"I talked to most of the coaches at the meet and they said they have never seen wind sustain as it did today," said Dennis Boldt, Hillsboro coach. "Track coaches in Kansas are used to early-season weather not being conducive to great performances, but the wind today was just incredible."

Even so, the meet continued to completion with the El Dorado boys (107.3 points) and the Smoky Valley girls (108 points) winning the team titles in their respective divisions in the 12-team meet.

Marion boys placed third (74.3 points) and the girls sixth (56) while the Hillsboro boys placed sixth (45) and the girls fourth (66).

"I was real pleased with our kids and how well they competed," Marion coach Grant Thierolf said. "The conditions weren't very ideal for anything and you won't have great times in any of the distance races or anything like that.

"We ended up in third place and didn't have a whole lot of individual champions and didn't have a whole lot of seconds and thirds," he added. "That means our kids hung in there and were really plugging away for the fourth, fifth and sixths and those things really add up if you just hang in there."

Jeremy Vondenkamp won the only gold medal for the Warrior boys, breaking the string in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.54 seconds. He finished third in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.72.

"Jeremy pretty much butchered ever hurdle in the 110's and he had a purpose in the 300," Thierolf said with a laugh. "We expect him to get better and to compete for those wins in every race he does."

Other top-three finishes for Marion were: Shawn Britton, third in the shot put (44 feet, 10 inches); the 4x400 relay, third (3:54.76); Riley Ross, third in the pole vault (10-0); Kyle Hett, third in the 200-meter dash (24.07).

For Hillsboro, Tim Funk won the 110 hurdles (15.38) and Sean Leihy, Josh Boese, Cody McMillen and Nate Holmes combined to win the 4x800 (9:06.55).

Other top-three finishes included Funk's second-place finish in the high jump (5-10) and McMillen's second-place finish in the 3,200 meters.

"Cody did an excellent job of drafting a group of runners while on the backstretch each of the first seven laps, saving his strength for the final 300 meters," Boldt said.

In the girls' division, Erin Carr and Toni Gordon captured gold medals for Marion. Carr won the 200 meters (26.95) and 100 meters (12.81) while Gordon took first in discus (102-21/2).

"We've always knows Erin is quite capable of doing that," Thierolf said. "There was a good field in the 100 and some very fast girls and we were very pleased. That's a product of a lot of hard work during the course of the year and she's reaping the benefit of it now.

"Toni is making the progress that we expect a senior to make and is competing well," he added. "She understands about rising up to the occasion."

Other top-three finishes included Emalee Versch, third in shot put (33-11/2), and Carr, third in the triple jump (31-93/4).

For Hillsboro, JuliAnne Chisholm won the high jump (5-8), the 100-meter hurdles (14.75), the 300-meter hurdles (49.01) and anchored the winning 4x400 with teammates Carrie Schroeder, Tiffany Rooker and Tina Frick.

Chisholm's time in the 300 hurdles broke her own meet record of 15.64 set last year.

"She separated herself from the field by the first hurdle as she exploded out of the blocks into the wind while at its greatest strength," Boldt said. "Winning the race by over five seconds showed just how much power she has in this race."

Frick turned in the Trojans' only other top-three finishes for the Trojans. She placed second in the 100-meter hurdles (15.64) and 300-meter hurdles (54.71).

Peabody-Burns and Centre also competed at the track meet.

Peabody-Burns boys placed ninth with 15 points; the girls did not score. Andrew Topham won the 3,200 meters (10:32.94) for the Warriors' only top-three finish.

Centre boys placed 11th with 11 points and the girls 10th with 2 points.

The best finish for the Cougar boys was a fifth-place effort by Jeremy Kristek in the pole vault (9-6). For the girls, Jackie Klenda placed sixth in the 400 meters (1:13.37).