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Junior High Track Teams Win Two Divisions At NWKL Meet

Taylor Win 4 Golds, Sets NWKL Record; Rogers Sets School Record

The junior high track teams fared well in the Northwest Kansas League Junior High Track Meet in Oberlin on Friday, May 11th.  St. Francis won the 8th grade girls and 8th grade boys divisions in the meet.  Though the day was cool and breezy, several outstanding performances were turned in.  Many St. Francis athletes set personal bests.  One new Northwest Kansas League record and one new school record were established.  St. Francis athletes won 14 events in the meet.

8th Grade Girls

St. Francis won the 8th grade girls NWKL championship scoring 135 points.  Hoxie placed second with 90.  Quinter placed 3rd (56), Rawlins County 4th (54), Decatur Community 5th (37), and Oakley 6th (30).

McKenzie Taylor set a new NWKL record in the 200 meter hurdles running 32.20 in the event.  The performance bettered the old record of 32.56 set by Taryn Bedore of Goodland in 2010.  McKenzie's personal best and the St. Francis school record is 30.90 set earlier this season.

Below is a video of the 200 meter hurdle race in which McKenzie set a new NWKL record.  Emily placed second in the event and Hannah 5th.

Coach Kent Kechter commented, "It's not often you get to coach an athlete that can win four individual events at the league meet.  McKenzie Taylor won four gold medals.  The automatic timing system failed during the 100 meter hurdles resulting in no official times for the 8th grade girls. I think at least two (if not all three) of our girls ran personal bests in the event and maybe a record was lost due to the timing failure."

This is the video of the 100 meter hurdle race for 8th girls.  (No "official" times for the race.)

Girls placing in the 8th grade girls division for St. Francis are listed below.

McKenzie Taylor:  1st 100 meter dash 13.66; 1st 200 meter dash 28.95; 1st 100 meter hurdles (NT); 1st 200 meter hurdles 32.20 (New Northwest Kansas League Record)

CarolEve Harris:  2nd 200 meter dash 31.15; 4th 100 meter dash 14.56

Sydney Sundstrom:  1st 3200 meters 24:03.89; 3rd discus 70' 4"

Emily Elfers:  2nd 100 meter hurdles (NT); 2nd 200 meter hurdles 34.64

Hannah Wolfe:  5th 100 meter hurdles (NT); 6th 200 meter hurdles 37.20

Kylie Sherlock:  2nd triple jump 26' 2.5"

Journey Lee:  4th triple jump 25' 4 1/4"

Kayla Reed:  5th triple jump 24' 5 3/4"

Kattie Jenik:  2nd discus 70' 8"

4 X 100 meter relay:  (Emily Elfers, CarolEve Harris, Kayla Reed, Kylie Sherlock)  2nd 58.10

4 X 200 meter relay:  (Journey Lee, CarolEve Harris, Kayla Reed, Kylie Sherlock)  2nd 2:04.99

4 X 400 meter relay:  (Emily Elfers, Danielle Frink, Kayla Reed, Journey Lee)  1st 5:05.54

8th Grade Boys

The St. Francis 8th grade boys won the team championship with 135 team points.  Decatur Community placed second with 106 points.  Rawlins County earned 3rd (86.5), Oakley 4th (75.5), Hoxie 5th (61), and Quinter 6th (39).

Coach Kechter commented, "Garrett Brunk had an excellent time of 15.68 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles.  The time was only .06 seconds of the existing league record.  Lane Hobrock was leading the 200 meter hurdles when he had a nasty fall on the last hurdle.  Lane would have won the event and likely would have set a new school and league record if he would have had a clean run.  It was nice to win all of the 8th boys relays."

Below is a video clip of the final portion of the 8th boys 200 meter hurdle race. (Lane and Garrett).

Boys placing in the 8th grade boys division for the Indians are listed below.

Carl Fabre:  3rd 100 meters 12.34; 3rd 200 meters 26.69; 3rd (tie) high jump 4' 10"; 5th long jump 15' 2"

Chris Hoard:  3rd 1600 meters 6:04.01; 3rd discus 94' 9; 6th shot put 32' 6 1/2"

Phillip White:  6th 3200 meters 13:54.02

Garrett Brunk:  1st 100 meter hurdles 15.68; 1st 200 meter hurdles 29.46; 4th pole vault 8' 6";

Lane Hobrock:  3rd triple jump 31' 1'; 6th 200 meter hurdles 42.25

Francisco Fernandez:  2nd high jump 4' 10"

Clay Cassaw:  2nd pole vault 8' 6"

Travis Rogers:  5th pole vault 7' 0"; 5th triple jump 29' 8"

Jude Faulkender:  2nd discus 96' 7"; 3rd shot put 36' 1 1/4"

Jakob Church:  4th shot put 33' 3/4"; 4th discus 94' 8"

4 X 100 meter relay:  (Clay Cassaw, Francisco Fernandez, Lane Hobrock, Travis Rogers) 1st 53.27

4 X 200 meter relay:  (Chris Hoard, Travis Rogers, Clay Cassaw, Phillip White)  1st 1:58.83

4 X 400 meter relay:  (Lane Hobrock, Francisco Fernandez, Garrett Brunk, Clay Cassaw) 1st 4:22.78

7th Grade Girls

Decatur Community edged Oakley for the 7th grade girls championship.  Decatur Community scored 120 points for first place. Oakley scored 117 for second.  Quinter placed 3rd with 90 points, Rawlins County 4th with 56, Hoxie 5th with 53, and St. Francis 6th with 33.

Girls placing in the 7th grade girls division for the Lady Indians are listed below.

Katie Schmid:  1st 100 meter hurdles 18.97; 3rd 100 meter dash 15.02; 6th discus 53' 11"

Jenna Confer:  6th 1600 meter run 8:59.39

Sophie White:  4th 100 meter hurdles 19.71

Makayla Rogers:  6th shot put 25' 1/4"

4 X 100 meter relay:  (Katie Schmid, Sophie White, Danielle Frink, Makayla Rogers) 3rd 1:05.10

4 X 200 meter relay:  (Jenna Confer, Sophie White, Makayla Rogers, Danielle Frink) 4th 2:33.87

7th Grade Boys

The 7th grade boys division championship was won by Decatur Community with 140 team points. Oakley placed 2nd with 106 points. St. Francis earned a 3rd place finish with 90.  Rawlins County placed 4th (83), Quinter 5th (54), and Hoxie 6th (6).

"Taylor Rogers bettered his school record in the 200 meter hurdles set earlier this season when he ran 30.60 in the event.  He also bettered the NWKL record of 31.59 set by Macrae Migchelbrink of Rawlins County in 2010, but did not set a new NWKL record as he placed 3rd in the race.  We may have also won the 7th boys division had we not lost sprinter J.R. Landenberger to injury earlier in the season," added Coach K. "This group of junior high tracksters has been a great bunch to work with!"

Boys placing in the 7th grade division for St. Francis are listed below.

Quinton Cravens:  3rd 200 meter dash 30.06; 3rd 100 meter hurdles 18.33; 4th triple jump 27' 10"

Taylor Rogers:  1st 400 meter dash 1:02.98; 2nd high jump 4' 8"; 2nd pole vault 7' 6"; 3rd 200 meter hurdles 30.60 (New St. Francis School Record)

Joel Hill:  1st triple jump 32' 1/2"; 2nd 800 meters 2:42.53; 3rd long jump 14' 3 1/2"

Ryan Grover:  3rd shot put 30' 9"; 3rd discus 82' 3"

4 X 100 meter relay:  (Quinton Cravens, Ryan Grover, Joel Hill, Jeremiah Neitzel) 3rd 2:00.55

Click here for complete meet results.