RECORD-BREAKERS: Wright, Moore rewrite Lady Cat track history

Louisburg junior Delaney Wright cruises to a finish in the 400-meter dash Friday at the De Soto Invitational at Basehor-Linwood High School. It was one of three events that she broke a school record.

BASEHOR — The Louisburg girls track and field record book looked a lot different following Friday’s DeSoto Invitational. 

Louisburg junior Delaney Wright broke three records (long jump, 200 dash, 400 dash), while Alyse Moore broke a 20-yard record in the javelin at the event that was held at Basehor-Linwood High School.

It was a day to remember for both Wildcat athletes.

“Great athletes find a way to get the job done,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “Delaney and Alyse are great athletes and put in the time to be able to accomplish big things. They both happened to do it on the same day and that was exciting. 

“The records they broke were set by amazing athletes in their time and it shows by how long the records stood, especially the javelin record. I still think the best is yet to come for both of them.”

Wright broke two of her old records, and another six-year-old mark. She started the day in the long jump as she broke her old record for the second straight week with a mark of 18 feet, 5.75 inches. Her previous best was 18-0.5.

She then carried that momentum onto the track where she broke her 400 dash time that she set two years ago as a freshman. Wright ran a 59.16 to win the event and eclipsed her previous best time of 1:00.

The 200 dash was the next one to fall as Wright edged out Piper’s Kinley Brown to win the 200 dash in 25.87 seconds. The old record of 26 seconds was set in 2015 by Bailey Belcher.

“I’ve been blessed to have a recovery from a knee injury a couple months ago and I didn’t know coming into the season if I’d be as good,” Wright said. “I’ve been working hard and have had people push me to be better. It all fell together last Friday at the meet. I just feel blessed and excited. Also excited we have another track member beating records too in Alyse.

“Long jump definitely boosted my energy and gave me confidence going into the meet and competing in my other events. It definitely won’t be easy keeping up with those marks, but all I can do is to try to keep getting better before regionals.”

Moore put her name on the school’s record board for the first time as she now has the top mark in the javelin with her throw of 149 feet. That toss eclipsed the old mark of 145-10 that was set by Krystal Bowes in 2001 and won the competition with ease.

Moore’s previous best in the javelin was 144-8 and her record-breaking toss is now the second best in the state and fourth in the entire nation.

“When I first started throwing javelin, I had looked at the record and at the time I hadn’t been throwing very far, so I knew it was going to take a lot of extra work for me to beat the record,” Moore said. “This year, my first meet I came out stronger than I finished my sophomore year at state so I became really hopeful that I could possibly break the record, and I just hoped to keep beating myself and eventually I broke the record as well.

“I was super excited when they announced that I had broke the record, because I had really been wanting to reach it. I kind of had a feeling that I had PR’d, but I wasn’t sure by how much. When I released it, I knew it was going to be a good throw because it flew so well, so that was a great feeling.”

Louisburg continued its success in the field events as junior Corinna McMullen won the discus competition for the second time this season. McMullen recorded a personal best throw of 108-5 and won by nearly two feet.

“Corinna continues to better her performance in disc and is setting herself up to finish strong,” Reece said. “Again, continued hard work in practice is paying big dividends in performance.”

The Lady Cats also scored points in other field events as Davis Guetterman was sixth in the javelin at 101-10, while Emma Prettyman was seventh in the shot put at 32-2.5.

In the pole vault, freshman Maddy Carpenter-Ross had a personal best after she cleared 7-6 and finished seventh.

On the track, freshman Emma Vohs was fourth in the 400-meter dash at 1:02.86.

As a team, the Lady Cats finished sixth out of 11 teams with 62 points. Eudora was first with 167 and Piper was second at 108.

“We are few in varsity numbers compared to some schools, but we bring it every meet to outperform our best marks and put pressure on the competition,” Reece said.

Louisburg is back in action Friday when it travels to Wellsville for the Redbud Relays.

Other results are: 

100 dash: Emma Vohs, 11th, 13.69; Andrea Gaza, 20th, 14.51

200 dash: Vohs, 9th, 28.16; Gaza, 18th, 31.36

1,600 run: Erin Apple, 12th, 6:30; Alexis French, 16th, 7:02

3,200 run: Apple, 10th, 13:37; French, 16th, 14:51

Shot put: Alyse Moore, 12th, 29-6

Discus: Emma Prettyman, 9th, 91-2; Aiyana Penca, 11th, 85-9