By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The KU Relays at Rock Chalk Park on the outskirts of Lawrence once again drew many of the top high school track and field athletes from around the regional last Thursday through Saturday. For the first time in years, Great Bend High School was able to participate.
The distance medley relay team of Sienna Smith, Sadie Spray, Reese Bullard, and Addy Nicholson finished ninth overall Friday in 12:50.53, setting a new school record in the process. Blue Springs (Mo.) took the gold by 15 seconds in 12:11.68. Entering the weekend, no Kansas team had gone faster than 13:07.
Friday morning, senior Macy Nachtigal made the finals in the javelin competition with a final preliminary throw of 133-1. That throw proved to be her best for seventh place. Nachtigal retains her lead in Class 5A this season and is currently top-10 among all Kansas throwers.
"I was ranked 11th coming in here so that was my one goal (to make the finals),” she said. “To place seventh and PR, it’s cool.”
Also on Friday, senior Eliana Beckham cut more than two seconds off her 800m time to finish 21st in 2:21.45. Omaha's Stella Miner won the race by eight seconds in 2:06.68. Beckham currently ranks No. 8 in Class 5A.
On Saturday, the 4x800 team of Beckham, Smith, Bullard, and Nicholson ran six seconds off a season-best to place 18th in 9:56.98. Blue Springs won the race by nearly a second in 9:20.87. Great Bend is ranked No. 3 in Class 5A.
On the boys' side, freshman Cooper Ohnmacht finished 19th in the triple jump at 42-11.5. The winning mark came in at 47-1.75. With some big marks from 5A jumpers over the weekend, Ohnmacht's best mark of 44-5 is now the fourth-best in the classification.
