Gassman, Wright win league titles; relay breaks school record

Louisburg junior Carlee Gassman glides her way to a Frontier League crown in the 300-meter hurdles last Friday in Paola. Gassman won with a time of 47.07 seconds.

PAOLA – Carlee Gassman and Delaney Wright had a Frontier League Invitational to remember for a few different reasons – one of which was they left with a league title in hand.

Gassman won the league crown in the 300-meter hurdles and Wright took first place in the long jump as they guided the Lady Cats to a fifth-place team finish Friday in Paola. The Wildcat duo certainly wasn’t done scoring points.

Both athletes captured three league medals and Gassman was also a part of history. Gassman, along with Jordon Leach, Rain Pugh and Sydni Keagle, broke the school record in the 4×100-meter relay as they ran a time of 50.59 seconds to finish second overall.

They eclipsed the old mark of 50.96 that was set in 2000 by the quartet of Laura Gjerde, LaTasha Roberts, Megan Howard and Libby Dean.

It was a competitive event as Piper went on to set a new league record in a time of 49.15 seconds.

“The 4×100 did an awesome job,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “I was coaching when the 2000 team broke the record and again with this group. Yes, there are similarities between them, but only one difference – we only lose one from this relay due to graduation. I expect them to continue to improve on their time, not only this year, but next as well.”

Gassman continued to show improvement in the 300 hurdles as she recorded a season-best time of 47.07 seconds to win the event going away.

The Louisburg junior broke the school record in the event last year in 45.78 and Reece believe she is rounding into form for the postseason run.

“Carlee had a great start in the first 150 meters, which made the others chase her,” Reece said. “Her conditioning continues to improve and the best is yet to come.”

Wright, a freshman, had a big performance in her first ever league meet as she won the long jump with a mark of 17 feet, 4 inches. She beat out Baldwin senior, Carly Lindenmeyer, by one inch to take the top spot.

Gassman also scored points for the Wildcats in the long jump as she was fifth at 16-5.75.

“Delaney is not a freshman when it comes to competition,” Wright said. “She is a focused individual that will bring it every time. It is impressive for a freshman to claim a league title, especially in our league.”

Wright and Gassman teamed up with Pugh and Keagle to run the 4×400-meter relay as well. The team medaled third overall with a personal best time of 4:17.86.

In the sprints, the Wildcats picked up a couple more medals as Wright took third in the 200-meter dash in 26.83 seconds, while Leach was third in the 100 dash in 12.96. Wright also went on to score points in the 400 dash with a season-best time of 1:01.26 and took fourth.

Louisburg also scored points in a pair of field events. Junior Avery Graham cleared 8-6 to medal second in the pole vault and freshman Rinny McMullen was fifth in the discus with a toss of 93-11.

As a team, the Wildcats were fifth overall with 65 points. Baldwin won the league title with 112.5 points and Paola was second at 105.50.

The Lady Cats will be back in action Friday when it travels to Paola for the Class 4A regional meet. Events start at 1 p.m. and the top four finishers in each event will qualify for the state meet next week in Wichita.

“I believe we can qualify as many as 8 girls and be represented in 11 events,” Reece said. “As always, we need to go and take care of what we can control, our own performances, and good things will happen. If we go and PR, the other teams will see the energy we create and they will feel the pressure, not us. The best is yet to come.”

Other results are:

200 dash: Jordon Leach, 7^th, 29.99

800 run: Shaylor Whitham, 11^th, 2:52

1,600 run: Whitham, 10^th, 6:15

100 hurdles: Kristen Bell, 8^th, 18.90

300 hurdles: Bell, 14^th, 1:04

High jump: Shelby Grandon, 10^th, 4-8; Eileen Benne, 10^th, 4-8

Long jump: Sydni Keagle, 13^th, 14-3

Triple jump: Benne, 11^th, 29-5

Shot put: Shea O’Hara, 15^th, 29-2; Cayden Forrester, 20^th, 25-3; Eden Strumillo, 21^st, 24-6

Discus: Aiyana Penca, 12^th, 85-7; Melia Rice, 13^th, 81-9

Javelin: Alyse Moore, 10^th, 95-7; Davis Guetterman, 16^th, 74-8; Lakin Cunningham, 20^th, 68-0

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