Wildcats crown five league champions at Frontier League meet

By Andy Brown
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: May 15, 2024

*Louisburg senior Hunter Heinrich won the Frontier League title in the 400-meter das*h last Thursday in Eudora.

EUDORA — It may have not finished atop the team standings at the Frontier League Invitational on Thursday in Eudora, but the Louisburg track and field teams still left with plenty of hardware.

The Wildcats came away with five individual league champions, three on the boys side and two on the girls.

Senior Maddy Carpenter-Ross and junior Cooper Wingfield each captured league pole vault titles. Junior Gavin Lohse won the long jump and senior Hunter Heinrich won the 400-meter dash.

Also on the girls side, the 4×100 relay of Suzanna Dansel, Kendall Crossley, Emma Vohs and Addi Mallett captured a league crown as well.

The Louisburg boys finished third in the team standings with 100 points and Spring Hill won the league with 137 points.

“League was one of our better meets in regard to how we competed as a team,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “We scored points in 15 out of the 18 events. We are also finally getting close to getting everyone healthy and prepared for regionals. It’s the right time for it to start coming together with our relays and individual events.”

As for the girls, the Wildcats finished in fourth place with 62.5 points. Spring Hill also won league on the girls side with 138 points.

“League went well,” Louisburg girls coach John Reece said. “We had some bright moments with more personal records set and improvements on season best times. We have definitely set ourselves up to qualify several to continue on to state.”

Wingfield and Carpenter-Ross continued their dominance in the pole vault and both cruised to easy victories. Wingfield cleared 14 feet, 9 inches to win by almost two feet and teammate Jacob Brown was third overall with a personal best of 13 feet.

Carpenter-Ross, the defending 4A state champion, stayed undefeated on the season as she won a league title with a clearance of 11 feet.

Lohse also picked up a league championship in the long jump with a leap of 20-11, while taking sixth in the 100 dash in 11.32. Teammate Myles Vohs was right behind him as he set a personal record of 20-8.5 to finish as the league-runner-up.

On the track, Heinrich won the league title in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.02 seconds. The Wildcats had three of the top four spots in the event as Emmett White was second at 53.33 and Aidan Meyer was fourth in 53.70.

The Louisburg girls 4×100-meter relay had one of their better races of the season as Dansel, Crossley, Mallett and Emma Vohs won in 50.97 seconds.

Dansel and Crossley also racked up points in the sprints. Dansel was second in the 100-meter dash in 12.67 seconds, while Crossley was third in the 200 dash in a personal best time of 27.26 seconds. Crossley also took fourth in the 400 dash in 1 minute and 3 seconds.

Also on the track for the girls, freshman Caroline Apple was fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 52.97 seconds and senior Maddy Rhamy was sixth in the 3,200 run in 12:53.

***Louisburg senior Maddy Carpenter-Ross won the league title in the pole vault last Thursday in Eudora.***

Rhamy also helped the 4×800-meter relay of Adelyn Moore, Erin Apple and Emma Vohs to a fourth place finish in 11:03. Moore, Mallett, Vohs and Presley Yows took sixth in the 4×400 relay.

On the track, senior Katie Elpers set a new personal best in the javelin with a toss of 122-8 to take third and Moore was seventh at 112-3.

Sophomore McKenna Lohse set a personal best in the shot put with a toss of 37-11.75 to finish in fifth, while junior Hanna Veres was fifth in the triple jump with a personal best of 33-9.5.

Caroline Apple also scored points in the high jump after she cleared 4-8 and finished in a tie for seventh.

On the boys side, junior Jerynce Brings Plenty took fifth in both the 1,600 (4:44) and 3,200-meter runs (10:36), while sophomore Blaise Vohs was sixth in the 800 run in 2:05.

Brings Plenty, Vohs, Colton Blue and Myles Vohs was second in 4×800-meter relay in 8:36. Lohse, Myles Vohs, Heinrich and Caleb Feldkamp took third in the 4×100 relay in 44.19 seconds, while Feldkamp also took third in the 200 dash in 23.08 seconds.

Heinrich, White, Meyer and Blaise Vohs were fifth in the 4×400 relay in 3:33.

The Wildcats also had strong finishes in the throws. Senior Ben O’Bryan took fourth in the discus with a toss of 134-5.

Another senior, Jaymes Melton, set a personal best again in the shot put as he took fifth at 48-2.5.

Louisburg will now prepare for the regional meet that will be held this Thursday at Eudora High School. The top four in each event qualify for state and events begin at 3:45 p.m.

“We are getting into gear for regionals, and our regional is stacked with competition on the men’s side,” Wright said. “It will be tough to qualify on this side, so we need to come with our minds right and ready to compete.”

“We are still nursing some bumps and dings, but hope to be solid this week at regionals,” Reece added. “Hopefully the weather cooperates and we PR in all of our events and let the chips fall where they may with state qualifications.”

Other results are:

GIRLS

200 Dash: Addi Mallett, 9th, 28.42

400 Dash : Emma Vohs, 8th, 1:07.19; Presley Yows, 10th, 1:09

800 Run: Adelyn Moore, 13th, 3:01

1,600 Run: Erin Apple, 10th, 6:45

100 Hurdles: Kate Frederick, 8th, 17.85; Caroline Apple, 11th, 19.41

300 Hurdles: Frederick, 11th, 55.35

High Jump: Breck Nielsen, 12th, 4-6

Long Jump: Madison Hill, 14th, 13-7.75; Hanna Veres, 15th, 13-2

Triple Jump: Hill, 13th, 29-8.25

Shot Put: Kinley Scott, 12th, 31-0.5; Maddie Yoder, 19th, 27-4.5