Northeast Kansas League Track Meet
Jackson Heights High School’s Cobra track teams finished the 2018 regular season with two new league records and a strong showing at the Northeast Kansas League meet on Thursday at home, with the girls finishing in second place while the boys tied for third with Maur Hill.
The meet was the last stop for the Cobras before they move on to regional track this coming Friday at Valley Heights High School in Blue Rapids, where Head Coach Brad Alley is hopeful that some of his Cobra team members will qualify for competition at the state track meet, to be held May 25 and 26 at Wichita State University.
“We had 20 medalists, including six league champions,” Coach Alley said. “Those kids stepped up. Some of our younger kids really competed at a high level.”
The Cobra girls were led to a second-place finish behind Jefferson County North by strong performances from distance runner Faith Little, who won the 800-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs and anchored the 4x800-meter relay team to a first-place finish.
Little, who currently holds NEK League records in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter runs, set a new league record with a 12:48 finish in the 3,200-meter run on Thursday, beating the previous record of 12:56, Alley said.
“We mixed up some of our relays a little to allow Faith to run the 3,200 meters,” he added.
The 4x800-meter relay team also included MaKenzie Kennedy, Karley Dieckmann and Jodi White, who along with Kylie Dohl ran their way to a first-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. White and Dieckmann also powered the 4x100-meter relay team, also featuring Kate Lierz and Abby Brey, to a second-place finish.
The Cobra girls also noted second-place finishes from Dohl in the high jump, Dieckmann in the pole vault and Grace Roles in the discus throw, while Brey and Sydney Raborn finished second and third, respectively, in the javelin throw.
For the Cobra boys, who finished along with Maur Hill behind JCN in first and Pleasant Ridge in second, Jason Parker led the way with a six-foot, four-inch high jump that was announced as a new NEK League record, besting by one inch the previous record held by Pleasant Ridge.
Also in the field events, Taylor Wamego earned second-place honors in the shot put — “a big accomplishment” for a freshman, Alley said — while Evan Fox and Jackson Ahlgren vaulted their way to second and third place, respectively, in the pole vault.
Second-place finishes in the running events were noted by Dalton Chartier in the 400-meter run and AJ Mock in the 800-meter run. Mock, Chartier, Cable Wareham and Garrett Klahr also powered the 4x800-meter relay team to a second-place finish.
Now, Alley said, it is time to focus on getting good post-season performances.
“We’ll get a tough sprint workout early in the week, then begin the process of getting our legs back under us,” he said. “Being healthy is the number one goal when you get to this part of the season.”
