Area athletes take home four state track titles

   "That would blow my mind," Nolan Dreiling said when asked about the possibility of winning two individual state titles at the 2009 State Track and Field Meet.
    He had claimed his first state title in one of Saturday's first events, the 1A boys' javelin throw, and would enter the long jump as the top seed in the afternoon.
    Well, Nolan Dreiling, get pumped.
    After throwing the javelin 173 feet, one inch — nearly 3 1/2 feet further than anyone else in Class 1A — Dreiling backed it up with a long jump of 22 feet, 3 1/2 inches. The jump was 5 1/4 inches further than the one from the state runner-up, Thunder Ridge's Joel Struckhoff.
    And with his senior season still ahead of him, the state champion twice over still sees room for personal improvement.
    "I'll get in the weight room and put in more work," Dreiling said.
    That prospect might be scary for the competition at next year's state meet, but Dreiling's pair of titles paced the Pawnee Heights Tigers to a fourth-place team finish at the 2009 meet.
    Pawnee Heights also got key points from Tim Maresch's third-place run in the 800-meters (2:01.29) and from the fifth-place team run in the 4x400-meter relay. The 4x800 relay team of Maresch, Sam Spence, Sheldan Lee and Camron Bauer placed seventh in the state as well.
    The Ashland Bluejay boys placed third as a team, just two points shy of 1A runner-up Goessel. And they did it after a huge day from sprinter Bobby Krahn.
    Krahn ran the fastest time in Class 1A in the 100-meter dash (11.28 seconds), just edging Goessel's Craig Banman by .03 seconds. Krahn was the state runner-up in the 200- and 400-meter dashes, running just behind Banman in both events.
    The graduating Ashland senior also anchored the Bluejay 4x400-meter relay team to a silver medal finish. The 'Jays ran a 3:29.40, second to only — you guessed it — Goessel.
    "I've been waiting a while to be able to do something like this," Krahn said after his gold medal sprint. "It's great to get a chance to win it in my senior season. But I've got to stay out of this heat."
    The high temperature in Wichita on Saturday was 94 degrees.
    Other key contributors for Ashland included Andrew Reimer, who placed fourth in the 400-meter dash (51.11 seconds) and eighth in the 200-meter dash (23.51 seconds); Cole Gardiner, who finished seventh in the 1,600-meter run (4:42.20); and the 4x100-meter relay team, which also placed seventh.
    Conq football fans should be encouraged by another area state championship performance. Greensburg's Adam Haskin took the state title in the 1A shot put with a throw of 54 feet, five inches, a throw that bested the field by three feet, nine inches.
    In April, Haskin committed to play football under coach Bob Majeski at Dodge City Community College next year. And his offseason regimen was a huge part of his ability to separate himself from the field at the state meet.
    "Every day I'm in the weight room, trying to get those few extra inches on my throws," Haskin said. "I'm always down in my basement practicing spinning. If football doesn't work out in college, I'd like to continue throwing."
    The Rangers tied Colony Crest and Wheatland with 12 team points for a 15th-place finish at state. Ten of Greensburg's 12 points came from Haskin's first-place finish.
   
Other notable Saturday finishes
Class 1A
Haviland - Boys ' 4x800-meter relay - Peyton Wade, Sage Boman, Braden Stevens, Tanner McFarland - 2nd - 8:27.72
Jetmore - Boys' 4x100-meter relay - Lucian Bradshaw, Derrick Snodgrass, Isaiah Richardson, Evan Kreger - 2nd - 44.79
Mikayla Skidmore - S. GRAY - pole vault - T2nd - 9-00.00
Minneola - Girls' 4x100-meter relay - Kara Minor, Melanie Espino, Jenny Lies, Morgan Minor - 3rd - 52.17
Kara Minor - MINN - 200-meter dash - 4th - 27.06, 100-meter dash - 5th - 13.39
South Central - Boys' 4x800-meter relay - Kaler Hazen, Clay Jarnagin, Levi Miller - 4th - 8:28.65
South Central - Boys' 4x400-meter relay - Jose Garcia, Levi Miller, Trae Beck, Kaler Hazen - 4th - 3:35.54
South Central - Girls' 4x800-meter relay - Michelle Burt, Lauren Jarnagin, Darian Konrade, Tori Brass - 4th - 4:16.94
Jared Harris - FOWL - 200-meter dash - 4th - 22.94
Serenity Seiler - PH - 800-meter run - 4th - 2:24.28, 400-meter run - 6th - 1:00.85
Minneola - Girls' 4x400-meter dash - Jessie Eaton, Samantha Harrington, Melanie Espino, Kara Minor - 5th - 4:17.13
Bucklin - Boys' 4x100-meter dash - Cody Davis, Brett Demoret, Stephan Menges, Steven Pena - 5th - 45.88
Bobby Smith - S.GRAY - pole vault - 6th - 13-00.00
Adam Haskin - GB - discus throw - 6th - 142-06
Steven Pena - BUCK - 110-meter hurdles - 6th - 16.22
Ashland - Girls' 4x800-meter relay - Ashley Knowles, Shyla Luerman, Nicole Preisner, Joana Reimer - 6th - 10:21.63
Heather Gibson - S.GRAY - discus throw - 6th - 113-05
Morgan Fulton - GB - 300-meter hurdles - 6th - 49.04
Derrick Snodgrass - JET - 100-meter dash - 7th - 11.65
Kaler Hazen - S.CENT - 400-meter dash - 7th - 51.52
Melinda Davis - BUCK - pole vault - 7th - 8-06.00

Class 3A
Tatianna Chandler - CIM - 400-meter dash - 6th - 1:01.26