Photo by Adam Vogler
Northern Heights senior Jacquelyne Leffler enters this week’s State track and field meet in Wichita looking to win her fourth straight Class 3A title in both the discus and the shot put. Leffler, who will also compete in the javelin, is ranked as the top thrower in 3A in the discus and the shot.
Never mind the fact that Northern Heights senior Jacquelyne Leffler will be going for four straight titles in both the discus and the shot put at the State track and field meet in Wichita on Friday and Saturday.
She wants more. She wants perfection.
“You always want to win, and State’s about placing,” said Leffler, who has signed to throw at Kansas State next year. “I always think about (winning), but it’s become more thinking about just hitting the right positions. It is just another meet, but it’s so much more different since it’s my last one. I just want it to be perfect.”
And while she relishes the thought of completing a four-peat in two events, she also simply wants to make her final high school appearance as memorable as it can be. Whether that means bigger and better throws, farther distances or simply being in the company of friends and family, it will all be worth it long as she can walk away happy, she said.
“This is something that I knew was going to come, but I don’t know that I was ready for it,” Leffler said. “I just want to make it through it and create a couple more memories.”
But there’s no denying just how big this weekend is for Leffler simply from an athletic standpoint.
Leffler has been the dominant thrower at the Class 3A level and one of the best in the state the past four years, and this weekend, her high school career will come to a close, but not without titles No. 7 and 8 added to her caché, she hopes. Leffler has won the 3A discus and shot put titles each of the past three seasons, and as expected, she’s far and away the favorite to win each event in her final go-round.
Consider that at last week’s Regional meet, Leffler’s winning discus throw of 160 feet, 1 inch would have also won the boys competition by nearly 3 feet. Also consider that the winner of the boys competition, Garden Plain’s Zack Puetz, is the state leader in Class 3A heading into the State meet.
Her best discus throw of 162-4 is the third-best mark in Kansas state history, less than 3 feet off the all-classes state record of 165-2 set by Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Kelly Abernathy in 1978.
And, after setting the Class 3A State meet record in the shot put a year ago on five consecutive throws — her top throw being 45-6 3/4 — Leffler has bettered her mark this year, as her top toss of 46-9 1/2 ranks seventh all-time in Kansas state history in all classes.
She’ll also enter the State meet seeded sixth in the javelin, but does have the second-best mark in Class 3A this year at 130-11.
Still, she knows winning is not a foregone conclusion, and she says that uncertainty is what drives her to be better every time out.
“There’s always pressure to win, but the pressure is what drives me to do better, and it gives me that extra adrenaline,” she said. “I know I could always go bigger, and State’s the perfect opportunity to do that.”
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, Leffler’s career at Northern Heights will have drawn to a close, as she is scheduled to compete in her final event — the javelin — at 1:15 p.m. that day.
More than likely, she’ll have cemented her spot in the record books with four straight State titles in the discus and shot put, putting the definitive stamp on her already remarkable four-year run.
“I’m really pleased with everything. I’m not going to turn any of it down,” Leffler said, flashing a big smile. “Hopefully, (this weekend) is a really special time for me.”
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