WICHITA— The 4X400 relay team of Jeffery Muiruri, Mason YellowWolf, Ty Yager and Antonio Carrasco ran a season best 3:29 in the Elite Division and posted a first place finish to help the Panther track and field team to four of their seven gold medals at this week’s Shocker Pre State Challenge.

Besides anchoring the 4x400 relay, Carrasco also had an outstanding day in his individual events, winning the Elite 400m, in a time of 49.87 and just missed winning a medal by two tenths of a second in the Elite 200m placing fourth.

Yager took gold again in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles in the 4-6A Division with a time of 42.56.

Freshman Kerby Depenbusch placed second in the 4-6A Division 3200m timing in at 10:09.90 good for a season best and eight seconds faster than his 3200 that he ran last week at Junction City.

In the field, Jayce Brack won the discus in the Elite Division with a throw of 167.11 ft. before taking the silver in the shot with a throw of 55.9 ft., also in the Elite Division.

“Our 4x400 relay was an exciting race to watch,” said coach Todd Kaiser. “It was a total team effort. Jeffery, who was a meet day sub, stepped up and got us off to a good start with a personal best 400 split. Mason took the baton on the second leg and ran a 54.04 split before handing it off to Ty,” he said. “He got us in position for Antonio, our anchor runner, to run down the field and nip the Bishop Carroll runner for the win.”

Kaiser praised Bracket for his performance following an injury and a lengthy recovery process.

“Jayce has been steady for us this season and is working himself back to form after having offseason shoulder surgery,” the coach said. “I’m really pleased with the effort and performance he’s shown in Wichita this week.”

Other performances:

Long Jump

Adrian Falk; 3rd place with a jump of 19’ 7” (4-6A Division)

4x100m Relay  

3rd place in a time of 44.57 (4-6A Division)
(Bobbitt, Carrasco, Yager, Marshall)

In girls competition, LaCora Bryant placed second in the 4-6A Division 100m and ran a season best 1:06 split for a third place finish in the 4x400 relay that also competed in the 4-6A Division. Bryant was accompanied by Camryn Dunekack, Macy Moyers and Kaylan Lagerman in the 4x400.

In field events, Kate Warren took second in the discus with a throw of 108.1 ft. in the 4-6A Division.

“Overall, I couldn’t be prouder of our athletes and the great coaches we have working with them,” said Kaiser. “Our coaches do an outstanding job and our kids are responding with their performances.  They just need to keep working hard, like they always do in practice, and good things are going to happen for them.”

The Panther boys and girls teams will host the Great Bend Invitational on Tuesday, April 14.