Wright earns four medals to lead Lady Cats at state track
Louisburg freshman Delaney Wright reaches out for the sand pit during the long jump Saturday at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships in Wichita.
WICHITA – Coming of an impressive
regional performance where she qualified in four events and broke two schools
records, Louisburg’s Delaney Wright was busy last weekend at the Kansas State
Track and Field Championships.
Wright may have not gotten the
times or marks she had hoped, but she left Wichita with a lot of decoration
around her neck. The Louisburg freshman medaled in all four events at Wichita
State’s Cessna Stadium.
In all, the Lady Cats medaled in eight events and racked up 28 points to finish 10th in the team standings. The finish left a good impression with the Louisburg athletes as almost all of its state qualifiers are underclassmen.
It wasn’t easy for Louisburg
either as the Wildcats had to deal with numerous weather delays and didn’t get
to compete till Saturday. The meet wrapped up a day later and the athletes in
running events didn’t get to run in any preliminaries, while jumpers and
throwers only got four attempts with no finals.
“Delays are always tough, but we weathered
the storm and performed well,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “It was an
awesome long weekend. On paper, I was hoping for a little more, but with the
youth we took, I could not be happier. They did great.”
Wright’s best individual event came in the 400-meter dash Saturday as she finished fourth overall in 1:00.74 and Ottawa’s Summer Spigle won the race in 59.51 seconds.
“To be able to qualify for four
events was super cool and I will definitely remember my first season as a
freshman,” Wright said. “Running the 400 was very difficult, but I was so
nervous that I barely remember a lot of it. The competition was tough and I
didn’t think I would do as well as I did. Running with all the girls from 4A
was so fun and such a good experience.”
The Lady Cats saved their best performance for last as the 4×400-meter relay of Wright, Carlee Gassman, Rain Pugh and Sydni Keagle ran a personal best time of 4:12.74 to take fourth overall and was just .10 seconds behind third place Andale.
“I’m so proud of my 4×400 team,”
Gassman said. “We had to deal with a lot of chaos, but we still stayed strong.
We have so much talent and we fought for that fourth place finish. I can’t wait
to see what we do next year.”
Wright would also go on to finish
seventh in the 200-meter dash in 27.07 seconds. In her first event on Saturday,
she was eighth in the long jump with a mark of 15 feet and 10.5 inches.
“I feel like it was rough in my
two other events,” Wright said. “It was such a great experience to go to state
and learn how things work as a freshman. After not competing how I wanted to in
the long jump, I had to change my mindset because I had three other events.
“Our 4×400 was so fun to be a part
of. We have a great team and we worked so hard this season. I was grateful to
be a part of that team and stand with them on the podium.”
Gassman, a junior, also had a big
meet for the Lady Cats she came away with three medals, including an individual
one in the 300-meter hurdles. Gassman ran a time of 47.52 seconds to finish
fourth overall.
“In all honesty, I was very
disappointed with my 300 race,” Gassman said. “I know I can do so much better,
and knowing my time from last year was faster than first place at state this
year, just tells me that I didn’t work hard enough. I am going to keep my head high
and work for it next year.”
A second Louisburg relay also made
its way to the medal stand. Gassman, along with Jordon Leach, Pugh and Keagle,
ran a time of 50.69 seconds in the 4×100 relay to take eighth overall.
“It was great being able to go on
the medal stand with the people I love and getting a medal for the 4×100 is
amazing,” Gassman said. “Getting to run against girls that are so much faster
than us just pushed us even more.”
In the field events, the Lady Cats earned two more medals as both Alyse Moore and Avery Graham both captured their first state medal.
In the javelin, Moore recorded a
personal best for the second week in a row as she had a toss of 131-9. The
Louisburg sophomore went on to finish fourth in her first state meet.
Graham also found her way to the
medal stand in the pole vault. The Louisburg junior tied a personal best mark
of 10 feet to take fifth overall.
“It was really nice to see both of
them medal,” Reece said. “I think that is going to be a huge confidence builder
for them.”
Keagle, a junior, just missed out
on her first state medal by one place in the 100 hurdles. On Saturday morning,
she ran a time of 16.67 seconds to take ninth overall.
Leach, a senior, competed in her
final meet for the Lady Cats and came in 12th in the 100-meter dash
in 12.81 seconds.