Ashland solid headed into day 2 at state

   With a third place finish in the boys’ high jump and a top-two qualifier in the 100-meter dash, the Ashland Bluejays are making the 2009 State Track Meet play like par for the course at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium.
    The boys team may need to make up some points on frontrunners like Centralia and Goessel, which put its share of runners into the finals as well, but Ashland is still in the state conversation going into the meet’s second day.
    Junior Spencer Amerin was actually disappointed in his third-place finish in the Class 1A high jump. Though he has cleared 6-04.00, the height that won the event for Burrton’s Alex Santiago, twice this year, he was only able to get up to 6-02.00 at state.
    “I expected more from myself,” Amerin told the Globe.
    His teammate Bobby Krahn anchored the Bluejays’ 4x400-meter relay team to qualification for the finals in second poistion as well. Krahn will also be in second position individually after his run of 22.87 in the 200-meter dash preliminaries and 51.81 in the 400-meter..
    “I was saving myself,” Krahn said after the 200. “I’ll be faster tomorrow, but what’s important is that we’re doing well as a team.”
    The Spearville Lancer girls team also showed well at the meet’s first day, despite only sending a handful of athletes. Freshmen Taylin Doussa and Liz Stein placed fourth and seventh, respectively, with jumps of 33-06.50 and 32-07.75, in the 2A girls’ triple jump finals.
    Doussa also grabbed fourth in the pole vault finals, with her vault over the bar at 9-00.00.
    “It’s been amazing,” Doussa said after her trip to the podium. “Coming here as freshmen, I think we did pretty well for ourselves.”
    Spearville coach Kelly Lampe echoed the sentiment.
    “It’s very seldom that we bring a couple freshmen here and they’re able to do as well as these two young ladies,” Lampe said. “When we bring freshmen, we usually chalk it up to a learning experience, but I’m very pleased with how they competed.”
    Another high finish for an area contender came form Pawnee Heights senior Betsy Smith, who placed second to Pretty Prairie’s Andrea Markel in the 1A girls’ javelin throw final.
    “The past couple weeks, she’s been throwing really well, so we were confident in her coming into state,” said Pawnee Heights throwing coach Mark Pywell. “It’s a great note for her to go out on after a great senior year.”
    Meade’s Hannah Hoffman finished third in the 2A javelin throw, with a toss of 124-10, as well.
   

Other area qualifiers
Class 1A
Ransom Gardiner – ASH – 3,200-meter run – 11th (finals) – 10:40.58
Peyton Wade – HAV – 3,200-meter run – 12th (fiinals) – 10:43.25
Katelin Holland – HAV – 3,200-meter run – 9th (finals) – 13:00.64
Brena Alexander – S.CENT – 3,200-meter run – 13th (finals) – 13:22.20
Steven Pena – BUCK – 110-meter hurdles – 6th – 16.26
Morgan Fulton – GBURG – 100-meter hurdles – 4th – 15.59
Jetmore – 4x100-meter relay – Lucian Bradshaw, Derrick Snodgrass, Isaiah Bradshaw, Evan Kreger – 2nd – 45.40
Bucklin – 4x100-meter relay – Cody Davis, Brett Demoret, Stephan Menges, Steven Pena – 7th – 46.17
Minneola – 4x100-meter relay – Melanie Espino, Morgan Minor, Jenny Lies, Kara Minor – 5th – 52.80
Minneola – 4x400-meter relay – Jessie Eaton, Samantha Harrington, Melanie Espino, Kara Minor – 5th - 4:15.99
South Central – 4x400-meter relay – Michelle Burt, Lauren Jarnagin, Darin Konrade, Tori Brass – 7th – 4:17.29
Kaler Hazen – S.CENT – 400-meter dash – 4th – 52.51
Andrew Reimer – ASH – 400-meter dash – 5th – 51.65, 200-meter dash – 6th – 23.46
Jared Harris - FOWL – 200-meter dash – 4th – 23.18    
South Central – 4x400-meter relay – Jose Garcia, Levi Miller, Trae Beck, Kaler Hazen – 3rd – 3:34.81
Pawnee Heights – 4x400-meter relay – Camron Bauer, Justin Skelton, Tim Maresch, Sam Spence – 6th – 3:37.09
Bobby Smith – S. GRAY – pole vault – 6th – 13-00.00
Adam Haskin – GBURG – discus throw – 6th (finals) – 142-06
Tanner Dirks – S.GRAY – high jump – 8th (finals) – 6-0.00
Amanda Watson – HAV – long jump – 6th (finals) – 15-07.50
Chrissy Selzer – S.CENT – high jump – 10th (finals) – 4-10.00
Jerrica Cronin – S.CENT – shot put – 8th (finals) – 35-08.00


Class 2A
Levi DeLissa – MEADE – 3,200-meter run – 16th (finals) - 11:16.03
Taylor Headrick – MEADE – 110-meter hurdles – 2nd – 14.90
Travis Lloyd – SPEAR – high jump – 8th (finals) – 5-10.00

Class 3A
Tatianna Chandler – CIM – 400-meter dash – 7th – 1:01.92