Free State's Gabbi Dabney lands as she competes in the long jump during a track meet hosted by Free State on Friday, April 12, 2013, at FSHS.

Only once a year during track season can a 12th-place finish carry as much weight as a victory. That was the format Friday at Free State High’s Barrier Breaker meet.

A time or distance was established for each track and field event, and any athlete who eclipsed that mark earned a medal and one point for his or her team — regardless of the order of finish. Beating the barrier was every athlete’s incentive.

The Firebirds won 11 individual events, but the 60 overall points they scored — combined between the boys and girls — weren’t enough to topple champion Olathe East’s 74. Shawnee Mission North (44) finished third, and Lawrence tied Bishop Miege for fourth (24).

Even though event winners such as Free State’s Dan Krieger (pole vault), Scout Wiebe (javelin), Alexa Harmon-Thomas (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, high jump, long jump), Jackson Lockwood (high jump), Seth Maples (400), Bailey Sullivan (800), Stan Skwarlo (1,600), and Nicholas Hocking (discus) received as many team points as the athletes whom they had defeated, no one seemed to mind.

Lockwood, who tied O-East’s Colby Stone for first in the high jump (5-foot-9), was more concerned that his mark dropped from last week.

“You want as many people as possible (in an event) to get over the barrier breaker,” he said.

Eric Parrish (triple jump) and Matia Finley (discus) were the only LHS athletes to win. Parrish said the format didn’t alter the athletes’ approach.

“This meet will help you get better,” he said. “The season’s only gonna get tougher from here.”

Lawrence’s Monica Howard, who finished second in javelin, was one of many city athletes to barely break a barrier in an event. She tied for third in the high jump to do so.

“I think that’s pretty cool. You get that mark, and you get a point for your team, and you get a medal for yourself,” Howard said. “Some people can contribute to the team points when maybe they might not have been able to before.”

Other Lions who had similar experiences were Kyleigh Severa (seventh, long jump), Katie Lomshek (tied for third, high jump) and Noel Schildt (sixth, shot put). The Firebirds scored even more points in that fashion: Mika Crews (11th, 200), Morgan Noll (10th, 800), Molly McCord (14th, 1,600), Hannah Shoemaker (ninth, javelin), Fedor Sharov (11th, 800), Josiah LeBrun (12th, shot put) and Luke Lesslie (10th, javelin) all were the last to score a point in their events.

“I think it’s fun,” said Gabbi Dabney, who finished second in the high jump and 100 hurdles. “It’s a really different meet, but I don’t really go by the barriers. I always have my own barriers (times and marks in mind).”

2013 Barrier Breakers

Friday at Free State High

Team scores: 1. Olathe East, 74; 2. Free State, 60; 3. Shawnee Mission North, 44; tie-4. Lawrence, 24; tie-4. Bishop Miege, 24; 6. Topeka West, 12; 7. Kansas City Central, 8.

City barrier breakers

Girls

100 — 4. Laura Kennad, FS, 13.24.

200 — 3. Kennad, FS, 27.34; 4. Jensen Edwards, LHS, 27.42; 11. Mika Crews, FS, 28.39.

400 — 2. Bailey Sullivan, FS, 1:00.05; 4. Kennad, FS, 1:01.96; 10. Crews, FS, 1:03.83.

800 — 1. Sullivan, FS, 2:22.43; 6. Kyleigh Severa, LHS, 2:32.95; 7. Claire Sanner, FS, 2:35.53; 9. Riley Shook, LHS, 2:37.69; 10. Morgan Noll, FS, 2:38.57.

1600 — 5. Sanner, FS, 5:36.27; 6. Sullivan, FS, 5:38.12; 7. Grace Morgan, LHS, 5:38.37; 14. Molly McCord, FS, 5:55.1.

3200 — 4. Sanner, FS, 11:53.33; 5. Morgan, LHS, 11:55.84; 7. McCord, FS, 12:35.67; 9. Emily McEntire, LHS, 12:43.03.

100 hurdles — 1. Alexa Harmon-Thomas, FS, 15.39; 2. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 16.3; 3. Kiara Clark, FS, 16.91.

300 hurdles — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 45.41; 2. Clark, FS, 47.98; 6. Monica Howard, LHS, 50.71; 7. Dabney, FS, 51.55.

High jump — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 5-7; 2. Dabney, FS, 5-1; tie-3. Katie Lomshek, LHS, 4-9; tie-3. Howard, LHS, 4-9.

Long jump — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 18-11.25; 4. Dabney, FS, 15-11.5; 7. Severa, LHS, 15-0.

Triple jump — 3. Brianne Martin, FS, 31-2.25.

Shot put — 4. Rebecca Finley, LHS, 33-4; 5. Matia Finley, LHS, 34-2; 6. Noel Schildt, LHS, 32-1.

Discus — 1. M. Finley, LHS, 128-3; 3. R. Finley, LHS, 117-5; 4. Hannah Shoemaker, FS, 101-4; 7. Scout Wiebe, FS, 91-5.

Javelin — 1. Wiebe, FS, 125-8; 2. Howard, LHS, 116-8; 4. Marlee Bird, LHS, 99-5; 9. Shoemaker, FS, 89-5.

Boys

200 — 3. Seth Maples, FS, 23.6; 5. Tyler Odell, FS, 23.65.

400 — 1. Maples, FS, 52.85; 2. Nick Benton, LHS, 53.42; 3. Stan Skwarlo, FS, 53.49; 7. Anthony Edwards, FS, 54.35; 8. Adam Wagner, FS, 54.53.

800 — 2. Stan Skwarlo, FS, 1:58.93; 10. Sam Skwarlo, FS, 2:07.73; 11. Fedor Sharov, FS, 2:07.85.

1600 — 1. Stan Skwarlo, FS, 4:40.5; 5. Ryan Liston, FS, 4:49.57; 10. Trail Spears, FS, 4:54.4; 11. Sam Skwarlo, FS, 4:56.91; 12. Ethan Donley, FS, 4:57.27; 15. Evan Smith, FS, 4:58.47.

3200 — tie-3. Spears, FS, 10:19.3; tie-3. Liston, FS, 10:19.3; 6. Smith, FS, 10:35.7; 7. Thomas Becker, FS, 10:40.8.

110 hurdles — 2. TJ Cobbs, FS, 16.19; tie-3. Rueben Wesley, FS, 16.36.

300 hurdles — 3. Cobbs, FS, 42.03; 4. Wesley, FS, 43.32.

High jump — tie-1. Jackson Lockwood, FS, 5-9; tie-3. Tae Shorter, LHS, 5-7; tie-3. Edwards, LHS, 5-7; tie-3. Demarko Bobo, FS, 5-7.

Pole vault — tie-1. Dan Krieger, FS, 13-0; tie-4. Trevor Hillis, FS, 12-0.

Long jump — 5. Eric Parrish, LHS, 20-2.5; 6. Shorter, LHS, 20-2.25.

Triple jump — 1. Parrish, LHS, 43-2.

Shot put — 2. Ryan Shackleford, LHS, 46-3.5; 3. Austin Gray, FS, 46-1.5; 10. Nicholas Hocking, FS, 42-1.5; 12. Josiah LeBrun, FS, 41-10.

Discus — 1. Hocking, FS, 142-6.

Javelin — 3. Lucas Wener, FS, 154-6; 9. Connor Ballenger, FS, 133-1; 10. Luke Lesslie, FS, 121-5.