Hillsboro put in several strong performances, but in the end both the boys? and girls? teams trailed Hesston in the competition for the first Central Kansas League team titles Thurs?day at Joel H. Wiens Stadium.
The Swathers boys rolled up 114 points to outpace runner-up Lyons with 85. Following those two schools were Pratt and Sterling with 67, Halstead 58, Hillsboro and Smoky Valley 56, Nickerson 26, Kingman 18 and Haven 8.
In the girls? division, Hesston led with 121 points, followed by Pratt with 101, Kingman 81, Haven 57, Smoky Valley 53, Lyons 35, Sterling 29, Halstead 26, Hills?boro 25 and Nickerson 24.
As the inaugural league meet for the CKL, all first-place performances also stand as league records. Two Hillsboro athletes accomplished that fete.
For the boys, Joel Allen won the 3,200 meters in a time of 10:29.22?nearly 18 seconds faster than runner-up Tyler Roberts of Sterlling.
Callie Serene won the Trojan girls? only gold with a time of 2:27.88 in the 800,r a victory margin of nearly six seconds over Madison Caffery of Haven.
?In both cases, these runners jumped out and established control of their respective races and set the tone,? coach Dennis Boldt said.
Other top-three performances for the Trojans included a pair of second-place efforts by Shaq Thiessen.
The sophomore cleared 6 feet 2 inches in the high jump and went 22-21?2 in the long jump, both personal bests.
?He has great leaping ability in both the horizontal and vertical jumps,? Boldt said.
Also claiming silver medals weas the 4×800 relay team of Josh Richert, Justin King, Bret Mueller and Allen, who crossed the finish line in 8:27.37, less than five seconds behind Hess?ton.
Placing third for the Trojans were Allen in the 1,600 (4:44.38), Heather Mayfield in the high jump (4-4) and Ashley Bartel in the pole vault (7-6).
?I felt our team performed very well, with the more experienced athletes scoring medals, and the younger athletes getting personal bests,? Boldt said.
?We have a strong league and that is indicated by the many points scored by different teams.
The advantage of competing in a stronger league is that we have a better idea of how we will perform in the upcoming regional.?
Regionals?Hillsboro will be hosting the Class 3A regional Friday at Joel H. Wiens Stadium.
Joining the Trojans in the field will be Chaparral, Conway Springs, Council Grove, Garden Plain, Southeast of Saline, Halstead, Hutchinson Trinity, Lyons, Marion, Medicine Lodge, Sedgwick, Sterling, Remington, Wichita Collegiate and Wichita Independent. Field events begin at 3 p.m., and running preliminaries at 4:30 p.m. Finals begin 30 minutes after the completion of preliminaries.
