First day events of the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships at Crossland Stadium in Wichita aren’t quite done yet. Four field events were still taking place when action was suspended due to incoming lightning storms Friday evening. Events yet to be completed include the 2A Girls Triple Jump and Pole Vault, the 1A Boys Pole Vault and 2A Boys Javelin
Day one started off with a bang for area athletes, as Buhler’s Corbin Starkweather brought home a state title in the 3200 meter run that began the meet, clocking a time of 10:55.81. Teammate Isabelle Friesen finished 4th in that race.
McPherson’s Caleb Muehler took second in the Boys 3200, with Buhler’s Gavin Lindahl just behind him in 3rd. Before the lightning arrived, Goessel’s Eli Gaeddert brought home gold in the 1A Boys 3200 meter run. Track events ran well ahead of schedule as the day progressed.
Morning Field events saw Buhler’s Jenna Lackey claim another gold medal for the crusaders in the 4A Girls pole vault, with a 11′ 6” vault with Sabelle Regier tying for 9th.
Buhler’s Garrett Gleason took 2nd and McPherson’s Jayren Stutzman 11th in the 4A Boys high jump as Karsen Burris of McPherson claimed 6th in the 4A Girls javelin. In the 4A Girls Long Jump McPherson’s Andi Buschbom claimed 5th place.
The 4A Boys javelin title was claimed by Andale’s Brayden Spexarth, whose 181′ 6′ was just over eight feet better than Buhler’s Jacob Miller. In the 4A Girls high jump. Buhler’s Jessa Losew took 3rd and McPherson’s Elle Herrera placed in a tie for 11th
The smaller schools highlighted the balance of the day as this year the 1A, 2A and 3A schools had the late Friday sessions. In the field it began with Smoky Valley’s Trista Splitter taking 3rd in the 3A Girls Triple jump with a leap of 37′ 11.75”, which put her in the top ten for the event in Kansas this season Hesston’s Maddy Colburn placed 7th.
In the 2A Boys pole vault, Brayden Elmore from Moundridge placed 7th with a 13′ vault. Berean Academy’s Brendan Busenitz claimed the gold medal at 14′ event. Taylor Froese of Inman placed 4th in the 2A Girls shot put wt 37′ 7.75 “, with Aspyn Stos from Moundridge placing 7th. Two area athletes claimed top-five finishes in the 1A Boys discus, with Canton Galva’s Jaxon Nightengale placing 4th at 116-7 and Cole Dieball from Little River 5th at 164-10.
Moundridge’s Kaizer Kanitz brought home McPherson County’s first gold of the weekend when he won the 2A Boys long jump at 22′ 5.75”. Bo O’Neill from Inman claimed 2nd place in the 2A Boys discus at 163-4, while Little River’s Christopher Norez had a 4th place throw of 169-3 in the 1A Boys javelin.
On the track, the star of the day was Hesston’s Ashley Lehman who had the top time in the preliminary rounds of the 200 and 400 meter dashes. In the 400 meter run Lehman’s 54.02 second time was the top time in Kansas this season while her 200 meter time ranked in the top ten for 2026
In the two relay events that had preliminaries Friday, the Canton Galva, Goessel and Little River girls and Little River boys qualified for Saturday’s 1A 4×100 meter final, as did the Inman girls and Hillsboro and Marion boys in 2A; Halstead girls and Halstead and Hesston boys in 3A, the Buhler girls in 4A and Newton boys in 5A.
Advancing to Saturday evening’s 4×400 relay final were the Little River girls in 1A, the Inman, Marion, Moundridge and Hillsboro girls in 2A along with the Inman, Marion and Moundridge boys; the Southeast of Saline girls and Hesston and Smoky Valley boys in 3A; and the McPherson boys and girls in 4A
Other track qualifiers in the large school classes included Buhler’s Bayleigh Miller for the girls and Zach Friesen of Buhler for the boys in the 110 meter hurdles, Miller also in the 300 hurdles along with Ashley McMillin of Newton in 5A girls, Friesen in the 4A 300 meter boys hurdles; Lackey and Sofia Spiels for Buhler in the 4A 200 meter girls, and Buhler’s Garrett Gleason in the 200 meter boys
In the small school track preliminaries, Nivea Fund and Delaney Duerksen of Goessel qualified in the 1A girls 100 meter hurdles; Inman’s Brooklyn Black in the girls’ 2A 100 meter hurdles; Elliana Smith of Southeast of Saline in the 3A 100 meter hurdles; and Heath Churchill of Moundridge and Samuel Brnsing of Inman in the 2A boys 110 meter hurdles.
In the girls’ 300 meter hurdles, area qualifiers included Duerksen in 1A, Black in 2A, and Smith in 3A girls; and on the boys side Logan Schubert of Little River in 1A, Churchill in 2A and Hesston’s Jamison Kohn in 3A.
In the 400 meter events, Anna Schrag of Moundridge and Dylan Krause of Marion qualified in 2A girls as did Brylie Ricketts of Smoky Valley in 3A girls with Hesston’s Lyndon Dillon qualifying in the 3A boys 400 along with Edgar Calzada from Southeast of Saline
In the 200 meter dash, girls qualifiers included Olivia Brunk of Inman and Cammi Unruh of Moundridge in 2A girls; Tristan Bristow of Little River in 1A boys; and Wyatt Soyez of Marion in 2A boys,
Field events resume Saturday at 8 AM with the track events starting at 8:30 with the 100 meter dash preliminaries. Listen for updates on 98.9/1540 KMCP starting at 8:40 this morning, and the podcast page at mcphersonradio.com where they will continue this afternoon after the start of the Kansas City Royals baseball game.
