Big stage awaits javelin throwers
Two Tonganoxie High javelin standouts will battle other top high school throwers on Friday at the prestigious Kansas Relays on the Kansas University campus.
Senior Ali Pistora and junior Roxie Grizzle, are No. 1 and No. 2 in the 24-person high school field. The field runs the gamut of competition, from sophomore Miranda Wilgers at tiny Linn, a Class 1A school, to Liz Minoofar from 6A’s Blue Valley-Stillwell.
In the middle are Grizzle and Pistora from 4A Tonganoxie. Grizzle will look to win a second consecutive Kansas Relays crown. Last year, she took first with a throw of 148 feet, 1 inch, while Pistora finished third at 139-10.
Pistora also will compete in the high jump at 5 p.m. Friday, along with junior Tracie Hileman.
Hileman’s second event will be the 100 hurdles at 9:50 a.m. Saturday. If she advances to the finals, she would compete again at 2:45 p.m. Saturday.
Like Pistora and Hileman, Grizzle will compete in a second event — the shot put. She and sister Roni Grizzle, a sophomore, will throw at 8 a.m. Friday.
Senior Jennifer Wagner will run the 300 hurdles at 2:30 p.m. Friday, while Tonganoxie’s 4×100 relay team will compete in the preliminaries at 4:30 p.m. Friday. The finals are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.
Christy Weller is slated to compete in the 800, but start times for the event were not available.
No Tonganoxie boys team members will be competing at the 80th annual Kansas Relays.
Overall, 217 high schools will be represented at Memorial Stadium on the KU campus from Kansas and eight other states.
And, 150 colleges, universities and elite teams will participate, representing 14 states and four nations.
In other news, the complete Tonganoxie boys and girls teams competed Tuesday in the Bobcat Relays at Basehor-Linwood High School.
Results from that meet can be found in next week’s edition of The Mirror.