Wright runs away with 3 regional titles; Lady Cats qualify 7 for state

Louisburg junior Delaney Wright leads a pack of runners in the 400-meter dash Friday during the Class 4A regional meet at Paola High School. Wright won regional titles in the 200, 400 and long jump.

Winning events isn’t anything new for Delaney Wright, but that didn’t mean her accomplishment on Friday meant any less.

Wright and the Louisburg girls track and field team competed in the Class 4A regional meet at Paola High School and the Wildcat junior came away with three regional titles to earn a spot at the state track meet.

Wright won the long jump, 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash and holds the top times and distances in 4A for those events. She will be one of the favorites in those for the state meet this Friday in Wichita.

“It was very exciting to win my events at regionals,” Wright said, “It was a tough meet and I feel like we all showed up to compete. The weather wasn’t the greatest so there weren’t a lot of fast times, but we all did what we had to.”

In all, Louisburg will send seven athletes in eight events to the Class 4A state meet. Despite just qualifying seven, the Lady Cats finished third in the regional standings with 66 points. Paola won the regional title with 204 points.

Wright opened the day with a victory in the long jump as she recorded a mark of 18 feet, 6.75 inches. She also went on to win the 400 dash in 59.03 seconds and the 200 in 26.1 seconds.

“Our girls did awesome,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “I thought finishing third as a team was huge. Delaney is a special athlete and she is always up for any challenge. State is that challenge that she will meet head on.”

Louisburg will also send two javelin throwers to state in senior Alyse Moore and junior Davis Guetterman.

Moore, who had a throw of 126-11, was beaten on the competition’s final toss by Paola’s Mackenzie Kuehl as she won with a mark of 127-7. Moore went on to take second and still has one of the top throws in the state from earlier this season.

Guetterman earned her trip with a state qualifying throw of 106-5 as she finished fourth overall. It wasn’t a good throwing day as the runway surface was wet and muddy with all the recent precipitation leading up to the meet. 

“Taking both Alyse and Davis is an example of their competitive spirit and hard work paying off,” Reece said. “They did what they needed to do to qualify for state.”

Junior Corinna McMullen qualified for her first state meet in the discus with a throw of 107-01 and took third. She became the third Louisburg thrower to punch their ticket to Wichita.

Three freshmen will also make their state debut for the Wildcats as Emma Vohs, Erin Apple and Maddy Carpenter-Ross all qualified.

Vohs will join Wright in the 400-meter dash as the Louisburg freshman took third with a personal best time of 1:01.94.

“It is always exciting having to go to state with other team members,” Wright said. “Especially in the same event. Me and Emma have worked hard this season to get the chance to compete at state. We are low in numbers in girls, but we have been placing high in our events.”

Apple qualified for the 1,600-meter run as she took fourth in 6:11. Carpenter-Ross took third in the pole vault after clearing 7-6.

“They are being rewarded for their efforts this year,” Reece said. “They will gain priceless experience at their first state track meet. The goal should be to PR and that will end their season on a huge positive.”

The Class 4A state track meet with begin at 8 a.m on Friday at Wichita State University and will be held in conjunction with Class 3A. The Lady Cats are hoping to bring home multiple medals.

“We just have to take care of what we can control and positive outcomes will follow,” Reece said. “These girls have been doing this all year as our state appearances have been in multiple sports in each season.”

Other results are: 

3,200 run: Erin Apple, fifth, 14:26

100 dash: Emma Vohs, eighth, 13.55

200 dash: Vohs, eighth, 28.41

Shot put: Emma Prettyman, seventh, 29-9; Sydney Thornton, 12th, 24-2

Discus: Aiyana Penca, eighth, 92-4; Prettyman, 9th, 86-11

Javelin: Katie Elpers, 10th, 89-03

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