A marquee field will be featured in the marquee event — the 100-meter dash — with the preliminaries today and the finals on Saturday during the state track and field championships at Cessna Stadium on the Wichita State University campus.
Great Bend High School senior Sheldon LeShore is among that elite field in Class 5A.
During last week’s regional at Friends University in Wichita, LeShore qualified for the state meet, sprinting a personal-best 10.94 seconds for a second-place finish.
LeShore’s time is the third-best of 5A regional times from across the state.
LeShore finished second to Valley Center’s Joe Fisher at Friends, who won the regional crown, clocking 10.35 seconds. Fisher, by the way, has signed to run at Auburn University in the Southeastern Conference, the same school that produced the great Bo Jackson.
LeShore says he’s reaching for the stars. His goal is to pull of a monumental upset and beat Fisher. He knows he’s going to have to run the perfect race — and then some.
“That’s basically what it’s going to have to take,” said LeShore, prior to one of his practices earlier in the week at Memorial Stadium. “I’m going to have to come out and do my absolute best.
“I’m going there and I’m going to have to stretch out good. Hopefully, I can get lucky and beat him. He’s a good athlete. It’s going to take a lot to beat him.”
Besides Fisher, LeShore is also going to have to contend with LaRay Young of Schlagle, out of Kansas City, Kan., the same school that produced Maurice Greene, the former world-record holder in the 100.
Young, a junior, won the regional crown at Topeka-Seaman last week, turning in a time of 10.81, the second-best time of anyone from the 5A regionals.
“Let me put it this way,” said Schlagle head coach Martez Wesley, a former Kansas State wide receiver during the Wildcats’ hey-day just over a decade ago. “(Young is) also a football player, but he’s starting to realize that track is his sport. By the end of the summer, he will be in the top 5 for sprinters in the nation.”
Don’t forget about Great Bend junior Matt Moyd, either. He will also be competing in the 100 after reeling off a personal-best 11.04 at the regional meet for a fourth-place finish.