Under the direction of head coach Steve Strecker, the Liberty Middle School seventh and eighth grade track teams closed out the 2010 season with a strong finish at the nine-team Kennedy Invitational Track Meet in Hays.
Even though they weren’t at the top of the points standings at the end of the day, Strecker was once again pleased with the efforts and performances of his athletes.
“The kids competed really well. We didn’t score a lot of points but we had some individual personal bests and our relay teams set season best marks, too,” Strecker said. “Even with our personal bests, we were still finishing fifth and sixth in the events. But competition like this will make us better.”
The past three meets have been larger meets against bigger schools with more athletes participating than Liberty has. The Greenbacks have scored well in these meets.
“These kids got a lot better as the season went along. This is a whole new coaching staff (David Swank, Bryan Pixler, Sandi Armstrong) and they kept it pretty simple and communicated well with the kids,” Strecker said. “There will be some good track athletes come from this group.”
Seventh Grade Girls
1 – Hays Felten 135
2 – Great Bend 124
3 – Hays Kennedy 47
4 – Pratt Liberty 41
5 – Larned 31
LMS Results
100-meter dash – Paige Bailey, 14.13, 3rd; 4x200 relay - (Mary Sklar, Chloe Cannata, Reiley Perez, Savannah Buntemeyer) 2:06, 3rd; 4x400 relay - (Mary Sklar, Chloe Cannatta, Savannah Buntemeyer, Paige Bailey), 4:47, 1st; 4x100 relay – (Sklar, Perez, Buntemeyer, Bailey), 58.06, 3rd; 800-meter dash – Nichole Moreland, 2:56.72, 5th; Discus – Samaria Kohman, 67’ 4”, 4th; Shot Put – Kohman, 27’ 9 ¾”, 3rd, Courtney Blankenship, 23’ 10 ¾”, 6th.
Seventh Grade Boys
1 – Hays Felten 133
2 – Great Bend 107
3 – McPherson 73
4 – Scott City 48
5 – Larned 30
6 – Pratt Liberty 27
LMS Results
100-meter hurdles – Brandon Ruckle, 19.13, 6th; 1600-meter run – Josh Ash, 5:44.37, 6th; 4x200 relay – (Tyler Foreman, Nick Koler, Nate Houdyshell, Dakota Venard), 1:56.33, 3rd; 4x400 relay – (Ethan Sharp, Ash, Devin Roberts, Houdyshell), 4:24.15, 3rd; 4x100 relay – (Foreman, Koler, Houdyshell, Venard), 54.18, 3rd; 800-meter dash – Joe Loomis, 2:33.72, 6th; Long Jump – Venard, 14’ 9”, 3rd.
Eighth Grade Girls
1 – Great Bend – 158
2 – McPherson 73
3 - Hays Felten 70
4 – Scott City 51
5 - Hays Kennedy 43
6 – Pratt Liberty 34
LMS Results
100-meter dash – Breanna Domann, 13.95, 5th; 1600-meter run – Adele Loomis, 6:18.26, 6th; 200-meter dash – Christina Fernandez, 29.89, 5th; 4x400 relay – (Bailey Gillig, Domann, Fernandez, Amy Olson), 4:37.67, 4th; 4x100 relay – (Jaci Kolm, Olson, Fernandez, Domann), 55.82, 5th; 800-meter dash – Loomis, 2:49.17, 5th, Fernandez, 2:54, 6th; Long Jump – Olson, 13’ 11”, 3rd; Triple Jump – Olson, 31’ 2”, 3rd.
Eighth Grade Boys
1 – Hays Felten 155
2 – Great Bend 114
3 – McPherson 76
4 – Pratt Liberty 34
5 – Scott City 33
LMS Results
100-meter hurdles – Josh Shumway, 16.95, 2nd, Shawn Ramos, 17.23, 3rd; 4x200 relay – (Ryan Landry, Drew Dobbs, Christian Kurz, Cesar Regalado), 1:50.22, 5th; 4x400 relay – (Ramos, Liam Kahmeyer, Regalado, Dobbs), 4:09.19, 3rd; 4x100 relay – (Landry, Ramos, Kurz, Regalado), 53.01, 5th; Triple Jump – Dobbs, 33’10 ¾”, 3rd.
