Coming to Fruition
Pearson wins shot, discus titles; EHS girls, boys squads each place 2nd at home invite
By Michael Ashford
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Raelynn Pearson found out Friday just how much the hard work she put in in the offseason could pay off.
The Emporia High junior was all smiles after she won both the shot put and discus events at the Emporia High Relays at Welch Stadium, coming within a whisker of setting her personal record in each event just two meets into the season.
“It’s really, really exciting,” Pearson said. “I’ve improved. I’m throwing farther than I have, and I’m feeling stronger about my throws.”
Pearson, a returning State qualifier, dominated the competition in both events. She opened her day with a throw of 35 feet, 3 inches in the shot put — nearly a foot better than the second-place throw and just 5 1/2 inches off her personal best.
She followed that by cruising to the discus title with a toss of 109-10, which was more than 20 feet better than her nearest competitor. That throw also was less than five feet off her personal record.
Pearson, who was the only EHS athlete — girl or boy — to win two individual events Friday, attributed her strong outing to the work she put in before the start of the season.
“I think it has a lot to do with the coaching I’m getting and definitely the offseason work and lifting weights,” she said. “I was really working hard about two months before practice started and, for this early in the season, my throws are going really good for me.”
Pearson led the way for the Emporia High girls, who finished second as a team with 105 points behind the meet winner, Olathe East (143). The EHS boys also finished second as a team, coming in with 107 points to place behind Olathe South (117).
The EHS boys finished ahead of two teams that won State championships last year, as Shawnee Heights, which won the Class 5A title, and Olathe East, which won the boys 6A crown, finished third and fourth, respectively.
“It was a very competitive meet,” EHS coach Randy Wells said. “We had a lot of quality track teams here, and I thought all our kids competed very well.”
In addition to Pearson’s two titles, the EHS girls picked up three other victories.
Samantha Kraft won the pole vault, clearing 10 feet to win easily over Olathe East’s Taylor Bergeren (8 feet). Kraft also finished second in the long jump with a leap of 16-08 1/2. Michaela Reynolds dominated the 3,200-meter run, crossing the line in 11 minutes, 47.2 seconds to finish 27 seconds ahead of Shawnee Heights’ Caroline Hale.
The Emporia girls’ other title came from the distance medley relay squad of Jenna Stanbrough, Vanessa Rogers, Taylor Elbe and Reynolds, as they won in a time of 13:36.8.
The Emporia High boys also came through with five event titles, highlighted by a gutsy performance from Kyle Goodwin in the 300-meter hurdles.
Heading into a slight breeze through the first 100 meters, Goodwin had a smooth run heading into the curve to take the lead. As he entered the homestretch, Goodwin clipped the top of one of the hurdles and nearly fell, allowing Olathe East’s Nathan Schultz to overtake the lead with less than 70 meters left.
But fortune found Goodwin, as Schultz hit the next hurdle, which gave Goodwin back the lead after he recovered nicely from his near-disaster. Goodwin then held off a late charge from Shawnee Heights’ Devon Lockhard to take the victory in a time of 41.8 seconds, just slightly more than a second off his best time.
“Once I got around the curve, I felt pretty good, and then I almost fell there,” Goodwin said. “I saw (Schultz), and he was kind of ahead of me for a little bit, but then he clipped a hurdle, and that slowed him down a little, which was good for me. It was a good race.”
Emporia’s first title of the day came in the high jump thanks to Brandon Childs, who won a three-man jump-off with Olathe South’s Logan Ponder and Piper’s Christian Buckner by being the only one of the three to clear 6-02. Childs had a strong showing on the day, as he also claimed a pair of second-place finishes — one in the long jump (20-09) and one in the triple jump (43-08 3/4).
Caydrick Bloomquist finished 1 foot shy of his school record in the pole vault, but his 14-foot clearance still was enough to give him the victory by 3 feet over Olathe East’s Tucker Fritz. Asher Delmott gave EHS a sweep of the 3,200-meter run by placing first in a time of 10:07.2.
Like the EHS girls, the Spartan boys also were victorious in the distance medley relay, as Tyler Anliker, Blaze Witten, Tyler Tilton and Andrew Wayman teamed up to win the event in a time of 11:37.9.
Other notable performances on the day were: Mark Kolmer, second in the javelin (182-09); Sarah Kolmer, third in the long jump (16-03 1/4) and the triple jump (34-04); Rhani Henry, third in the 300 hurdles (54.1 seconds); Vanessa Rogers, fourth in the 300 hurdles (54.4 seconds); Tyler Anliker, fourth in the 3,200 (10:46.3); Lindy Arndt, fifth in the long jump (15-11 1/4) and the high jump (4-08), Angela Finch, fifth in the triple jump (31-07 1/4) and the 300 hurdles (54.9 seconds); Andrew Heerman, fifth in the triple jump (41-06 1/2); Rhani Henry, fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (17.2 seconds); Taylor Euler, fifth in the 300 hurdles (43.3 seconds).
The EHS boys also picked up second-place finishes in both the sprint medley relay and the 4x400 relay, while the Emporia girls came in second in the sprint medley relay.
Wells said the meet served its purpose: to allow the coaches to figure out what athletes could provide the most depth and where they’d be best utilized.”
“This meet, it’s early in the season so teams could get a lot of kids involved, which we did obviously,” he said. “It gives us a chance to look at kids and see where we’re going to be able to develop some depth. We’ve got some great athletes, there’s no question about it. But it’s important for us to develop those kids that are those second- and third-place finishers, because we’ve got to have those kids step up for us.
“We’ve got to develop some depth on both sides, and in the long run, we should be pretty competitive.”
EHS Invitational
Friday at Welch Stadium
Team Scores
Girls
1. Olathe East 143, 2. Emporia 105, 3. Shawnee Heights 95, 4. Junction City 57, 5. Olathe South 47, 6. Wichita Independent 27, 7. Piper 25.
Boys
1. Olathe South 117, 2. Emporia 107, 3. Shawnee Heights 97, 4. Olathe East 60, 5. Highland Park 45, 6. Junction City 42, 7. Piper 31, 8. Wichita Independent 24.
EHS Individual Results
Girls Pole Vault
1. Samantha Kraft 10-00
Boys Pole Vault
1. Caydrick Bloomquist 14-00
4. Ryan Dorsey 10-00
Girls Discus
1. Raelynn Pearson 109-10
6. Mariah LaFave 77-11
Boys Discus
10. Lorenzo Serna 102-00
18. Jose Alvarado 79-08
Girls Javelin
6. Noelle Waters 84-04
10. Mariah LaFave 71-07
Boys Javelin
2. Mark Kolmer 182-09
11. Sheldon Patton 139-04
16. Sam Nolan 127-09
Girls High Jump
4. Lindy Arndt 4-08
Boys High Jump
1. Brandon Childs 6-02
Girls Long Jump
2. Samantha Kraft 16-08.5
3. Sarah Kolmer 16-03.25
5. Lindy Arndt 15-11.25
Boys Long Jump
2. Brandon Childs 20-09
10. Andrew Heerman 19-04
11. Brian Dorsey 19-03
Girls Shot Put
1. Raelynn Pearson 35-03
Boys Shot Put
9. Troy Pierce 42-11.5
16. Lorenzo Serna 37-08
Girls Triple Jump
3. Sarah Kolmer 34-04
5. Angela Finch 31-07.25
Boys Triple Jump
2. Brandon Childs 43-08.75
5. Andrew Heerman 41-06.5
6. Brian Dorsey 40-10.25
Girls 100 Hurdles
5. Rhani Henry 17.2
6. Keisha Harris 18.6
Girls Distance Medley
1. Emporia 13:36.8
Boys Distance Medley
1. Emporia 11:37.9
Girls 4x100 Relay
5. Emporia 55.5
Boys 4x100 Relay
5. Emporia 46.5
Girls Sprint Medley
2. Emporia 4:37.3
Boys Sprint Medley
2. Emporia 3:47.4
Girls 300 Hurdles
3. Rhani Henry 54.1
4. Vanessa Rogers 54.4
5. Angela Finch 54.9
Boys 300 Hurdles
1. Kyle Goodwin 41.8
5. Taylor Euler 43.3
7. Cory Obermeyer 44.1
Boys 4x200 Relay
5. Emporia 1:38.8
Girls 3,200
1. Michaela Reynolds 11:47.2
Boys 3,200
1. Asher Delmott 10:07.2
4. Tyler Anliker 10:46.3
Girls 4x400 Relay
5. Emporia 4:32.2
Boys 4x400 Relay
2. Emporia 3:32.2