Fueled by six first-place performances, the Hillsboro boys claimed second place Thursday at the Central Kansas League track and field meet at Sterling.
Shaq Thiessen and Josh Richert each won a pair of gold medals. Thiessen sailed 22 feet, 8 inches in the long jump and cleared 6-4 in the high jump, while Richert won the 1,600 meters in 4:40 and the 800 in 2:04.35.
Tyler Proffitt won the team?s fifth gold by clearing 14-0 in the pole vault while the 4×400 team of Micah Mashburn, Jordan Bezdeck, Richert and Avery Franz broke the string first in 3:40.49.
Franz added a second-place finish in the open 400 (54.0) and placed third in the triple jump (40-51?2). He also finished fourth in long jump (19-9).
Grant Knoll was the runner-up in the 3,200 in 10:53.79.
?Finishing second in our league is quite an accomplishment, and it was done in true team fashion,? coach Dennis Boldt said of his team. ?In a large meet, you have to get those top three places to have a chance to win, and still obtain points in multiple events to get you over the top. We did that today.
?Regardless of the sport, our league is tough, and perhaps track and field shows that best when all 10 teams get together on one day to decide the track championships.?
Meanwhile, the Trojan girls got a double win from Emily Sechrist in the distance races and a one-two finish in the pole vault to lead the team to seventh place among the 10 schools.
Sechrist remained undefeated for the season in both the 3,200 and 1,600 meters. She won the first race in 11:45.08 and the other in 5:24.22.
In the pole vault, Marah Franz took top honors by clearing 8-9 while teammate Ashley Bartel placed second at 8-0.
?I thought all of our athletes on both the boys? and girls? teams came to compete today,? Boldt said. ?They had the right mindset, and it became even more obvious when I needed to update so many season-best performances after the meet.?
Coming?Trojan athletes will compete for state berths Friday when they travel to Marion for a Class 3A regional meet.
In addition to the two county schools, the field will include Belle Plaine, Caney Valley, Douglass, Eureka, Garden Plain, Southeast of Saline, Halstead, Haven, Hutchinson Trinity, Bluestem, Sacred Heart, Sedg?wick, Remington and Wichita Independent.
?We look forward to regional competition next week and I am glad we are at the phase of the season in which we can concentrate on fine-tuning the technical aspects of each event,? Boldt said
