WICHITA, Kan. – In a storied career that already featured nine state championships, Hesston senior Ashley Lehman went out in style, winning the state title in all four of her events for the second straight season. In the process Lehman set two state meet records. Her efforts, with the help of her Swather teammates, helped Hesston to their first ever team title in girls track and field.
Lehman opened the weekend on Friday by qualifying for the finals in the 200m and 400m dash races. During the prelims on Friday, she broke her own state and personal record in the 400m dash, running it in 54.02. Later in the evening in the 200m prelims, she had the top time of 24.91.
That set Lehman up for another outstanding championship Saturday in Wichita. She started the day by qualifying for the finals in the 100m dash, running it in a time of 11.87, which was better than the 11.99 she set last year. However, there was too much wind aid in the race and it did not count for the record books. She still qualified for the finals with the top time and later in the day took the state title with a time of 12.01 in the finals. She followed that up with her fourth consecutive state title in the 400m, beating the second place finisher by nearly three seconds with a championship time of 54.94.
In the midst of her outstanding day on the track, she took some time to dominate in the field as well. The only state meet record she did not hold in her main events coming into the weekend was in the 3A girls pole vault. However, she took over that record as well, vaulting 12’8 1/4″ to surpass fellow CKL alums and sisters Belle and Breanne Peters of Smoky Valley.
After a lighting delay slowed things down, the final race of the night for Lehman was the 200m dash. For the third time on the weekend, she set a new meet record with a championship time of 24.10, claiming her fourth gold medal of the day.
Lehman has state meet records now in all four of her main events in Class 3A. She finished her career with medals in every event she competed in, bringing home 16 in all. She also finished with 13 gold medals in her illustrious career. Next up, she’ll head to Nebraska to compete in track and field in the college ranks.
Hesston got great performances from other athletes as well on their way to the state title. Tessa Martin took second place in the girls discus at 127’10” and Reese Quinn was second in the 1600m run at 5:18.96. Quinn finished third place in the 3200m run on Friday night with a time of 11:41.58. The 4x800m relay team also took home a second place finish at 9:54.06. Other state medalists included Josie Heinrichs (4th, 800m run), Maddie Colborn (7th, triple jump) and Avery Larson (7th, 1600m run),
