Dennis earns state medal in hurdles

By Andy Brown
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Updated: June 2, 2015

Louisburg High School senior Sean Dennis finished in fourth place in the 110-meter hurdles Saturday during the Class 4A portion of the Kansas State Track and Field Championships at Wichita State University. Dennis also ran in the 100 and 200 dashes, along with the anchor leg in the 4×100 relay.

WICHITA — Sean Dennis didn’t have much time to waste at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday.

The Louisburg High School senior competed in four events over the two days and had to try and stay fresh for each race. It wasn’t easy, and the results may not have been exactly what Dennis was hoping for, but in the end he left Wichita State University with his first state medal.

In what has been his best race all season, Dennis finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.41 seconds in what was a tough field. Osawatomie junior Jacoby Greenwood, who captured three state titles Saturday, won in 14.62 seconds.

“I am a little disappointed because I knew I could have ran better but finishing in fourth place you really can’t complain about it,” Dennis said. “It is still a medal and I placed top-five, but I could have ran better.”

On Friday, Dennis ran in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash and just missed out on the finals. Dennis ran a personal best time of 22.82 seconds and finished ninth. The top eight in each preliminary make the finals.

Senior Mason Wilde hands the baton to fellow senior Dawson Christy during the preliminaries of the 4x400-meter relay Friday during the state track meet in Wichita.

Senior Mason Wilde hands the baton to fellow senior Dawson Christy during the preliminaries of the 4×400-meter relay Friday during the state track meet in Wichita.

Dennis also joined Mason Wilde, Kyle Green and Ben Minster in the 4×100-meter relay, and again, the Wildcats missed out on the final by one spot. Louisburg ran a time of 44.36 seconds to come in ninth.

“I was pretty proud of myself in the 200,” Dennis said. “I was able to PR by quite a bit and still got ninth place. I almost made finals, but I ran my best in that one and that is all I can ask for.”

On Saturday, Dennis ran in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash and came in 13th in 11.46 seconds. On what was a cold and blustery day that it made it tough to stay warm and loose, Dennis was still able to achieve his goal of a state medal.

“Sean had a good weekend and was very deserving of a medal,” Louisburg coach Gary Griffin said. “He has worked very hard and qualifying in four events is a great accomplishment.”

The Wildcats also competed two other relays. In the preliminaries of the 4×400-meter relay, the team of Wilde, Green, Minster and Dawson Christy came in 15th in 3:36.

Christy, along with Michael Minster, Ben Hupp and Wyatt Reece, also finished in 15th in the 4×800 relay in 9:01.

In the shot put, Connor McMullen finished 12th overall with a toss of 45 feet, 2.5 inches and teammate Jarod Woodward was 14th with a throw of 44-5. Parker Cates finished in 16th in the pole vault.

“It was a good weekend for most of the kids who approached their personal records,” Griffin said. “It was a good experience for the younger kids and hopefully it will pay off in the future.”