Lady Irish win Regional Track title at Buhler – Abilene Recorder Chronicle

Senior Taylor Briggs gave the Irish two well-earned gold medals in 1600M and 3200M. Briggs heads to the Class 4A State Track Meet with new Chapman High School records in both events and the possibility of being a three-time State Champion in both runs. Only COVID-19 could derail Briggs from being a four-time champion as everyone missed last season.

Briggs crossed first in 3200M at 11:25.81 while Abilene freshman Eden Bathurst ran second place with a time of 12:26.37. In the 1600M, Briggs and Chapman teammate Elyssa Frieze ran one – two at 5:06.55 and 5:24.80 respectively. Frieze was cleared to run Friday after missing several weeks due to injury. The freshman got her gold medal in 800M for the Irish running 2:24.67 to finish ahead of McPherson senior Kassidy Beam at 2:29.33. Abilene senior Bailey Rock qualified for State with a fourth place finish at 2:34.46.

In field events for the Irish, senior Macy Bliss tossed the discus throw 109-10 to capture the Regional Championship. Chapman qualified three in this event as junior Marie Meuli took second at 108-04 and freshman Tanith Elliott came in fourth at 102-11. Bliss qualified in shot put too by tossing the shot 34-10.75 for fourth place.

Sophomore Maya Kirkpatrick qualified in four events, as she took fourth in 100m Hurdles, third in 300m Hurdles, second in Triple Jump and third in Long Jump. Fellow sophomore Sophia Cavanaugh jumped second in High Jump and fourth in Triple Jump. Junior Shannon Anderson grabbed a fourth place qualifying time in 300m Hurdles.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am with this team,” Chapman head coach Steve Simpson said. “They have worked hard and they battled some self doubt occasionally here and there some of them but they picked it up. It is so hard coming off the COVID year as they didn’t do anything last year, all the kids this year in track, not just our kids but they really have worked really hard. It’s been a great track season and to see them just respond like they did today, I am proud of all of them. It’s been a good season.”

Erickson and Winder lead Fighting Irish to third place finish

Seniors Trevor Erickson and Eli Winder helped lead the Fighting Irish to a third place finish in the boys’ competition behind Buhler and McPherson. Erickson earned first place finishes in 110m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles and was fourth in 100M. He also anchored the team’s 4x400m Relay that placed second in a very tight finish with Pratt and McPherson.

Winder claimed gold in 400M and took second place in Triple Jump and fourth in Long Jump to qualify for the 4A Meet Friday in Wichita. Winder also ran on the second place relay team.

Chapman picked up a third and fourth place qualifying finish in Javelin as Jon Salmela-Jenkins placed third and Aidan Pruente was fourth.

It was a record setting year for the Chapman track team as Briggs set new marks in both 1600M and 3200M and Frieze broke a long-standing 800M record while Winder eclipsed the old mark in boys’ 400M and Simpson smiled and said we still have another week to go.

Simpson takes his teams to Wichita on Friday for the one-day State Track Meet that they will share the track with Class 3A.

Regional Track Individuals

(Top 6 for points; Top 4 for State)

Girls 3200M

Taylor Briggs, Chapman, 1st 11:25.81

Eden Bathurst, Abilene 2nd 12:26.37

Boys 3200M

Trevor Tovar, Abilene, 5th 11:11.55

Girls 100m Hurdles

Maya Kirkpatrick, Chapman 4th 16.29

Joy Clemence, Abilene 6th 16.63

Boys 110m Hurdles

Trevor Erickson, Chapman, 1st 15.54

Judah Bowell-Armstrong, Abilene, 3rd 16.08

Girls 4x800m Relay

Abilene (Bailey Rock, Samantha Stout, Chloe Rock, Eden Bathurst) 1st 15.54

Boys 4x800m Relay

Abilene (Dayton Wuthnow, Triston Cottone, Nathan Hartman, Grant Waite) 2nd 8:44.02

Trevor Erickson, Chapman, 4th 11.29

Girls 1600M

Taylor Briggs, Chapman, 1st 5:06.55

Elyssa Frieze, Chapman, 2nd 5:24.80

Boys 1600M

Dayton Wuthnow, Abilene, 6th 4:59.13

Girls 4x100m Relay

Abilene (Allie Cross, Mia Johnson, Addison Hasenbank, Reagan Ditto) 6th 53,15

Boys 4x100m Relay

Chapman (Duncan Gay, Aiden Whitely, Trevor Mead, Jon Jenkins) 6th 45.42

Girls 400M

Chloe Rock, Abilene, 4th 1:02.66

Kimberly Remily, Chapman, 6th 1:05.66

Eli Winder, Chapman, 1st 50.38

Girls 300m Hurdles

Maya Kirkpatrick, Chapman, 3rd 48.39

Shannon Anderson, Chapman, 4th 48.72

Joy Clemence, Abilene, 5th 49.88

Boys 300m Hurdles

Trevor Erickson, Chapman, 1st 40.17

Girls 800M

Elyssa frieze, Chapman, 1st 2:24.67

Bailey Rock, Abilene, 4th 2:34.46

Grant Waite, Abilene, 4th 2:07.33

Triston Cottone, Abilene, 5th 2:08.11

Miqueas Mazo, Abilene, 6th 2:15.30

Girls 200M

Allie Cross, Abilene, 5th 27.22

Lucas DeDonder, Abilene, 3rd 22.81

Girls 4x400m Relay

Abilene (Chloe Rock, Bailey Rock, Samantha Stout, Allie Cross) 1st, 4:14.60

Boys 4x400m Relay

Chapman (Trevor Erickson, Nick Anderson, Chris Sommer, Eli Winder) 2nd 3:32.91

Abilene (Triston Cottone, Nathan Hartman, Lucas deDonder, Grant Waite) 5th 3:37.29

Girls Shot Put

Macy Bliss, Chapman, 4th 34-10.75

Girls Discus

Macy Bliss, Chapman, 1st 109-10

Marie Meuli, Chapman, 2nd 108-04

Tanith Elliott, Chapman, 4th 102-11

Girls High Jump

Sophia Cavanaugh, Chapman, 2nd 5-02

Amara Johnson, Abilene, 3rd 5-00

Girls Long Jump

Maya Kirkpatrick, Chapman, 3rd 15-11.50

Sophia Cavanaugh, Chapman, 6th 15-05.50

Boys Long Jump

Eli Winder, Chapman, 4th 20-02.50

Caleb Burt, Abilene, 6th 19-09.75

Girls Javelin

Reonna Christiensen, Abilene, 6th 91-09

Boys Javelin

Jon Salmela-Jenkins, Chapman, 3rd 149-06

Aidan Pruente, Chapman, 4th 146-01

Girls Triple Jump

Maya Kirkpatrick, Chapman, 2nd 34-05.25

Sophia Cavanaugh, Chapman, 4th 33-07.50

Boys Triple Jump

Eli Winder, Chapman, 2nd 42-02.75

Girls Pole Vault

Eden Bathurst, Abilene, 6th 8-06

Team Scores:

Chapman 106, McPherson 100.5, Buhler 79.5, Ulysses 56, Abilene 50, Clay Center 48, Pratt 44, Concordia 36, Nickerson 35.

Buhler 175, McPherson 92, Chapman 66, Ulysses 52, Concordia 49, Abilene 33, Clay Center 32.5, Nickerson 32, Pratt 25.5