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Dawson 'surprised' by winning effort
WICHITA -- Not even Taylor Dawson herself thought she'd do this well at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships here Friday morning.
The Jayhawk-Linn freshman picked up the school's first gold medal in quite some time when she won the Class 3A long jump with a personal-best mark of 17 feet, 5 1/4 inches.
Dawson had jumped over 17 feet in her first meet of the season but hadn't done it since then.
"I was really nervous but I didn't really have any idea that I could get first," Dawson said Saturday. "I had a 17-2 that was close to that. I jumped that in my first meet at Central Heights."
But Dawson went 17' 1" on her third jump of preliminaries and thrust herself into contention for the finals.
First, though, she had to take care of some other things.
"First, I had the 4x1 (preliminary) so I had to get my (first) three jumps in really fast," Dawson recalled. "And then I had to run to the 4x1. Then I had the (long jump) finals and had to go straight to the 400 (prelim). So I was running around a lot."
Her second jump of finals turned out to be the winning mark, moving her over Julia Zeiner, a freshman from Marion-Florence who had gone 17' 3 1/3" on her first jump of finals. The best anyone else could do in the final round was 17 feet even.
"I was really surprised but it was really exciting," Dawson said.
Jayhawk-Linn's only medal on Saturday was brought home by freshman Morgan Eastwood, who finished sixth in the girls' 300-meter hurdles in 48.25 seconds. Katie Guevel, a senior from Burlington, broke the Class 3A meet record with a time of 43.76 seconds.
When all was said and done, Jayhawk-Linn had four medals, two for the boys -- both won by freshman Steven Mann in long jump and triple jump on Friday -- and Dawson and Eastwood for the girls.
Also on Saturday, freshman Briar Snyder finished eighth in the boys' 110-meter hurdles finals in 16 seconds flat. Marty Pfannenstiel of Silver Lake was the winner in 14.43, just missing a record by .04 seconds.
Dawson placed eighth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 61.04 seconds. The winner was Beloit senior Lauren Eck in 57.58.
Brogan Hoover, Eastwood, Cassie Rockers and Dawson were on the 4x100-meter relay team that finished eighth in 56.36. Wichita Independent was the winner in 49.89.
Hoover finished ninth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:28.44. Cori Christensen of Riley County won that event in 2:15.37.
Josh Beckman placed 10th in javelin with a best mark of 155' 1". The winning mark was 172' 8' by Wayne Bennett of Whitewater-Remington.
The girls' 4x800 relay team of Sylvia Grant, Stephanie Mayhugh, Hoover and Meriel Long finished 10th in 10:25.80. Salina Sacred Heart shattered the Class 3A meet record by about seven seconds in winning in 9:39.59.
Mayhugh was 12th in the 1,600 meters in 5:53.75. Annie Martin of Riley County was the winner in 5:04.81.
Finally, the boys' 4x800 relay team with Ryan Sutherland, Tyson Baker, Dwight Long and Brandon Early finished 16th in 9:08.90. Norton won that event in 8:07.57.
Team scoring saw Jayhawk-Linn's girls tie for 15th with Garden Plain and Hoisington, each scoring 14 points. Hillsboro won the Class 3A title with 59 points, its second in the past three years.
Jayhawk-Linn's boys scored six points to tie for 31st with Sabetha, Ellinwood and Gypsum-Southeast of Saline. Holcomb won its first State championship with 68 points.