Wichita ? Chris Fulton was beat after Friday’s preliminaries at the state track and field meet at Cessna Stadium.

OK, maybe tired is more appropriate. After all, Fulton beat just about everyone he ran against.

The Lawrence High senior won his heats in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and anchored the LHS 4×400 relay to the fastest time in its heat.

He logged Class 6A’s fastest 200 time, too, clocking at 21.56 seconds — .12 seconds faster than regional champ and defending state champ Drew Moreno of Overland Park Aquinas.

“I’m tired,” Fulton said after the 4×400, Friday’s last event. “It’s my last year of this. I have to go out with a bang.”

He’ll face Moreno again in the 100 finals and in the 4×400 finals. But don’t expect Fulton to lose any sleep over the matchup.

“I’m just sleeping tonight,” he said. “I’m not eating, I’m not doing anything but going to bed.”

Could it be any hotter?

Temperatures rose to the low 90s by mid-afternoon, which made the track sizzle. Athletes sought shade under the stadium and team tarps whenever possible.

“You gotta stay in the shade whenever you can and drink lots of fluids,” Fulton said. “But you can’t let that affect your performance.”

Lawrence High senior Scott Bellinger said he was drained by the sun, but he shrugged off any notion it had affected his performance in the long jump.

Bellinger was fifth, clearing 6-feet-4.

“Sometimes, it’s really nice,” Bellinger said.

“But when it’s this hot, it’s too much.”

Baldwin junior Rachel Miles had a humorous take on the heat.

“My feet are burning,” Miles said. “That’s the first thing I notice when I’m running.”

Still, compared to last year’s rainy, cold temperatures, Miles loves this year.

“It’s hot, but I’d rather have it like this than it was last year,” she said.

Still the one

Wellsville senior Wendy Moore, the defending 400 champ, logged the fastest prelim time of any 3A runner — barely.

Her 1:01.04 was .02 seconds faster than Smith Center’s Aftan Lambert.

The freshman freakout

LHS freshman Amy Magnuson had the usual freshman jitters before the meet. But she settled down by the start of the 100 hurdles, placing second in her heat and qualifying for today’s finals.

On a scale of one to 10, she said she was only about a seven before the race started.

“I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m here,'” she said. “I was just surprised, not really nervous.”

But that was a far cry from before the meet.

“When I was passing out numbers I looked at coach Anderson and said, ‘Look at Amy,'” LHS coach Jerry Skakal said. “She was a plus 10.”