Sunday, April 29, 2012

Blue Springs track and field teams strong at Kirkwood Invite

Without Deiondre Hall on the track or in the field and a few others not running their normal events, the Blue Springs boys track and field team still managed a third place finish in the Kirkwood Invitational Saturday.

“We’re still holding out Deiondre (because of a hip injury) and we didn’t run Simon (Belete) in the distance runs, so I feel that showing was very strong. We got some good stuff out of it,” Wildcats head coach Joe Cusack said.

The Wildcats got two firsts, as the 3,200-meter relay team of James Barnett, Belete, Stephen Mugeche and Dominic Piccinini won with a time of 8 minutes, 5.23 seconds, a season best, and Mugeche also won the 3,200-meter run in a time of 9:36.

“We got great splits out of those guys,” Cusack said of the relay. “And Stephen had the race won handily. He’s doing great. Simon is our leader in that event but we’re trying to get two all-state guys in that event.”

Cusack was pleased with the showing all the relays put together, as the 1,600 relay took third and the 400 relay placed fourth with a time of 42.61.

“The 4x100 had a fantastic time. With Deiondre sitting out we still ran a 42.61,” Cusack said. “Two of the three that beat us are the top two teams in the state in Class 4. And the 4x400 continues to lower their time. We had three solid relay showings.”

Other strong individual performances were Erron Holley taking second in the 200, David Johnson finishing second in the discus, Chris Clark fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and Danny Thompson taking fourth in the pole vault.

The Wildcats will now get ready for the Suburban Big Six Conference meet starting with prelims Wednesday and finishing with finals Friday.

“I feel real good about where we are,” Cusack said. “We’re going to hold Deiondre out again until districts, but we’re going to try and win regardless of personnel. The conference has some solid teams.”

The Blue Springs girls team also had a strong showing at Kirkwood with five firsts and 11 top three finishes.

The Wildcats were dominant in the field events with Tyra Bickham taking first in the shot put with a throw of 40-1 and taking second in the discus. Megan Wright was strong once again in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet and taking first, Tyonna Snow won the long jump at 17-8.50 and Bri Starr won the triple jump by going 36-4.

Gabby Hall had the lone first on the track, winning the 200 with a time of 26.03.

Other top three finishes went to Lizzy Wendell placing second in the high jump and Cali Bissel earning third in the pole vault. Blue Springs also had two seconds in the relays – the 800 and 3,200 – while taking third in the 400 relay.

The girls team will also be at the conference meet starting Wednesday at Blue Springs South. 

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