarred Barr and sophomore Nick Keazer to run in Friday’s preliminaries. The Cub foursome ran the race in 3 minutes, 48.15 seconds finishing seventh in their heat and out of the finals.
“We just didn’t show up to run,” McNutt said of the race. Humboldt had run a 3:38.6 at the regional a week before to qualify.
McNutt finished 11th in the triple jump with a leap of 40 feet, 71⁄2 inches. He was 14th in the long jump at 19’1”.
Humboldt’s McCall was 14th in the 2A boys’ javelin with a personal-best throw of 138’8” on Friday.
Yates Center High sophomore Sam Aguirre was at his first state track meet. He went home with state meet hardware.
“I was very nervous when I first entered the stadium on Friday for the preliminaries,” Aguirre said. “We lined up for the race and I was still pretty nervous but I tried very hard to get third in my heat. I ran fast enough to get into the finals so I was pretty excited about that.”
Aguirre had to wait a day until he could run the 110-meter high hurdles final. He had another preliminary race to concentrate on Friday — the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.
He said he rolled his ankle in the race and wasn’t able to run the race well enough to get to the finals. He finished in 44.39 seconds, which was the 10th best time in the preliminaries.
Aguirre ran the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.33 seconds in the preliminaries.
“I was still nervous but had a good trip through the race but it wasn’t my best time. I pushed myself and hit a hurdle,” Aguirre said of the final race, which he finished in 16.28 seconds.
“I’m really excited about the seventh-place medal in my first trip to state. I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”
Yates Center seniors Brae Adams and Cherokee Shaffer finished their high school track careers at the state meet. Adams was 10th in the 2A girls’ discus with a throw of 109 feet, 7 inches. Shaffer went 4’6” in the high jump to end up 16th.
Freshman Mindi Holloway ran the Class 2A 800-meter run in 2:34.55 for 14th.
Marmaton Valley High’s Zach Louk started his three-race state meet with a ninth-place finish in Friday morning’s 3200-meter run and ended it in ninth place in Saturday’s 800-meter run.
Louk broke his own MVHS school record in the 3200 with a time of 10:20.92. Louk ran the 800 meters in 2:04.11. He also took 11th in the 1600-meter run in 4:42.14 Saturday.
McNutt, Aguirre claim 2A state medals
