Cross Referencing State Track

The 2007-2008 high school sports season is winding down in the state of Kansas. But the state goes out in style.

The Kansas state high school track meet at Cessna Stadium in Wichita is quite a spectacle. As with every other spring, every top track and field athlete in the state – 6A through 1A – has gathered in Wichita over Memorial Day weekend to see who can run the fastest or longest, jump the highest or longest, and who can throw several different types of objects the furthest.

It is raw sport – performed in events that people have competed at for centuries. And every May, Wichita hosts one of the finest editions of the tradition that is track and field.

As prep sports in Kansas wind down, so does the coverage of High School Sports The Magazine. We will continue to publish throughout the summer, with our Year-in-Review issue in July and our Football Preview in August. Also, look in Picture This, the opening photo gallery in the magazine, in June, July and August for many of the state track and field champions competing this weekend.

Here is a sampling of some of Friday’s medalists who have appeared in the pages of HSSTM Central Kansas over the past year:

Michelle Babb, Clearwater sophomore
Fourth in 4A 3200 meter run
-Babb was photographed in the December issue in the sidebar of the feature story on the Mulvane cross country team. Babb placed third at the Class 4A state cross country meet this past fall at Wamego Country Club.

Tom O’Connell, Andover junior
Champion in 4A 3200 meter run
-In September, O’Connell was featured in a write-up in the Cross Country Preview in Game Plan. He was also pictured. O’Connell placed fifth at the Class 4A state cross country meet last fall.

David Roberts, Mulvane junior
Third in 4A 3200 meter run
-David Roberts’ unbelievable run through the fall cross country season was chronicled in a feature story in the December issue. Roberts left everyone in the dust at the Class 4A state cross meet, leading Mulvane to a dominant team victory in which they placed six runners in the top 20. All return next season. Roberts is photographed on the second page of the feature story in December.

Nikki Trooien-Smith, Mulvane sophomore
Fifth in 4A 3200 meter run
-Trooien-Smith is also photographed in the December feature on the Mulvane cross team. Trooien-Smith is a leader of this Mulvane distance team. He’s the ringleader who gets them all together to run early in the morning throughout the summer.

Evan Landes, Mulvane freshman
Sixth in 4A 3200 meter run
-Landes, son of Mulvane cross and track coach Dale Landes, is the rising star of the group. Just a freshman, he has already medalled at state in cross country and the 3200.

Brooke Vining, Valley Center sophomore
Fourth in 5A 3200 meter run
-Fourteenth at the state cross meet this past fall, Brooke Vining returned to the top this spring in the 3200. Coming off a 2006-07 season in which she placed top-five at the state cross meet, Vining was featured in Spotlight in the September issue along with teammate Page Miller.

Page Miller, Valley Center sophomore
Fifth in 5A 3200 meter run
-Fourth in the 3200 last spring and seventh in the 1600, Page Miller duplicated her placing at the state cross meet this past fall in the 3200 this spring. She has now placed in the top five at state cross and in the state 3200 two years in a row. She was featured in Spotlight with teammate Brooke Vining in the September issue.

Jake Wike, Derby junior
Champion in 6A 3200 meter run
-Jake Wike, fourth at last fall’s 6A cross country meet, was featured in Triple Play in the April magazine. Wike shaved 20 seconds off his best time in the 3200 all year to win at state. His time coming into the meet was not enough close to being the best in the state.

Tanya Friesen, Buhler junior
Champion in 4A long jump
-Tanya Friesen, also a fine hoopster, appeared in the March issue’s spring sports preview. The defending champ in the long jump, Friesen won her second straight title this spring. She was photographed in the March spring preview.

Austin Bahner, Wichita Heights junior
Champion in 6A triple jump
-The May issue of High School Sports The Magazine, currently on stands, features three-sport athletes from the area. Austin Bahner, pictured in the feature jumping from the triple jump runway with a basketball in hand and a soccer ball coming off his foot, was a state-level competitor in all three sports going into this spring’s state track meet. Now Bahner is a state champion. And he still has a year left.

Mike Flores, Maize junior
Second in 6A triple jump
-Though he placed second to Bahner, Mike Flores will defend his 6A title in the 400 on Saturday and compete for his first title in the 200. Featured on the cover with Audacia Moore of Wichita Heights in the March issue, Flores led our spring sports preview. He broke 49 seconds for the first time all season at last spring’s state meet in the 400. What will he do this time?

Jordan Voelker, Newton senior
Second in 5A discus
-Jordan Voelker, one of the most chiselled athletes in the area, was photographed in the April issue of the magazine in the feature on the state basketball tournament. He was selected first-team all-league in AV-CTL II.

Alex Roe, Maize junior
Fifth in 6A discus
-After chipping the bone in his thumb at the end of the football season, Roe made a strong return this spring to throw the discus. He will be featured as the Kansas Orthopaedic Center Comeback Player of the Month in June.

Roman Belden, Mulvane senior
Fourth in 4A javelin
-Belden was one of three javelin throwers featured in the story “Wingin’ It”, which appeared in the May issue, currently on stands. Belden overcame a shoulder injury in April to return to state, following up his 2007 sixth-place finish with fourth in 2008. Belden was featured with Chris Ronen of Newton and Matt Byers of Wichita East.

Jawanza Poland, Wichita East senior
Second in 6A long jump
-Jawanza Poland appeared in the feature on three-sport athletes in the May issue. He appears in the lead for his outstanding prowess in three sports. A long, lanky receiver, a versatile forward and long jumper, Poland will play basketball for Cowley and coach Steve Eck next year.

Kelly Roberts, Hutchinson senior
Fifth in 5A triple jump
-Roberts appeared in the three-sport athlete feature, as well. Not only is versatile on the football field as a slot back and kicker capable of hitting field goals over 50 yards, but he plays basketball and qualified at state in four events in 2007. He is also musical.

Ben Horsch, Andale sophomore
Champion in 4A pole vault
-When does Andale not compete for the title in the pole vault? Kyle Horsch, Ben’s older brother and an outstanding tailback for the state title football team last fall, did not go out for track, though he was their top returning vaulter. Ben stepped in as just a sophomore and took the crown himself. Surely there are great things to come from the younger Horsch. Horsch and teammate Michael Baalman, both of whom coach Greg Smarsh believed had a chance to medal at state a month ago, were featured in Game Plan Track in May, currently on stands.

Michael Baalman, Andale junior
Second in 4A pole vault
-Andale’s depth in vaulting knows no limits. Baalman and Horsch were featured in Game Plan in May.

Will Wright, Augusta senior
Fourth in 4A pole vault
-Will Wright was photographed and featured in Game Plan Track in May, currently on stands. Wright had the highest vault in the state going into the state track meet (14-6), but faled to best 13-6 at state. A month ago, he told HSSTM that his best competition would come from Andale – he just didn’t know who.

Katie Porter, Goddard senior
Fifth in 6A long jump
-Katie Porter was a starting guard on the Goddard basketball team, which nearly won the 6A state basketball title in March. Porter and Goddard fell to Lawrence 54-52. Porter leads the basketball portion of Picture This in April magazine, driving to the basket.

Matt Byers, Wichita East junior
Second in 6A javelin
-Matt Byers, a three-sport athlete at Wichita East, gave probably the best story of Friday at the meet. He threw the javelin for a state-meet record distance, but then his top competitor, Johannes Swanepoel, a sophomore from Shawnee Mission South, broke Byers’ record. Byers, the East quarterback and guard on the third-place state basketball team, threw 219-8, and Swanepoel threw 221-2. Both will throw Division I if they want to. Byers was a main part of the feature story on javelin throwers in the May issue, currently on stands.

Austin Hunt, Belle Plaine senior
Champion in 3A 3200 meter run
-Austin Hunt was featured in Game Plan Cross Country in September as part of our season preview. Hunt also was integral part of the Belle Plaine basketball team which upset Collegiate at sub-state this past March.

Zack Puetz, Garden Plain senior
Champion in 3A shot put
-Zack Puetz has achieved several landmarks this season. Featured in Family Affair in the current May issue, Puetz was chasing his father Mitch’s school record in the shot put early in season and eventually got it. Puetz, who uncle Todd coaches the track and football team at Garden Plain, will play on the line at Washburn this fall. Puetz was also featured in the story on Garden Plain football which appeared in our inaugural August issue.

Hannah Hemberger, Argonia senior
Third in 1A shot put
-The Argonia girls basketball team this past winter went undefeated until they were upset at sub-state. They were featured as the Preferred team of the month in March. Hemberger was one of two seniors on the team.

Wayne Bennett, Remington senior
Second in 3A javelin
-Bennett was photographed in the Spring Sports Preview which appeared in the March issue of the magazine. He was the defending 3A champ in the javelin this spring.

Cole Cherryholmes, Remington senior
Fourth in 3A javelin
-Cherryholmes was one of the most prolific passers in the state this past football season, throwing for over 400 yards several times. He was a source in the story on three-sport athletes which appears in the May issue, currently on stands. Cherryholmes will play football at NJCAA national champ Butler Community this fall.