THS teams plunge into Blazer invite
Roxi Grizzle is in the record books again.
The THS junior threw the javelin 160 feet, 2 inches Friday at the Blazer Invitational on Friday at Gardner-Edgerton High School.
Grizzle’s throw gave her a first-place finish at the meet and put her in second place in the nation this year among girls high school javelin throwers.
Roughly 16 states allow javelin at the high school level, according to THS girls coach Chris Weller.
“I think it’ll do in a pinch,” Weller said with a laugh. “It’s unreal.”
Grizzle breezed past the competition, as Paola’s Septembra Teuscher was the closest competitor — some 38 feet behind Grizzle’s best throw.
In third was Tonganoxie’s Chrissie Jeannin with a 121-5 throw. She continues to make strides in the event. Sami Franiuk placed fifth for Tonganoxie with a 111-7 throw. Ali Pistora, who has been the second half of Tonganoxie’s 1-2 punch with Grizzle, did not compete because the senior was on a college campus visit on Friday, Weller said.
Overall, the THS girls finished the day in third place with 101 points. Mill Valley won the meet with 142, while Gardner-Edgerton placed second with 129.
“I felt really good placing third overall with that type of competition,” Weller said. “Pretty good caliber of competition.”
The meet was delayed because there were reports of tornadoes in the area, but athletes came back to the Gardner-Edgerton stadium from their shelter and finished the meet.
Before the night was finished, Christy Weller placed first in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 29.96 seconds. Andie Jeannin placed third with a 2:33.58 time.
Ronnie Grizzle took home gold medals in both the shot put and discus. She won the shot put with a throw of 39-1.5 and the discus with a 116-6 toss. Sister Roxi Grizzle finished third with a 38-5 throw in the shot.
Tracie Hileman, another top point generator for Tonganoxie, won the long jump with a 16-5 mark and finished fourth in the high jump at 4-10.
THS’ 4×800 team of Abby Eisman, Meghan Puhr, Andie Jeannin and Christy Weller won with a 10:25 time.
“They really improved,” Weller said.
Another relay team, the 4×100 finished sixth with a 55-flat time. The 4×400 squad also placed sixth with a 4:36.27 finish.
One of the most challenging events, Weller said, was the 100 meter hurdles, as three of the state’s top four hurdlers competed at the meet. Jennifer Wagner placed third with a 16.88-second time, just behind De Soto’s Jacie Goelman (16.31) and Sara Exon (16.67).
Tonganoxie’s Rachel Bogard placed fifth with a 17.14 time. In the 300 hurdles, Wagner placed fifth (50.80), Bogard sixth (52.63) and Eisman seventh (54.23).
The Chieftains, who competed Tuesday at their own Tonganoxie Invitational, will compete again at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Piper and 3 p.m. Friday at the Shawnee Mission North Relays. The long-standing event moved to SM South last year because of renovations at North, but the meet will return to SM North on Friday.
THS boys track
Tonganoxie’s boys squad found itself in strange territory at the end of Friday’s meet at Gardner — not in first place.
The Chieftains had won all of their previous meets but finished sixth with 59 points Friday. Gardner-Edgerton won the meet with 120, while Mill Valley finished second with 87 and Bonner Springs third with 86. Paola placed fourth with 84 and Louisburg fifth with 71.
“This is by far our toughest regular-season meet of the year,” THS boys coach Phil Williams said.
Tyler Gurss again had a successful meet in the discus, throwing 130-5, good for second place behind Gardner-Edgerton’s Daniel Elrod, whose best throw was 149-8.
“Tyler Gurss has performed well all year in the discus,” Williams said. “He’s one of our most consistent throwers.”
In other events, Jeff Hughes finished second in the triple jump with a 42-foot jump.
Another silver went to Kendrick Whittington, whose 6-0 mark in the high jump was second only to Bonner Springs standout Eddie McCain, who finished at 6-6. Whittington also earned a bronze in the long jump with a 20-1.25 mark. DJ Gray finished fifth at 19-2.5.
“Our jumpers have been pretty consistent,” Williams said. “Jeff Hughes, Kendrick Whittington, those guys have scored a lot of points, those two particularly.”
Zeb Kissinger brought home a fourth-place finish in the javelin (154-6), while Gabe Belobrajdic placed sixth at 146-2.
In the 3,200, Chris Price finished fourth with a 10:35.72 time, and in the 300 hurdles, Chris Jordan placed fourth at 43.05.
Tonganoxie’s 4×800 team placed fourth in 9:00.59.