WICHITA — One could safely say that the 2016 track and field season did not go exactly according to plan for Joe Kline.
On April 12, the Humboldt runner tumbled down at the finish line during a track meet at Yates Center. Kline was leaning forward in an attempt to edge out Yates Center freshman Hadley Splechter.
Kline fell awkwardly on his arm and it gave out. He was quickly diagnosed with a broken arm.
The junior wasn’t scheduled to return to the Cub lineup until at least the league meet, if not the regional meet, but Kline beat the odds and was able to return on April 28 in Neodesha.
Kline ran for the next month with a cast on his arm, then a couple days before the Kansas State Track and Field Championships, literally had a weight taken off of his shoulders.
Kline had his cast removed just in time for his trip to Wichita.
“I’m glad I could get back at it,” Kline said. “I just got the cast removed two days ago, so it is kind of hard getting used to the lighter arm now.”
With his lighter appendage, Kline was able to pick up a pair of state medals in Wichita.
Kline jumped to the lead early in the 3A mile and was able to finish comfortably in third-place.
“I was really trying to be first the whole way and get first in the end, too,” Kline said. “Third isn’t bad though. It feels good to be in the top three. The time wasn’t what I wanted but I was glad I could get up there.”
Kline followed that performance up by anchoring the team’s 4×800-meter relay which finished in fifth.
Kline was joined on that team by seniors Anthony Doran, Wyatt Wehlage and Tanner Orth. They were able to turn in a time of 8:29.41.
Kline also competed in the 800-meter and finished in 11th place in that event.
Despite the two medals, Kline wasn’t satisfied with his trip to Wichita and the lack of a gold medal will drive him to push even harder going into 2017.
“It’s all about gold next year,” Kline said.
Kline’s teammate Bryce Isaac knew that going into Saturday, he was going to have a very busy day. With lightning cancelling the second-half of competition on Friday, that meant all of Isaac’s events would conclude on Saturday.
