Good meet for Indian runner
By NICK McQUEEN
nmcqueen@dailynews.net
WICHITA -- Going into the Class 5A State Track and Field Championships at Cessna Stadium, Hays High School sophomore Josh Munsch held the second-best time in the boys' 1,600-meter run.
The runner with the state's fastest time wasn't in contention, so Munsch felt he was primed for his first state crown early in his Indian career.
Heading down the home stretch with a noticeable lead, even Munsch knew it probably wouldn't last.
"I wasn't quite so happy on the mile," Munsch said following his fourth-place finish in the 800, the third of his three state events Saturday. "I kind of went out slow, and made it more of a kickers' race at the end."
Munsch, though, capped his day with a third medal by taking fourth in the 800, the same event he finished sixth in as a freshman.
The 800 pleased him, but the Indian standout knew he didn't have much left after the straightaway foot race in the 1,600.
"Second place, still can't be too unhappy," Munsch said. "But it still could have been a little faster."
Munsch's time of 4 minutes, 31.73 seconds earned him the first silver medal of his career, taking second behind Emporia senior Jacob Davies, who passed him in the final 30 meters to claim the win, finishing in 4:30.84.
"I was thinking (the lead) was too good to be true," Munsch said. "I wasn't really surprised though, because he is pretty fast."
Munsch turned his head as Davies passed on his right side to claim the win, but couldn't get the kick he needed.
"You have to keep getting faster and faster," he said. "Next season, I'll look to break my own record, get back to this thing -- then give it another shot."
Earlier in the day, Munsch and the Indians' 3,200-meter relay team captured a sixth-place medal with a time of 8:16.94, despite a leg injury sustained last week to one of its senior runners, Sol Jackson.
Jackson, the third leg of the relay, pulled out halfway through his 400-meter dash preliminary Friday, favoring the leg he tweaked during the 5A regional at Newton.
"That put us at a little slower time,"¬ Munsch said. "Coach just told me if we were out of it, to just try and medal, and we came away with at least that today."
Munsch moved the Indians from eighth to sixth to earn the medal, one of nine combined on the weekend for the Indian boys and girls. Munsch earned two of them individually, and one on the relay.
In the 800, Munsch started out (unintentionally) at the back of the pack, and moved all the way to fourth before running out of gas toward the finish.
"I realized quick that I started that thing way too slow in that," Munsch said. "I was pretty tired and didn't get the jump I needed."
Indian senior hurdler Kristen Fleharty bettered her performance from last year's 100-meter hurdle race. The Fort Hays State University signee and Hays High record holder in the event ran a 15.43 Saturday to take third place, bettering last year's fourth-place finish with a worse time. Later in the day, she finished eighth in the 300 hurdles, where last year she finished third, finishing in 49.01.
On Friday, Tyler Rathke put his name on the map for the Indians. The sophomore finished third in the 5A discus, trailing only Liberal standout senior Joe Bach and Newton senior Jordan Voelker. The two were two of the top three discus throwers in the state this season. Rathke threw 156 feet, 3 inches to claim the bronze medal and get his state throwing career off on a good note, he said.
"This is really cool, especially with some of the guys competing in this thing,"¬ Rathke said, again noting Bach and Voelker as the best two in the state this season.
Bach threw 171-0, 15 feet off his season best to win the state title for the second time in his four-year Redskin career.
Rathke threw his third-place toss on his second attempt in the preliminaries.
"I knew I could to it, I just needed a good wind, and I got it today," Rathke said Friday. "I was hoping for 160, but I will take 156 -- not a bad day."
Rathke improved his regional seed by 14 feet, coming in seeded at 142-5.
"I had two good ones, and then the wind started shifting directions," he said. "I got a little off, and never could really get it back."
HHS state notes
*¬ Indian sophomore Kylie Gaughan started Hays High's weekend with an eighth-place finish in the girls' 3,200-meter run Friday morning. Gaughan ran a 12:20.40, missing the state medal by nearly 14 seconds.
*¬ Junior Trenton Oborny missed a medal on misses in the 5A pole vault. Oborny cleared 13-6, but took eighth place on misses at 13-0. Gardner Edgerton junior Isaac Mallory set a new 5A meet record by clearing 16-0 to break Winfield's Jeramy Mall's record of 15-9 set in 1994.
*¬ In the girls' shot put Friday, Indian junior Ticha Rebarchek threw 35-8Ôªø1âÑ2 to claim a sixth-place finish. The throw came on her last toss of the finals.
*¬ Sophomore Ashli Dryden was part of a highly-contested 5A girls' triple jump Saturday. Dryden jumped 36-1 to finish sixth, but the top two spots were decided on a tiebreaker. Emporia freshman Sarah Kolmer went 36-11Ôªø1âÑ4 on her final attempt, only to be matched by Mill Valley junior Katie Bauer on her last attempt. The tiebreaker went to Bauer because of her second-best jump.
*¬ Junior Raena Sander put the finishing touches on a fifth-place medal for the Indian girls' 3,200-meter relay team early Saturday. The Indians finished in 10:08.31, earning a state medal for freshman Sheradin Fabrizius, Gaughan, junior Sarah Disney, as well as Sander.
*¬ In the final event of the day, Fleharty anchored the Indians' sixth-place finishing 1,600-meter relay, which ran 4:10.20 in a tight race most of the way. Dryden had the lead after one lap, and Fabrizius was caught in a thick pack most of the second leg. Sander ran the third leg, before Fleharty finished it off in the last race of her Indian career.