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| Blue Springs senior Deiondre Hall prepares for his third jump in the triple jump at Friday's Gary Parker Invitational. Hall won the event with a school-record jump of 47 feet, 7 3/4 inches. |
The performance left head coach Joe Cusack with nothing
to do but gush about the leaders of the group.
“The kids performed very well, from our seniors down the
line,” he said. “Seniors Deiondre Hall, Erron Holley, Jacob Belke, Tyler Ray
and David Johnson went to another level to win this meet.”
Holley and Hall – as usual – were right in the thick of
things.
Holley had possibly his best high school meet, winning both
the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while also running a leg on the
gold-medal-winning 400-meter relay team and a leg in the 1,600-meter team,
which took second.
Not a bad days work.
“Last year I trained hard but I didn’t play football. This
year I played football and I think that’s helped me,” Holley said. “I got a lot
of good speed work in. I just worked hard.”
His win in the 100 may have been the most impressive, as he
beat both Liberty’s Adorin Dorsey and Staley’s Morgan Steward – the second and
third place finishers, respectively, at state last year – by running a 10.95.
“In the 100 I knew I had a shot at the top three,” Holley
said. “I beat the kid from Liberty, which I’ve never done before. I was happy
about that.”
Added Cusack, “Erron had a phenomenal meet. Any time you win
against Liberty it’s a big thing. Holley knows Dorsey is going to come after
him. I don’t mind Liberty getting better because they make us better. He’s definitely
ahead of where he was last year.”
Holley joined DaShaughn Terry, Chris Clark and Deiondre Hall
to win the 400 relay in a time of 42.84.
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| Blue Springs' Erron Holley ran past the competition in the 200-meter dash at Friday's Gary Parker Invitational. He also won the 100. |
“I was excited. We’re not usually first in the relay,”
Holley said. “We had a different rotation tonight and once we got to the third
leg Deiondre took it home.”
Hall did his usual thing in the field events, despite not
doing the high jump, by winning the long and triple jump. His jump of 47 feet, 7
3/4 inches set the school record, while his final leg of the relay opened some
eyes as well.
“Hall had an incredible meet and he didn’t do all of his
events. That’s the first race (400-meter relay) he’s done on the track this season and he looked
fantastic,” Cusack said.
Tyler Ray picked up a gold medal as well for the Wildcats,
edging out teammate David Johnson in the discus by 3 1/2 inches at 163-7 1/2.
“Both of those guys had personal bests in their final home
meet,” Cusack said. “They’re good friends but they compete. Tyler got him on
the last throw.”
Chris Clark did his best to stay with Blue Springs South’s
Ben Harvel in the 300 hurdles, taking second with a time of 39.25. Danny
Thompson bumped his personal best up from 11-3 to 12-10 in the pole vault to
finish second.
“Thompson was out of this world to get a PR in the pole vault,”
Cusack said.
The 1,600-meter relay team closed out the meet with a second
place finish. James Barnett finished third in the 800, while Jacob Peister was
third in the triple jump.
A bevy of other solid performances had Holley and Cusack in
good spirits about the team at this point in the season.
“Coach tells us everyday that we’re a state team,” Holley
said. “We just have to work for it. Everyone has to do their part.”
Added Cusack, “I think they’re starting to realize (they
could do something special). We’re staying with the plan.”
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| Blue Springs South's Ben Harvel jumps over a hurdle during the 300-meter event at Friday's Gary Parker Invitational. Harvel won the event with a time of 38.47 seconds. |
Blue Springs South finished in sixth place with 50.5 points.
While Harvel was pushed a little bit by Blue Springs' Clark in the 300 hurdles, the senior still won the event in a time of 38.47.
The 800-meter relay team claimed the other gold medal with a time of 1:30.24,
even with a makeshift rotation. The 400 relay took third.
“Dylan Hernandez had some hamstring issues, so we pulled him out of both relays. Trey Ervin came up lame in the 100 today, so we scrambled at the last minute,” South head coach Troy Harding said. “We have five guys that can run in that. At the last minute we had to add a couple parts in both relays. I knew we would still run well but I was kind of surprised by our time in the 4x200.”
“Dylan Hernandez had some hamstring issues, so we pulled him out of both relays. Trey Ervin came up lame in the 100 today, so we scrambled at the last minute,” South head coach Troy Harding said. “We have five guys that can run in that. At the last minute we had to add a couple parts in both relays. I knew we would still run well but I was kind of surprised by our time in the 4x200.”
Harding was also pleased with the 110-meter high hurdles
combination of Tyler Blair (third) and Hunter Stoll (fifth).
“Getting two guys in the high hurdles was good for us,” he
said. “Tyler is really starting to come on for a young hurdler. He ended last
season really well. I expected him to take that step and he hasn’t
disappointed.”
Josh Watson finished fourth in the discus and Syrell Fuel
was fifth in the high jump to round out South’s top performances.
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