Riding the 28 points scored by senior sprinter Kacey Fulton and the additional four chipped in by her younger sister Morgan, the pair of Greensburg girls managed to take home the 1A third place trophy for their school from the recently completed State Track Meet.
Coming off a four-week stretch from mid-April to early May when she was unable to compete due to a groin strain, Kacey recovered in time to steadily improve in her performances at league (Spearville) and regional (Montezuma) before taking two gold’s and a silver at Wichita May 24.
Fulton won the 200-meter dash in a time of 26.73, besting Little River’s Ciera Nelson by .12 of a second. The order of finish between the two had been reversed at Regional a week earlier. Fulton also took gold in the long jump with a best leap of 16’6.75”, six inches better than Erin Sughroue of Minneola. While she was again able to edge Nelson in the 100 meters, Fulton’s 12.71 (Nelson was clocked at 12.72) meant she had to settle for silver in the shorter dash, Triplains’ Kara Gfeller finishing in a time of 12.66.
Morgan, meanwhile, ran the 300-meter hurdles in 49.36, good enough for fourth. The event was won, as it typically has been all year, by Bucklin’s Caitlin Long in 46.63. Morgan’s four points bumped Greensburg’s girls’ total to 32, good enough for a third-place tie with Quivira Heights, behind Minneola’s 37 and South Barber’s 59.
On the boys’ side, David Cesmat took silver in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.72, just behind Jetmore’s Isaac Bradshaw who won the event in 15.50. Though he made the finals in the 300-meter version, Cesmat just missed medaling, finishing eighth at 42.47.
Haviland’s Conner Drendel acquitted himself well, taking fourth in both the 800 meters and 1600 meters. Drendel’s 2:03.51 in the shorter run was just behind Julian Beasley of Immaculata at 2:03.27, while his 4:40.60 in the 1600 fell just short of South Gray’s Weston Koehn at 4:39.71. Drendel also helped his 4X800 relay team take fourth in a time of 8:36.85. Also running that relay were Peyton Wade, Sage Boman and Tanner McFarland.
Katelin Holland just missed medaling in the 1600 meters for the Haviland girls, taking eighth in a time of 5:42.05, while teammate Tina Emmersberger was thirteenth at 5:57.90. The two teamed with Ashley Negrete and Selina Ferrari to finish ninth in the 4X800 at 10:46.01. Also competing were Greensburg’s Adam Haskin whose 46’03” toss in the shot put gave him a twelfth-place finish. Haskin had thrown over 51 feet at league, where Lindsey Heft had recorded a 124-foot toss in the javelin. Heft, however, finished fifteenth at Wichita with a best throw of 96’02”.
Greensburg, KS —
