The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the “Greatest Show On Earth”, performed their final show on Sunday. 146 years of tradition now slipping quietly into our past. Sports fans, there is another “Greatest Show On Earth” out there. The Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium is being conducted this weekend.
The state of Kansas is one of the few that bring all classes, all athletes , to one location and , with mind-boggling efficiency crowns 216 champions by Saturday evening barring those pesky thunderstorms. From 6A to 1A, six classes, go after championship medals in 18 different events for both boys and girls, all at one location. It is the largest gathering of athletic talent, in one location, certainly in Kansas and, most likely, anywhere in the country! A true spectacle to behold.
If you go it will cost you only $8 each day and probably a case of sunburn but, well worth it. Of course athletes from our Golden Belt area will well represent us. Grab a copy of State Meet Records so you can compare these athletes with those record-holders from the past. That thought caused me to wonder, “does our Golden Belt area have any state meet record holders?” Indeed we do.
In the Girls 100 Meter Dash, Great Bend’s Tisa Johnson holds the 6A record. She burned up the track in a speedy 11.80 back in 1983.
The Boys 4X100 Relay record holder in 2A is St.John-Hudson. In 1998 they set the bar at 43.10.
The Girls 400 Meter dash state record was set in 1999 by Pratt’s Ashley Melichar in 56.56
A famous basketball name is the record-holder in the Girls 800Meter run. Claflin’s Jackie Stiles set that record of 2:17.46 in 1996.
Christian Smith of Rozel-Pawnee Heights holds the Boys 800 Meter record in 1A at 1:53.29. He set that mark in 2002 and went on to run in the Olympics for the U.S.A.
In Girls weight events, Great Bend is well represented. The 5A Shot Put record in 5A is held by Alex Hartig. She put that shot 46’, 2.5” in 2010.
Back in 1999, Great Bend’s Caley Carter tossed the discus 148’, 11” and that is still the 5A record.
The Boys discus throw gives us a couple of record-holders from Hays. The 3A record-setter is Eric Thomas of TMP-Marian who set the standard of 199’ 7” in 2005 while in 5A, Hays High’s Brady Maska twirled the dish 191’, 6” for a meet record.
In 1998, St.John-Hudson’s Shane Weiszbrod set a meet record in the Boys Long Jump and that record still stands. He sailed into the pit with a leap of 23’, 7.5”.
Will there be new meet records set this year? Probably so and some of those may just come from our area athletes. If you’ve never attended this event, you are missing one of the premier athletic events in Kansas and the country.
Greatest Show On Earth? Certainly the Greatest Show In Kansas!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
