Overland Park ? During the 200-meter run preliminaries at the Sunflower League championships, Free State High’s Christian Ballard pulled up at the 70-meter mark and laid down on the track.

Although no one at Shawnee Mission South heard a pop, Ballard strained his hamstring significantly enough to make himself a major question mark for the Class 6A regionals next week and the state meet in two weeks.

“You want to see what you can do when you have adversity,” Free State coach Steve Heffernan said. “And we had a lot today.”

Injuries also felled Chase Hoag and Austin Winn and put a darker shade on an otherwise rosy day.

The Free State boys finished sixth overall and the FSHS girls were fifth.

Lawrence High coach Jack Hood did not set a goal of winning the league, but of improving on the way to the postseason.

“They competed their guts out,” Hood said. “You heard me say 100 times, our goal isn’t to win a league title. … What matters is how you do next week at regionals.”

The LHS girls finished in fourth place and the boys in 10th place. But several athletes tied or broke personal bests and looked poised to make waves during the postseason.

Senior Abby Jones tied the LHS record she already owned by topping 11 feet in the pole vault. She also barely missed on reaching 11-6.

“I was really close to getting that,” she said. “Hopefully, next week.”

Lions junior Courtney Barber served as another star, finishing first in the high jump with a 5-6 jump.

Barber almost cleared 5-8, but she grazed her ankle on the bar, and the bar fell as she hit the mat.

“I’m shooting for 6 feet,” she said, “but I’ll keep my goals reasonable at 5-foot-8.”

Barber did not just excel with her jumping. She set an LHS record by running the 300 hurdles in 44.93.

Hood singled out two of his boy jumpers – Malcolm Brown and Arsenio Criss finished second and seventh in the triple jump and fifth and seventh in the long jump, respectively.

“It’s really rewarding as a coach to watch kids work that hard all season, and then having really good results,” Hood said.

Despite setbacks to its health, Free State thrived, particularly Keron Toussaint, who finished first in the 200 in 22.05, the 400 in 48.87, and during his leg in the 4×200 relay.

“Keron Toussaint had just a magnificent day,” Heffernan said. “To be a multiple Sunflower League champion is awfully good. Not many people do that.”

In part because of Toussaint, the Firebirds owned the 400. Shawn James finished third with a 51.03, and Andy Neighbors was sixth with a 52.35. Running with his teammates helped fuel the FSHS star.

“I wanted to push them,” Toussaint said.

Lindsay Simms paced the throwers, setting a personal best three times before finishing in second place with a 37-2 heave of the shot put.

“I’ve been having some really good practices lately,” Simms said. “I’ve just been going all out.”

The local teams will need to continue that effort as the stakes rise during regionals Friday.

“Next week is what we’re really gunning for,” Heffernan said.