ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
With their best performances coming when it counted the most,
Hillsboro High School qualified 13 athletes in 11 events for state
track and field competition this weekend in Wichita, and set two
school records to boot during Friday?s Class 3A regional track meet at
Cheney.
?We work through the year to peak at this time, and by the looks of
our times, most of the athletes had their best day today,? said coach
Dennis Boldt.
?The goal of my program at this time of the year is to simply qualify
as many athletes as possible for the state championships,? he added.
To do so, the Trojans had to finish among the top three in their
respective events, or be among the two best fourth-place finishers
among the four Class 3A regionals held across the state.
The boys? state qualifiers were Ryan Jilka in the 110-meter high
hurdles (fourth) and 300-meter intermediate hurdles (third), Scott
Winter in the shot put (third), Garrett Call in the 800-meter run
(fourth), and the 4×800 (third) relay teams.
Running the 4×800 were Adam Jilka, Vance Frick, Peter Richert and
Garrett Call.
In several events, Hillsboro came about as close as you can to
qualifying, but not quite close enough.
Alan Yoder finished fourth in 100-meter dash, but his time of 11.5
tied another athlete for that final 14th qualifying spot, so neither
one was accepted.
The boys 4×100 relay team of Adam Jilka, Phillip Terrell, Ross
Duerksen and Ryan Jilka suffered the same fate.
The boys? 4×400 relay of Adam Jilka, Duerksen, Alan Yoder and Ryan
Jilka also finished fourth, but missed qualifying by a tenth of a
second.
?The most exciting thing about the boys? team is the finish of the
three relays, each finishing in the top four,? Boldt said. ?Each relay
had their best time of the year, and you can ask for nothing more than
that.?
The girls who qualified for state were Shannon Kroeker in the
800-meter run (first place) and the high jump (second), defending
state champion Angela Kroeker in the discus (first), Jacey Boese
(third) and Julie Hett (fourth) in the 400-meter dash, and all three
relay teams: the 4×100, 4×400 and 4×800.
Two of those relay teams set school records.
The 4×400 team composed of the Kroeker sisters, Hett and Boese broke
the tape in a winning time of 4:03.70, shaving 0.14 seconds off the
mark set in 1997.
The 4×800 relay team of Angela Kroeker, Cheryl Prieb, Alisa Jost and
Shannon Kroeker broke the school record for the fifth consecutive
meet, finishing first in a time of 10:06.30?almost two seconds faster
than their previous mark.
The 4×100 team of Jenna Jost, Angela Kroeker, Hett and Boese placed
third in a time of 51.8, missing the existing school record by 0.7 of
a second.
As a team, the girls finished third and the boys fifth in the
16-school competition. Conway Springs won the girls? title with 106
points, followed by Halstead with 80 and Hillsboro with 66. Marion was
right behind in fourth with 52 points.
The home team from Cheney prevailed among the boys with 91 points.
Hillsboro, with 49 points, also trailed Medicine Lodge, Conway Springs
and Southeast of Saline. Marion finished 10th.
The Warriors qualified three boys for state competition: Braxton
Skiles in the triple jump (second), Justin Hett in the pole vault
(third) and Mark Hanson in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles
(fourth).
Hallie Bennett qualified for the girls in the long jump (first) and
triple jump (third) and Chevon Beisel in the 100 (fourth) and 200
(third). Both girls also were members of the qualifying 4×100 relay
team, joining Jessica Moore and Havi Wilcox for a second-place finish.
Also qualifying for Marion were Jessica Reid in the discus (fourth)
and Shawna Hett in the pole vault (third).
Boldt feels his Hillsboro Trojans will fare well at this weekend?s
state meet.
?Both the girls? and boys? teams have enough entries to finish high in
the team standings,? he said. ?But the emphasis is truly to get there,
first, then hope everyone has their best performance of the season
next Friday and Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, each athlete
should
11 Trojans on track to state competition
