How talent-rich has the Sunflower League track and field meet become in recent years?

In 2006, when the Lawrence High boys team won a Class 6A state title, it did so only after finishing third in the Sunflower League meet a couple of weeks earlier.

“If I weren’t so Lawrence-focused, it would be a great meet to watch,” LHS coach Jack Hood said Thursday. “There’s events on the track today that are just amazing. You’re going to see some of the top times in the state come out of this meet.”

What’s more, for the first time in years, it’ll take place in Lawrence.

Thanks to the school’s recently constructed football/track complex, the league meet — which kicks off at 3 p.m. today — will be the first held on the Free State campus. However, the discus will be held at Southwest Junior High because of wet conditions and a lack of grass near the Firebirds’ own discus pit (athletes competing in the discus will be bused between the two sites).

Firebirds coach Steve Heffernan has been doing everything he can to make sure the meet runs smoothly.

“Our whole thing is that we’re trying to have our facilities ready and the weather cooperate,” said Heffernan. “We’ve fought really hard to get it here, because we want our kids to have a chance to compete on their home track when it’s our turn to host the Sunflower meet.”

If pre-meet seedings are to be trusted, both local teams have a good chance to make some noise.

Free State pole vaulter Drue Davis, last year’s Class 6A state champion in the event, recently cleared a personal-best 12 feet, which ties for the seventh-best jump ever in the state, while Kain Anderson has developed into one of the area’s top distance/mid-distance runners.

The Lions will be represented by a group that includes 2009 Class 6A state cross country champion Roy Wedge, as well as state-qualifying hurdlers Whitney Demby and Ryan Marienau.

As both coaches reiterated Thursday, however, today’s meet — while not unimportant — will serve primarily as a preparation for the postseason, which begins next week.

“This is the dress rehearsal,” Hood said. “This is your last chance before it’s for real. This is our last chance to compete and step up and do a little more before it really counts. You make sure the lights are right, the makeup’s right.

“You wanna get (everything) right this week going into next week.”