Flanked by her parents, Dave and Cheri Marsh, Hillsboro High School senior Hannah Marsh signed a letter of intent Friday to compete in track and field at Wichita State University next season. Standing behind her is HHS track coach Dennis Boldt, who said, “Hannah has been an integral part of the recent success of our girls’ program. She is an 11-time state medalist in the jumps, sprints and relays, most recently placing second in the pole vault, the event she will concentrate on while competing at Wichita State University.” Marsh holds the school record in the pole vault at 10 feet even. She is the third girl in the Class of 2007 to sign a Division I letter for athletics, joining JuliAnne Chisholm and Tina Frick.

“You don’t want me to start cussing, do you?” said the veteran activities director with a laugh that indicated he was coping with the craziness better than you might expect.

Of the first 20 competitive events planned for the five HHS spring-sports teams, 10 have needed to be rescheduled because of bad weather.

That includes a softball doubleheader and a track meet planned for that very Friday.

Hillsboro catcher Jessica Klose (right) chats with first-base coach Jill Hein during a Halstead timeout for a talk with the pitcher. Klose had just driven in two runs with a base hit to give HHS a 10-6 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

The weather eventually won out, as officials called Game 1 after five innings and nixed Game 2 of the scheduled doubleheader because of field conditions.

Hillsboro’s Aaron Stepanek dives back to first base in reaction to a pick-off attempt by Smoky Valley pitcher Ben Mack in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader. First baseman Casey Miller prepares to receive the throw, which was late.

The Hillsboro High baseball team shut down Smoky Valley for all but two innings in the second game of their doubleheader Thursday at Memorial Field.

But that gave the Vikings enough room to crawl out of an early hole and defeat the Trojans 8-5 and escape with a split.