ABILENE, Kan. – Just mere hours following the end of the 2024-25 school year, McPherson High School’s Track & Field teams traveled to Abilene Thursday, May 22 for the Regionals meet. Five athletes finished as individual Regional Champions in six combined events as the boys team finished 3rd overall and the girls 4th.
Arihanna Koehn took home two individual championships Thursday, winning the 100M and 300M Hurdles. The recent MHS graduate and future Cloud County Thunderbird dominated the competition, winning in the 100M Hurdles by nearly three-quarters of a second and in the 300M Hurdles by nearly a full second. McPherson also took home the gold in two field events as freshman Ellie Herrera jumped 5-2 to win the High Jump and junior Andi Buschbom finished 1st in the Long Jump with a mark of 17-4.
The Girls 4x100M Relay team of Tylee Wilson, Buschbom, Amara Dossett, and Adri McLeod automatically qualified for State after finishing 3rd in 50.61 seconds. Karsen Burris also earned an automatic after finishing 3rd in Javelin and Brynn Littlejohn qualified after placing 3rd in Shot Put.
With the new KSHSAA rules, some teams qualified for State without having to finish in the top three in Regionals in their event. Both the Girls 4x400M Relay team of Koehn, Izabel Backhus, Maryn Sandbo, and Buschbom as well as the 4x800M Relay team of Lexi Patterson, Kayla Porter, Backhus, and Ada Prose qualified for State as they both finished with one of the better event times in the state. The same went for Patterson in the 3200M Run as she finished 4th in the event and for McLeod after finishing 5th in 200M Dash.
Two members of the boys team won individual titles as well. Junior Caleb Muehler won the 3200M Run with a time of 10:00.26 to cap off an amazing season. He’ll look to take the 3200M state crown next week after finishing as the runner-up in 2024. Muehler also qualified for state in the 800M Run after a 4th place finish and in the 1600M after placing 5th. Ethan Elder will run alongside Muehler in the same three events as he finished 3rd in the 800M while having some of the state’s best times in the 1600M and 3200M Runs.
Junior Caden Wenderott won the Shot Put, beating the competition by over a foot. Wenderott also placed 2nd in Discus to automatically qualify him for both field events.
Dylan Hall qualified for state after finishing 3rd in Discus. Kayden Friesen also qualified in the 400M Run. The 4x800M Relay team of Tripp Pelzel, Friesen, Muehler, and Elder will also run in the State Championships.
CLICK HERE to view the full results.
In total, 19 McPherson High School athletes will be represented in the State Championships for 4A in 18 total events.
The State Championship will be held at Cessna Stadium in Wichita. The meet, known as one of the largest high school track meets in the nation, will be held May 30-31.
STATE QUALIFIERS & EVENTS
* In no particular order
Girls:
- Adri McLeod: 200M Dash & 4x100M Relay
- Lexi Patterson: 3200M Run & 4x800M Relay
- Arihanna Koehn: 100M Hurdles, 300M Hurdles, and 4x400M Relay
- Ellie Herrera: High Jump
- Andi Buschbom: Long Jump, 4x100M Relay, and 4x400M Relay
- Karsen Burris: Javelin
- Brynn Littlejohn: Shot Put
- Tylee Wilson: 4x100M Relay
- Amara Dossett: 4x100M Relay
- Maryn Sandbo: 4x400M Relay
- Izabel Backhus: 4x400M Relay & 4x800M Relay
- Ada Prose: 4x800M Relay
- Kayla Porter: 4x800M Relay
Boys:
- Kayden Friesen: 400M Dash & 4x800M Relay
- Ethan Elder: 800M Run, 1600M Run, 3200M Run, and 4x800M Relay
- Caleb Muehler: 800M Run, 1600M Run, 3200M Run, and 4x800M Relay
- Caden Wenderott: Discus & Shot Put
- Dylan Hall: Discus
- Tripp Pelzel: 4x800M Relay
