BY JIM MISUNAS
Defending 4A girls state champion Andale and the 5A Great Bend girls will be showcased at Thursday’s Great Bend High School track meet at Memorial Stadium. It promises to be the largest collection of track athletes in years in Great Bend.
Andale is the defending 4A girls champion with three individual state champions Annabeth Baalman, pole vault; No. 1 nationally ranked McKenzie Fairchild, javelin; Cali Kerschen, 100-meter hurdles; along with the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay champions.
Top-ranked athletes in their class feature Great Bend’s Kyndall Blessing (javelin); Andale’s crew of Riley Marx (javelin); McKenzie Fairchild (shot put, discus); Betsy Reichenberge (200); Lexi Horsch (high jump); Annabeth Baalmann (pole vault); 1,600 girls relay; Campus’ Breanna Tillemans (400); Kiowa County’s Addi Henson (100, 400); and Kiowa County’s 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays.
State-ranked girls teams according to KSmilesplit.com are No. 1 4A Andale, No. 1 5A Great Bend, No. 6 5A Wichita Carroll and No. 2 1A Kiowa County. State-ranked boys teams are No. 1 4A Andale, No. 2 5A Wichita Carroll and No. 10 5A Hays High.
Great Bend’s girls feature quality hurdlers, relay teams and several talented field event athletes.
“The Andale boys and girls javelin throwers are ranked No. 1 nationally,” Lashley said. “There are eight girls ranked first and four girls relays that are ranked No. 1. The weather is supposed to be nice. We’d love to see a packed house.”
The track meet will be officially renamed the Jack Bowman Track Invitational to honor Great Bend High Hall of Famer Jack Bowman. A ceremony will honor Ellinwood’s Bowman during Thursday’s meet that starts at 2:30 p.m. with field events. Running prelims will start at 4 p.m.
“It’ll be a honor to recognize coach Bowman,” said Great Bend track coach Lyles Lashley. “He’s deserving of this recognition.”
Bowman’s teams captured three state championships and eight state runner-up trophies. Eleven of his teams won regional championships, and 25 of his teams earned conference championships. He coached 48 athletes who were individual state champions or part of a state championship team. He also coached at Burdett, Plains, Riley County, Ellinwood and Barton Community College.
Bowman’s legacy featured 23 former athletes who went into the coaching profession. At Barton Community College, he had 49 athletes who competed at the NJCAA national meet.
During his coaching career, Bowman served as a head football, basketball, track and field, and cross country coach. Bowman graduated from Pawnee Rock High School and earned degrees from Bethany College, Kansas State and Fort Hays State. Bowman earned recognition in Hall of Fames for the National High School Coaches Association, Barton Community College and Bethany College.
