Pole vault league meet is Thursday
Sports editor
Both Marion track and field squads finished in the top three Thursday at the Hesston invitational, the final regular season meet of the year.
Mitchell Leppke, Luke Gordon, and Nick Klenda led the boys to a second-place finish, while Julia Zeiner and Camille Christensen helped the girls take third.
The five each earned at least one gold medal at Hesston.
Leppke received his in the javelin, Gordon the high jump, and Klenda in the discus.
MHS Head Coach Grant Thierolf was pleased with Leppke and fellow javelin-tosser Sheldon Boone who took second.
“(It was) a great job of coming back from a lackluster performance (May 1) at Beloit and helping us to a second-place finish this week,” he said. “Mitchell and Sheldon will be in great shape for league.”
Another who could be in great shape for the Friday’s league meet is Elliot Hett.
The senior is consistently in the top-two in both hurdles events at nearly every meet. This week was no different, as Hett was second in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.
“Elliot continued to hurdle very well,” Thierolf said. “He ran into one of the best in the state from Cheney and did a nice job of competing.”
On the girls’ side, Zeiner competed about as well as anyone, taking first in the long and triple jumps as well as the 300m hurdles.
She also was the final leg of the second-place 4x100m relay squad.
It was the first time Zeiner had run the 300 hurdles since the 2008 state meet. Thierolf said she had not even run the full distance in practice all season. The junior finished with a time of 47.07 seconds.
“Her timing was pretty outstanding,” Thierolf said.
Injuries have slowed down sprinters Kristen Steinborn and Kayley Heerey, but both were back Friday with strong performances.
Heerey was fourth in the 100m dash and both ran in the 4x100.
Steinborn still did not compete in her signature 200m dash.
Camille Christensen, Jaclyn DeForest, and Amanda Richmond continue to do well in the distance races.
Each one placed Friday, including Christensen’s top-finish in the 3200m run.
“She got us off to a great start with a dominant win,” Thierolf said.
Whitney Gordon continued her impressive freshman season with a fourth-place finish in the 300m hurdles despite falling on the sixth one.
“(That was) a great job of recovering,” Thierolf said. “She has a great future in track and field.”
The boys’ team is poised for a strong league meet Friday.
Klenda and Gordon should be near the top in their events.
Klenda’s discus toss was nearly 20 feet farther than the second-place finisher.
“Nick had a very dominating performance in the discus,” Thierolf said. “He is looking forward to league and regionals.”
Klenda said he doesn’t really care where he is throwing — he just goes out and performs.
“My mind-set whenever I go into a meet is I want a throw I can be happy with,” he said. “You are always going to run into someone who can throw 180, 190. Basically you are throwing against yourself.”
The teams will head to Sterling Friday for the league meet, followed by a May 22 home regional.
A twist to this year’s league meet involved the pole vaulters.
Sterling does not have a pole-vaulting pit, so Marion will host all league pole vaulters Thursday for their own league meet.
Warrior Brad Klenda, who took fifth Friday after clearing 12 feet, should do well on his home field.
“We had a pretty good day,” Thierolf said of Hesston. However, he was quick to point out he thinks his team can do better.
“We still have not put it all together as a track team, and we look forward to league as the opportunity to do just that.”