March 31 Track Meet Recap

The East girls’ track and field team placed second and the boys’ team placed seventh at the Shawnee Mission South Relays on Saturday.  The track and field team competed against 11 other schools.  

Despite the 50 degree weather, junior Jessie Stindt broke the triple jump meet record, the best length that an individual girl has jumped at this meet, with a 37-03.5 foot jump.  Sophomore Destiny Ray also broke the 200 meter meet record, the best time that an individual girl has ever ran at this meet, with a 25.90 second sprint.  

“I’ve had better days, but it was exciting to break the meet record,” Ray said.  “I’m ahead of where I was last year so it’s reassuring from that aspect.”  

In addition, both the boys’ and girls’ 4×800 meter relay teams won first place.  The girls relay team won their race with a time of 10:05, and the boys won with a time of 8:22. This year, the boys 4×800 meter relay team consists of all seniors, so they are considered one of the top contenders for state. However, after hsaving their anchor, Tess Iler, graduate last year, the girls relay team has been training harder to ensure their position at state.   

“We ran a 10:05 at KU Relays last year, and KU Relays this year is still a month away,” 4×800 meter runner and senior Devon Dietrich said.  “It’s really exciting because it shows us that we could have a shot at placing higher than fourth at state this year.”  

Junior Ingrid Worth anchored the 4×800 meter relay team with a time of 2:26, and won her 3200 meter race by 26 seconds. So far this year, Worth is undefeated in all four events that she has raced.

“I was very happy with how I raced because I was close to my fastest 800 time,” Worth said.  “In the 3200 I won, which was a good feeling, but I also felt like I could have gone faster.”

For the field portion of this sport, sophomore Kennedy Krumm placed fifth in the discus throw, and senior Parker Shirling placed second in the javelin throw.

Given the conditions of the day, Coach Emily Fossoh felt like the team performed well and is on the right track to placing in the top 10 at state.  However, all athletes will be looking forward to warmer meets to keep their muscles loose.