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Ellinwood bringing flock of athletes to state meet
Class 4-1A Track & Field
spt kp St John Falk
St. Johns Haley Falk is seeded second in the 300-meter hurdles in the Class 1A portion of the 6-1A state track and field meet. - photo by Kevin Price Great Bend Tribune

The Ellinwood High School track and field team qualified 18 kids to compete at the Class 6-1A state track and field championships today and Saturday.
The Eagles will also bring four alternates.
“I was a good day (at the regional meet),” Ellinwood head coach Lyles Lashley said. “We’ve had a good year. I think we took 10 girls and two boys last year.”
Of the 10 girls competing for Ellinwood at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium this weekend, the 4x100-meter relay team —Chelsea Day, Becky Elsen, Sophie Hayes and McKenzie Rugan — is seeded highest after 2A regional competition.
The second-seeded relay team, which won a regional championship, turned in a qualifying time of 51.43. Washington County’s relay team finished at 51.31 to lead the event.
Hayes is the second seed in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.0. She is behind Heather Melton of Kiowa County, who has a state-qualifying time of 14.47.
“She has also ran the second fastest time in the state in the 300 (hurdles) this year,” Lashley said of Hays, who qualified in both hurdles events this year. “She just didn’t run quite that fast at regionals.”
Ellinwood’s boys 4x800 relay team is seeded third. The combination of Kyle Oglesbee, Patrick Ringering, Pedro Montoya and Derek Ward turned in a qualifying time of 8:47.10.
The top-seeded team from Berean Academy qualified with a time of 8:37.63.

St. John
Of the nine girls that St. John will be taking to compete at the state meet this weekend, Haley Falk is seeded highest.
Falk is the No. 2 seed in the 300 hurdles with a state-qualifying time of 48.20. She ranks behind Mackenzie Klaver of Norwich, who had a regional-qualifying time of 44.78.
Falk also qualified in the high jump and long jump.
Teresa Wade is St. John’s only other individual qualifier, making the cut in the shot put and the javelin.
The Lady Tigers qualified two relays, the 4x100 relay — consisting of Breanna Towers, Alexis Witt, Teresa Christie and Tia Smith — and the 4x800, which has Taylor Woodward, Smith, Ashlyn Fisher and Jamie Waters competing.

Larned
Larned’s Carrie Kellie will be returning to the state meet for her senior campaign.
Last year as a 3A competitor, Kellie finished second in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet, 11 inches and fourth in the triple jump at 36-3.
Larned is now a 4A school.
Kellie is a No. 2 seed in the triple jump with a state-qualifying distance of 36-4 1/2. She qualified for the long jump with a distance of 16-9 1/4.
Larned also has Brenden Lewis competing in the triple jump, and Reagan Quick competing in the javelin.

Central Plains
Lindsey Woodmansee of Central Plains finished second in the 800 run at a 2A regional track and field meet in Smith Center.
Her time of 2:26.97 makes her the No. 2 seed in the state meet behind Aubry Wilson of Ell-Saline, who won the regional title at Smith Center with a time of 2:25.26.
Maddie Demel is seeded fifth after a personal best distance of 110-1 in the discus, and Miranda Burton’s heave of 120-8 in the javelin, also a personal best, seeded her fifth.
Julie Demel and Breanna Holmes each qualified in the triple jump, and the Lady Oilers 4x100 relay team — Tarilynn Hickel, Julie Demel, Sydney Rugan and Woodmansee — will also be competing.

Otis-Bison
Otis-Bison’s Janel Tammen qualified for the state meet in all three throwing events.
Tammen is the third seed in both the discus and the shot put by merit of her distance in a regional meet at Fort Hays State University.
Tammen’s heave of 122-5 in the discus won her a regional crown. The effort makes her a third seed behind top-seeded Cassidy Barnard of Madison, who has a distance of 126-8.
At 37-6, Tammen won a second regional title last week, this one in the shot put. Anna Linton of Thunder Ridge is the No. 1 seed with a distance of 42-2.
Tammen finished fifth in the discus, eighth in the javelin and 10th in the shot put at last year’s state meet.
Annie Kraisinger qualified in the 100 dash and the 200, Hannah Bannister is slated to compete in the 400 and Matt Crottinger qualified for the 100.

Stafford
Qualifying for the state meet in three events, Kristen Lumpkins leads the Stafford track team.
Lumpkins is the sixth seed in the 800 run with a time of 2:33.93. She qualified in the 1,600, and is part of a 4x400 relay team.
Joining her on the relay team is Riley Bowen, Madysen Schreiber and Kandyce Lumpkins.
Kandyce also qualified in the 400 dash, and Samantha Sosa will represent Stafford in the pole vault.
For the Stafford boys, Austin Ceniti made the cut in the 800, Dustin McClure qualified in the 1,600, Derek McClure is slated to compete in the 3,200 and Ethan Johnson is a 13th seed in the high jump.
The Trojans 4x800 relay team — Dustin McClure, Andy Flores, Derek McClure and Ceniti — will also compete.

Pawnee Heights
Pawnee Heights’ Jacob Hardiman qualified for the state meet in the 400 dash.
Hardiman is seeded seventh with a qualifying time of 52.85.
Osvaldo Granillo of Moscow is the top-seeded runner in the 1A field of the 400. Granillo’s regional time was 50.52.