Sechrist paces HHS at Hesston

Emily Sechrist leads the pack after the first lap of the 3,200-meter run. She broke her own meet record, winning handily in 11:47.13. She also won the 1,600 and was second in the 800. For her effort, she was named the Outstanding Female Athlete at the Hesston Invitational.The Hillsboro track and field team picked up three gold medals Friday at the Hesston Invitational.

Emily Sechrist nearly picked up three golds by herself. The junior distance standout won the 3,200 meters in 11:47.13 and the 1,600 in 5:39.84. She fell just short of a three-sweep by finishing second in the 800 in 2:30:42, less than a second and a half behind Caitlin Schlickau of Haven.

She also ran a leg on the Trojans? 4×400 team.

Sechrist?s 3,200 time eclipsed the meet record she set as a freshman, which was 11:47.18.

She won the 3,200 by 20 seconds and the 1,600 by about 3.5 seconds against runner-up Mikala Heddin from Hesston.

For her effort, Sechrist was named Outstanding Female Athlete for the meet.

?Emily is a competitor and she was on a mission today to score well in all three events as well as run a good leg in the 4×400,? coach Dennis Boldt said. ?She obviously met the challenge.?

Jesse Brown picked the only gold medal for the boys by clearing 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump.

Grant Knoll came close twice, finishing second to Steven Cline of Halstead in both the 3,200 and 1,600. Knoll?s 3,200 time of 10:46.88 was just under 20 seconds behind Cline, but his 4:41.27 time in the 1,600 was a scant 0.13 seconds slower.

Avery Franz turned in two bronze-medal performances with a leap of 40-3 in the triple jump and a time of 54.75 in the 400 meters. He placed fifth in long jump at 18-93?4.

?Grant continued to run excellent times, setting personal records today in both (races),? Boldt said. ?Avery and Jesse also continue to score well in the horizontal and vertical jumps.?

Other Trojans to score points by finishing among the top six in their event were: Marah Franz, fourth in pole vault at 9-0; Brown, fourth in long jump at 18-111?4, Cody Craney, fourth in shot put with a career-best heave of 44-4 and the 4×100 team of Travis King, Craney, Franz and Brown placed fifth in 47.32.

As for team scores, the Trojan girls, with 28 points generated by Sechrist, placed fifth among 11 schools with 35 points. Hesston won with 100. The boys placed fourth with 52 points. Marion claimed top honors with 105.5.

?We had a very good day at the meet today, and I am very proud of the efforts of our track athletes,? Boldt said.

Coming?Hillsboro will compete Thursday in the Central Kansas League meet at Halstead. Events begin at 2 p.m.

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