Linn County athletes bring back three State medals

WICHITA -- Athletes from Linn County's area schools, Pleasanton and Jayhawk-Linn, returned from the Class 2A State Track and Field Championships with a total of three medals, all of them earned on Friday.

Only three events involving county athletes were held Saturday with none resulting in a top-seven finish required to earn a medal.

Pleasanton sophomore Taylor Rothenberger came the closest as she finished ninth in girls' discus with a best effort of 101 feet, 9 inches. The event champion was senior Jordyn Alexander of Washington County, who went 127' 8".

Ashtynn Miller, a Jayhawk-Linn sophomore, finished 12th in girls' shot put at 32' 4". Stanton County junior Mauri Steimel, who was the State runner-up last year, took the title at 38' 8 1/4".

J-Linn sophomore Megan Leavitt finished 16th in the girls' 1,600-meter run in 6:21.81. Last year's third-place finisher, Lincoln junior Jenna Farris, moved to the top this year in 5:16.88. Last year's runner-up, Wichita County junior Paige Wells, finished second again in 5:16.94

Area medalists were Pleasanton's Preston Coffman, who took second in boys' pole vault for the second straight season -- last year in Class 1A, Pleasanton's Karessa Lewis, who was sixth in girls' long jump, and Jayhawk-Linn's Austin Coleman, who finished fifth in boys' discus.

BOYS

Pole vault: 1. Nick Beach, Bennington, 14' 3"; 2. Preston Coffman, Pleasanton, 14' 0"; 3. Riley Hunsicker, Ellis, 13' 6"; 4. Ethan Penner, Elbing Berean Academy, 13' 6"; 5 (tie). Quin Kendrick, Stanton County, and Kyle Dupree, Syracuse, 12' 6"; 7. Briar Belcher, Shawnee Maranatna Academy, 12' 6"

Discus: 1. Jameson Klein, Plainville, 160' 7"; 2, Issac Hall, Olpe, 143' 8"; 3. Trevor Miley, Ellsworth, 143' 7"; 4. Morgan Davis, Meade, 142' 1"; 5. Austin Coleman, Jayhawk-Linn, 139' 8"; 6. Kale Terril, Smith Center, 137' 8"; 7. Colby Overturf, Stanton County, 134' 0".

GIRLS

Long jump: 1. Anna Petrowsky, Pratt-Skyline, 16' 11"; 2. Tarah Wiens, Meade, 16' 5"; 3. Emmy Redeker, Olpe, 16' 4 3/4"; 4. Emma Dees, Brookville--Ell-Saline, 16' 4 1/2"; 5. Kimberly Cooper, Jefferson County North, 16' 3 1/2"; 6. Karessa Lewis, Pleasanton, 16' 2 1/2"; 7. Rohey Singateh, Rawlins County, 15' 10 3/4".