Leffler's big day leads Heights girls at league meet
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Friday, May 9, 2008
Northern Heights senior Jacquelyne Leffler had a monster day at the Flint Hills League Championships on Thursday, as she took the title in the girls shot put, discus and javelin and set new league records in all three events.
Her performance helped propel the Heights girls to a second-place finish team-wise behind Council Grove, 157-138.
Leffler’s biggest victory came in the discus, where her top throw of 150 feet, 6 inches was more than 50 feet better than her nearest competitor. She won the shot put with a heave of 46-3, just 5 inches off her personal-best mark in the event.
Leffler closed out her day with a toss of 130-11 in the javelin.
But Leffler wasn’t the only Heights girl that set a record on Thursday.
Kaylee Eklund leaped 16-8 1/2 in the long jump to set a new league mark in the event. Eklund also won the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.84 seconds and finished second in the high jump with a clearance of 4-8.
The other victories on the girls side for Heights came in the relays, as the 4x100 relay (54.15 seconds) and the 4x800 relay (11:07.49) each came away with first-place finishes.
Junior Amy Lee took second in a pair of events, finishing the 1,600-meter run in a time of 6:11.22 and then crossing the finish line in the 800 in a time of 2:43. Teammate Sky Linsey came in third in the 800 in a time of 2:47.48.
The 4x400 relay team also placed second (4:43.19), while Annie Adams took third in the 100 hurdles (18.58).
On the boys side, David Hanks was Heights’ top performer, setting a new league record in the shot put to help the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish.
The senior’s best throw went 46 feet, 11 inches and was more than five feet better than the second-place finisher.
Hanks also added a championship in the discus with a throw of 136-3 — a toss that was 15 feet further than any other league opponent.
Pete Symmonds took Heights’ only other boys championship, as he won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:05.89.
The Wildcats came away with two victories in the relays, as the 4x400 relay team had a time of 3:46.75 and the 4x800 team finished its race in 8:49.77.
Joel Young added a pair of top-three showings, as he was second in the javelin (154-7) and third in the shot put (41-3 1/2).
Heights had two other top-three finishers: Nathan Campbell was third in the long jump (18 7 3/4) and Justin Heston took third in the 3,200-meter run (11:19.51).
Other top-five showings for Heights came from Nick Mendez in the 400-meter dash (fourth, 56.04 seconds), the 4x100 relay team (fourth, 49 seconds) and Symmonds in the 1,600-meter run (fifth, 5:04.37).
Heights’ 89 team points put them 55 points behind league champion Council Grove. Osage City was second (140) and Mission Valley was third (119).
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