HS Track: Yates Center
The Yates Center track and field team competed in the Pre-State Challenge at Wichita State. The meet brings together some of the best talents in the state to compete against talent that they may not face during the normal season.
Junior distance runner Hadley Splechter along with teammates seniors Jordan Smith, Kobe Forsyth and Colin Bedell competed in the 4×800 relay in the Elites division which is where the top talent from 6A-1A compete. The rest of the Wildcat team competed in the 1-3A section of the meet.
Unsurprisingly, Splechter fought off the states top talent. Splechter notched first-place finishes in both the 1600-meter run (4:30.64) and the 3200-meter run (10:09).
It was a close one though. He out-paced senior Bryce Merriman of Maize South High School by one second in the 1600. In the 3200, he beat Great Bend senior Kerby Depenbusch by .84 seconds.
The 4×800-meter team lost out on first place to Bishop Carroll who took first by just 1.37 seconds.
Other top-10 finishes in the 1-3A division include Thayne Smith who placed eighth in the 100-meter dash (11.78), Forsyth who along with the 4×800 performance, put up a sixth-place 400-meter dash finish (53.31), Austin Crab-tree who finished ninth in the 110-meter hurdles (17.88), Bedell finished fourth in the 2000-meter steeplechase (7:07) and the 4×400-meter relay team of Crabtree, Forsyth, JAngelo Garcia and Quin Lowder finished third with a time of 3:41.
The Wildcats will get another good look at talent from around the state this weekend when they head to Lawrence to compete in the KU Relays.
