Saunders, Stephens to meet again in hurdles

By David Wolman, davidwolman@miconews.com

Louisburg freshman Colleen O’Brien clears the bar in the high jump last week during the Frontier League meet. O’Brien won the league title in the event and has the state’s best mark after clearing 5 feet 8 inches earlier this year. (Photo by Andy Brown)

Today is the day area track athletes have looked forward to the entire season: regionals.

It’s make or break time, the difference between qualifying for next week’s state track and field meet at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium or having their season come to an end.

Louisburg, Osawatomie, Paola, Prairie View and Spring Hill will descend upon Ottawa High School for their Class 4A regional. Jayhawk-Linn will travel to Baxter Springs for its 3A meet. Pleasanton will play host to a 2A regional.

The top four finishers from each event qualify for state.

Two events to keep your eyes on, if you are attending the Ottawa regional, are the boys’ 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

Louisburg’s R.J. Saunders and Paola’s Joe Stephens both broke the Frontier League meet record in the 300 hurdles. Saunders was crowned champion in the event with a time of 39.35 seconds. Stephens finished second in 39.74, eclipsing the old meet record by two one-hundredths of a second. Osawatomie’s Jameson Greenwood, who was crowned league champion in the 100-meter dash, will also vie for the title in the 300 hurdles. He won the Pioneer League title in the event in 41.8.

Stephens, however, took the league title in the 110 hurdles. He also cleared a height of 6 feet 2 inches to win the high jump.

Osawatomie’s Brendan Soucie also jumped 6-2 in the event at the Pioneer League meet. He placed second. Soucie also won a league title in the 800-meter run.

Paola’s Dan Haines will challenge Soucie as he finished three seconds faster than Soucie last week.

Another battle to watch for is between Osawatomie and Paola in the boys’ 4x800-meter relay. Both were crowned champions in their respective league meets last week.

Paola’s Kaleb Mueller threw for a distance of 176-1 in the javelin. Louisburg’s Jeff Wood, who broke his brother’s school record in the discus earlier this season, dominated in the event at league, throwing nearly 20 feet farther than the closest competitor.

Osawatomie’s Mitch Kerr (200-meter dash, 400-meter dash), Haines of Paola (800-meter run), Jayhawk-Linn’s Steven Mann and (long jump, triple jump) and Briar Snyder (110 hurdles) also won league titles.

On the girls’ side, Prairie View’s Haley Snow is coming off a dominating performance at the Pioneer League meet in the 3,200-meter run. She won by more than 20 seconds. She also took the league title in the 1,600-meter run.

Jayhawk-Linn’s Taylor Dawson will look to qualify in the long jump to have the opportunity to defend her state title. She was also part of the girls’ 4x100-meter relay that came from behind to nip Wellsville by one-tenth of a second at the league meet.

All three Jayhawk-Linn relay teams (4x100-, 4x400- and 4x800-meter) struck gold at Central Heights.

Osawatomie’s Alyssa Chisam enters today’s regional fresh off winning two league titles. She defeated Dawson in a near photo finish to win the 200-meter dash. It was almost as close in the 100-meter dash, which she won by four-tenths of a second.

Paola’s Ashley Smith comes in with a pair of Frontier League titles, winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Louisburg’s Chelsea Morland set a Frontier League meet record in the javelin, throwing for a distance of 126-0. Teammate Colleen O’Brien cleared 5-4 to win the high jump.