Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia High's Brandon Childs won the state title in the boys high jump with a jump of six feet eight inches during the Kansas State Track and Field Championships at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University Friday, May 23. Childs also won the state title in the triple jump.
WICHITA — Emporia High senior Brandon Childs didn’t mind competing in two events at the same time.
It was having to change shoes between jumps that got a little annoying.
Childs had to go back and forth between the triple jump and the high jump during Friday’s portion of the State track and field meet, and every time he moved from one event to the other, he had to change shoes.
It all ended up being worth it, though, as Childs came away with a pair of State titles to help the Emporia High boys jump into the race for the Class 5A State Championship.
“I don’t know about stressful, because I’m always having a good time. It just gets kind of old running back and forth and having to switch shoes all the time,” Childs said.
“Individual (first place) is nice, but what matters most is the team. We’ve been working all year to get up there, and those 20 points, if we can get a couple more people to get their jobs done, we’ll be good to go.”
Childs’ two championships came within a few minutes of each other.
After faulting on his first two triple jump attempts, he reached the finals with a leap of 45 feet, 3 inches. He then went and cleared 6-4 in the high jump before coming back for the finals of the triple jump.
Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia High's Michaela Reynolds won the Class 5A State title in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11 minutes, 13.80 seconds during the Kansas State Track and Field Championships at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University Friday, May 23.
He essentially won the triple jump with his first attempt of the finals, as he ripped off a leap of 46-0 3/4, just 1 inch shy of his school record and enough to move him past Mill Valley’s Matt Sittenauer, who finished second with a jump of 45-10.
After his last two attempts in the triple jump, Childs went back to the high jump, where he cleared 6-6 and 6-8 — each in one attempt — and picked up a big boost when Pittsburg’s Jordan Bicknell — the favorite to challenge Childs for the title — went out at 6-6.
Highland Park’s James Caraway and Liberal’s Marcus Calleja each missed all three attempts at 6-8, giving Childs his second title in a 15-minute span. He tried three attempts at 7 feet but could not come up with enough clearance.
Still, two titles satisfied Childs.
“As soon as the triple jump got over and I got the win in that, I was feeling real confident,” Childs said, “so I knew I’d do pretty good in high jump.”
Childs’ two victories, along with Caydrick Bloomquist’s second-place finish in the pole vault (14-6), were enough to help push the Emporia High boys into first place in the team standings. The EHS boys ended the first day with 28 points, six points ahead of second-place Gardner-Edgerton.
The Emporia High girls also picked up a pair of State titles, as seniors Michaela Reynolds and Samantha Kraft won the 3,200-meter run and the pole vault, respectively.
For both Reynolds and Kraft, their victories signified a return to the top of the medal stand after a one-year hiatus. Each girl won a State title as a sophomore in 2006.
Kraft’s victory in the pole vault was perhaps the more unexpected of the two considering last year’s champion, Emmy Lehman, was back this season.
But Kraft, who was second a year ago, beat out Lehman when she finished with a school-record clearance of 11-2, while Lehman cleared just 10-6.
Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia High's Samantha Kraft won the state title in the girls pole vault with a vault of eleven feet during the Kansas State Track and Field Championships at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University Friday, May 23.
“It feels really good,” Kraft said. “This whole season, I’ve been really frustrated with myself. I’d just been stuck at 10-6, and I got 10-6 last year, so coming in here and getting a new personal record and everything else, it just feels really good.”
As for Reynolds, much like her State cross country title in the fall, she took over the 3,200 at the midway point and never looked back.
Reynolds slowly pulled away from Gardner-Edgerton’s Cali George over the last half of the race to win by 7 seconds in a time of 11:13.80.
“I was focusing on staying relaxed and making it feel almost easy the first couple of laps,” Reynolds said. “… My goal was for my time to be a little faster, but that’s OK. I’m happy with winning.”
The Emporia High girls also ended the first day in first place in the teaming standings with 29 points, one point ahead of Great Bend.
Several other EHS athletes fared well.
On the girls side, junior Raelynn Pearson came in fifth place in the girls shot put with a best throw of 35-11 and then placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 119-0, while freshman Sarah Kolmer finished in sixth place in the long jump with a leap of 16-7 3/4.
Courtney Waldner also placed 15th in the high jump (4-8).
On the boys side, senior Asher Delmott placed 10th in the boys 3,200-meter run in a time of 10:13.14.
Senior Jacob Davies qualified for Saturday's finals of the 400-meter run with a second-place finish in his heat in a time of 50.13 seconds, while the boys 4x400 relay team of Davies, Taylor Euler, Tyler Tilton and Mark Kolmer qualified for the finals with the seventh-best time of 3:29.04.
Other EHS athletes competing but not qualifying for the finals in their events were: the girls 4x100 relay team of Angela Finch, Sarah Kolmer, Lindy Arndt and Rhani Henry, ninth (51.74 seconds); Finch in the girls 300 hurdles, 14th (50.94); Henry in the girls 100 hurdles, 10th (16.89); the boys 4x100 relay team of Kyle Goodwin, Taylor Euler, Mark Kolmer and Edd Noonan, 14th (45.97); and the girls 4x400 relay team of Jenna Stanbrough, Arndt, Finch and Victoria Sims, ninth (4:12.96).
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