By Grant Barrett, Ad Astra Radio
AUGUSTA, Kan. – It was a second place finish for both McPherson High Boys and Girls Track and Field teams on Friday, as they competed in the AVCTL Div. III Meet.
“I was proud of how hard our kids competed tonight.” noted Head Coach Jace Pavlovich, “We had some great performances on both the guys and girls side tonight.”
Andi Buschbom led the girls long jump, with a PR leap of 17-2.5, Alexa Casebeer took third, while Addison Chapman was fifth. Jayla McLeod would take first in the 100m and 200m dash, while freshman Adri McLeod would take third with a personal-record in the 200. Izabel Backhus would take first in the girls 400m dash, while Kyla Lang would take third.
Javyn Alexander would lead the boys, taking first in the long jump with a PR of 22-1. Kreighton Kanitz and Chase Koehn would take fifth and sixth. Kreighton and Kaizer Kanitz would finish second and third in the triple jump. Alexander would also take first in the 100m dash, and Jayce Schriner would take 1st in the 200m dash.
In the distance events, Chloe Clevenger would take first in the 800m run, while Caleb Muehler and Roman Mai would take second and fourth in both the boys 800m and 1600m run. The MHS relay teams were also dominant, as the boys and girls would claim first in both 4×100,4×400
Other notable finishes came from Hunter Wilson, who would take third in the girls shot put, and Amber Smith, who would take second in the pole vault. Joseph Nutt would take second in the boys discus, followed by Shawn Nutt and Caden Wenderott, who finished fourth and fifth. Gavin Wedel and Sam Becker would take third and fourth in the javelin, while Kelby Price would collect sixth.
The Boys fell just four points behind Buhler, who took first, and following the meet, Coach Pavlovich noted, “We left some points on the track that would have earned us a league championship but we learned from our mistakes and will move on.” He was pleased with the solid performance from the girls team, and he concluded by saying, “Now our goal moving forward shifts from scoring team points to the individual. We are now focusing on what we can do to maximize each athlete’s talents to get to state.”
State qualifiers will be determined at Regionals, which will be held Thursday in Buhler. Field events will begin at 2 p.m. Prelims will be at 5 p.m. Finals will follow around 6:30 p.m.
Complete results from the AVCTL Div. III Meet can be found HERE
