Balanced Lady Wildcats pull away from competition for title

Blue Springs' Tyra Bickham competes in the discus during Friday's Gary Parker Invitational. Bickham set personal
bests in both the discus and shot put, taking second in both events. 

Blue Springs pole vaulter Megan Wright has come a long way in just one year.

Around this time last year, Wright was peaking around 10-feet, and while it seems like small potatoes now, she had set the school record of 9-6.

A year later she has a second place finish at the state meet under her belt and she continues to beat her own school record, doing it again Friday night at the Gary Parker Invitational by clearing 11-6.

“I joked with her last week because I found my entry sheet to the Springfield meet from last year and I entered her height at 9-6,” Wildcats head coach Jennifer Reeder said. “She dedicated herself year-round to vaulting and it’s paying off. I’m excited about where she is and where she can go.

“It’s good to see her get confidence and have good vaults in April.”

Wright’s vault not only helped the team win the meet with 141 points, but finally clearing 11-6 was the next step in her continued quest to a state title.

“I’ve gotten 11-6 in practice before, but not at a meet yet, so I was excited. It’s official now,” Wright said with a laugh. “I had a good feeling I would get it. We were inside and there was a raised runway, which helps you run faster. And I also had a new pole. That allowed me to go higher. This was one of my best chances to make 11-6."

This season has been gold medal after gold medal for Wright, who is doing everything she can to use these meets as preparation for May.

“It’s all technique,” said Wright of what she uses these meets for. “I’m learning from others that I watch, learning what to do and what not to do. I’m just figuring out what I need to work on.”

Wright currently has the second-best vault in the state this season behind Lee’s Summit West’s Brittany Kallenberger, the defending state champ, but Reeder is hopeful Wright can make another run like last year.

“If she continues to pick it up like she did last year than the sky is the limit,” she said.

The sky appears to be the limit for the entire Wildcat squad, as they put on an impressive team performance. They would go on to score in all but two events.

“To take home the title at our home meet, I’m very happy about that,” Reeder said. “This team, we don’t have a lot of depth but we have talent in multiple areas.”

Blue Springs' Bri Starr won the long jump with a
leap of 17 feet in her first meet of the season at
Friday's Gary Parker Invitational. She also took
second in the triple jump.

And that was obvious as the results kept rolling in.

Freshman Gabby Hall continues to run well, winning the 200- and 400-meter dashes. The other first for the Wildcats went to Bri Starr in the long jump at 17 feet in what was her first meet of the season.

“She rocked it today. I’m excited about where she can go from here,” Reeder said. “Stuff like that, we need that to beat Lee’s Summit North at conference.”

Blue Springs had several runner-up finishes as well.

Tyra Bickham set two personal bests in the shot put (40-3) and discus (124-10) for second in both events.

“I’m happy that she hit those this early,” Reeder said. “She was in the shadow of Monett (Jackson) last year but she’s the leader of the throwers this year.”

Also coming in second was Lizzy Wendell in the high jump, Starr in the triple jump, Tyonna Snow in the long jump and the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays.

Rounding out the top three finishers were Cali Bissel (pole vault), Julia Dury (3,200) and the 3,200-meter relay team.

All in all, there was plenty for Reeder to be satisfied with as May approaches.

“I’m very encouraged,” she said. “We won the Rusty Hodge meet but Lee’s Summit North wasn’t there. But they were here today and I’m not sure how they were using all their girls, but I’m still going to take it as a win and use it to pump the girls up the rest of the year.”