High School Track: State Track Meet
WICHITA Iola High sophomore Elysia Kunkler picked up in Wichita where she left off in Eudora.
Kunkler, who qualified for the state track meet in four events, nabbed her first state medal Friday by placing third in the Class 4A girls long jump.
Kunklers leap of 17 feet, 2 1/2 inches, came in her fifth of six jumps.
She followed that up with a dazzling 100-meter hurdle mark of 14.41 seconds in her preliminary heat. The time was second fastest of all 4A runners and second fastest among all classes.
She crossed the finish line .02 seconds behind McPhersons Emma Ruddle, setting up what could be a dandy final today at 9:30 a.m. at Cessna Stadium on the Wichita State University campus.
Kunkler came up short of qualifying in her third event, the 300-meter hurdles. Her time of 48.02 seconds was 12th fastest, with the top eight advancing to todays finals in all sprint events.
Still to come for Kunkler is the 100-meter dash, which starts this morning at 8:30.
Iolas Elka Billings gets into the action this afternoon at 5:05 p.m. in the girls 800-meter run.
MEANWHILE, Yates Center Highs Hadley Splechter picked up in 2018 where he left off a year prior in first place.
Splechter defended his boys Class 2A 3200-meter run championship, winning with a blistering time of 9 minutes, 36 seconds, about 5 seconds ahead of runner-up, Ethan Thompson of Meade.
Splechter will return to the track today with a chance at defending his other state title, in the 1600-meter run. He also is vying for gold in the 800 meters.
ELSEWHERE, Humboldt Highs Colin Gillespie finished 10th in the 3A boys high jump at 510. Teammate Tucker Hurst took 12th in the javelin with a throw of 1593. Savanna Puckett was 12th fastest in her 400-meter dash prelim with a time of 1:02.95 but did not qualify for todays finals. The Lady Cubs 4×100-meter relay team of Kaylie Johnson, Zoey Wilson, Elizabeth Myers and Puckettt finished in 52.33 seconds, good for 13th, but did not qualify. They missed qualifying by .72 seconds.
The same quartet also failed to advance in the 4×400-meter relay, finishing in 4 minutes, 25.19 seconds, taking 16th.
Other area results:
YATES CENTERS Quin Lowder and Kobe Forsyth had the 15th and 16th fastest times, respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Lowder finished in 54.17 seconds; Forsyth in 54.25 seconds.
MARMATON Valleys Josh Wise wound up just off the medal stand, finishing 10th in the Class 1A triple jump. Wises leap of 402 1/4 was about 6 inches shy of the final medal distance.
Meanwhile, Kaylee Becker finished 16th in the 200-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 28.34 seconds.
