Free State junior Alexa Harmon-Thomas lands in the sand pit while competing in the girls long jump at the Kansas class 6A state regional track meet Friday at Lawrence High.

For some high school track and field athletes, earning a trip to state with a top-four regional finish is nothing new. The state veterans from Free State and Lawrence knew nothing would be guaranteed Friday at a Class 6A regional at LHS, and showed no lack of satisfaction upon getting back to the ultimate meet next weekend in Wichita.

Still, the Firebirds and Lions who became first-time state qualifiers made it clear the bliss of that moment is unique.

Teammates Brianne Martin and Kailee Dudley, of the regional team champion FSHS girls, started making their state plans on the bus ride over to LHS. They decided they needed to both earn top-four spots so they could room together in Wichita. A couple of hours later, Martin finished third in the triple jump with a personal record of 33 feet, 11 inches, and Dudley’s shot put of 35-5 earned her third place, as well.

Martin first realized she had a chance when she entered the finals in third place: “I was just hoping that I could keep my mark,” the sophomore said, “and no one else would do better than me.”

Free State’s Scout Wiebe (javelin), Alexa Harmon-Thomas (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, long jump) and Bailey Sullivan (800) won regional titles, helping FSHS (143 points) easily hold off runner-up Shawnee Mission North (114).

The Firebirds boys, who finished third out of eight teams, only had one individual champion — senior Jackson Lockwood. He cleared 6-4 in the high jump to secure his first trip to state with his family cheering him on in the stands. Last year, his second season of high jumping, Lockwood did no better than 6-0. This year, his best “by far,” will last one more week.

“It’s never happened to me before,” an excited Lockwood said of advancing to state. “It’s a great way to end your senior year.”

Lawrence’s girls took third in the team standings after a first-place finish in the 4×400 — Leah Gabler, Marissa Pope, Jensen Edwards and Kyleigh Severa finished in 4:00.14. The Lions knew they had a legitimate chance to win discus, too. They were right. Sophomore Rebecca Finley (135-3) beat out her twin sister, Matia (134-4) for a regional title.

Lions sophomore Kennedy Dold, however, had no idea she would have a chance to go to state. Seeded eighth in the pole vault, Dold thought her season was over when there were six other vaulters left to compete and she had maxed out at 8 feet. It turned out four other vaulters had done the same, resulting in a five-way tie for the fourth-place medal and the last spot at state. Assistant coach Bill Kelly yelled across the field for Dold, who returned to put her shoes back on for a jump-off, which started at 8-6. She cleared that and 8-9 to beat out her four competitors.

“I just didn’t want to lose,” Dold said after earning her first state berth. “I really wanted that spot and wanted to join my friends and my teammates and go down to Wichita and compete.”

Lawrence boys junior Erik Parrish gave the Lions, seventh overall, their only individual regional championship with a mark of 44-11 in the triple jump. But he also had some advice for freshman sprinter JD Woods. The friends live across the street from one another and were hanging out Thursday, when Parrish told Woods not to worry about anything at the regional except running. That and some extra work on his starts with assistant coach Audrey Pope, Woods said, helped him to a fourth-place finish and a personal record (11.23) in the 100.

“Coach Pope, she’s yelled at me a lot about my start, because it’s been pretty bad,” Woods said.

It was cleaner than ever Friday, though. And Woods could tell the difference while crossing the finish line.

“I felt it,” Woods said. “I got there and I was like, ‘Freshman, going to state.'”

Class 6A Regional Track Results

Friday at Lawrence High

Girls

Team scores: 1. Free State, 143; 2. Shawnee Mission North, 114; 3. Lawrence, 97.5; 4. Olathe Northwest, 55; 5. Shawnee Mission East, 54; 6. Shawnee Mission West, 49.5; 7. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 45.

State qualifiers (top 4)/city results

High jump — 1. Grace Pickell, SME, 5-6; 2. Alexa Harmon-Thomas, FS, 5-6; 3. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 5-2; 4. Monica Howard, LHS, 5-0; 5. Katie Lomshek, LHS, 5-0.

Triple jump — 1. Brittany Railsback, SMW, 34-10.75; 2. Deanna Dougherty, ONW, 34-5.5; 3. Brianne Martin, FS, 33-11; 4. Linh Wagner, SMNW, 33-6.25.

Shot put — 1. Whitney Harvey, SMN, 37-10.5; 2. Rebecca Finley, LHS, 36-2; 3. Kailee Dudley, FS, 35-5; 4. Matia Finley, LHS, 35-2.5; 5. Noel Schildt, LHS, 34-3; 9. Jillian Schuler, FS, 29-0.5.

Discus — 1. R. Finley, LHS, 135-3; 2. M. Finley, LHS, 134-4; 3. Harvey, SMN, 123-2.5; 4. Mary Ross, SME, 118-4; 5. Hannah Shoemaker, FS, 117-8; 7. Schildt, LHS, 107-6.5.

Javelin — 1. Scout Wiebe, FS, 129-1; 2. Kayla Vermulm, ONW, 123-3; 3. Howard, LHS, 120-0; 4. Kate Helfrich, SMNW, 119-0; 6. Marlee Bird, LHS, 107-9; 9. Shoemaker, FS, 100-1; 12. Miranda Sexton, LHS, 87-3.

4×800 — 1. SMN, 9:52.22; 2. FS (Bailey Sullivan, Molly McCord, Claire Sanner, Morgan Noll), 9:53.43; 3. SMW, 9:56.34; 4. SME, 9:57.43; 5. LHS (Leah Gabler, Riley Shook, Kyleigh Severa, Grace Morgan), 10:07.35.

100 hurdles — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 14.43; 2. Crystal Osei, SMNW, 14.82; 3. Dabney, FS, 15.52; 4. Kiara Clark, FS, 15.53.

100 — 1. India Johnson, SMN, 12.56; 2. Osei, SMNW, 12.84; 3. Victoria Hill, SMN, 12.88; 4. Barian Dozier, SMN, 13.07.

Long jump — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 18-10.25; 2. Jazmin Williams, SMN, 17-2; 3. Tatum Heller, ONW, 17-1.5; 4. Dabney, FS, 17-0; 5. Severa, LHS, 16-11; 6. Gabler, LHS, 16-5.5.

400 — 1. Emma Vickers, SME, 58.04; 2. Laura Kennard, FS, 59.71; 3. Jensen Edwards, LHS, 1:00.4; 4. Phoebe Aguiar, SME, 1:02.15; 5. Alex Hilliard, LHS, 1:03.42; 8. Maddie Stegman, FS, 1:06.95; 9. Marilee Neutel, FS, 1:07.47.

Pole vault — 1. Amy Hein, SMNW, 11-0; 2. Megan Vanderpool, SMW, 10-6; 3. Elaina Zinn, SMN, 9-6; 4. Kennedy Dold, LHS, 8-9; 5. Kaytlin Riedesel, LHS, 8-6; 6. Alyssa HIcks, FS, 8-0; 6. Avery Miller, FS, 8-0.

1600 — 1. Cameron Gueldner, ONW, 5:18; 2. Micki Krzesinski, SMN, 5:24.5; 3. Morgan, LHS, 5:26.4; 4. Sullivan, FS, 5:28.1; 9. Emily McEntire, LHS, 5:49.6; 12. Emily Laughlin, LHS, 6:40.8.

4×100 — 1. SMN, 49.7; 2. LHS (Hilliard, Severa, Marissa Pope, Edwards), 50.33; 3. FS (Clark, Dabney, Mika Crews, Kennard), 50.91; 4. SMNW, 51.14.

300 hurdles — 1. Harmon-Thomas, FS, 44.02; 2. Chloe McMahon, SMW, 47.03; 3. Clark, FS, 47.19; 5. Howard, LHS, 49.17; 7. Hailey Belcher, 50.79.

800 — 1. Sullivan, FS, 2:21.27; 2. Grace Quinlan, SME, 2:22.33; 3. Sydney Simpson, SMN, 2:22.93; 4. Emma Stamm, SMW, 2:23.16; 10. Noll, FS, 2:35.09.

200 — 1. Williams, SMN, 26.28; 2. Kennard, FS, 26.56; 3. Heller, ONW, 26.86; 4. Hill, SMN, 26.94; 6. Crews, FS, 27.91.

3200 — 1. Gueldner, ONW, 11:08.1; 2. Morgan, LHS, 11:22.3; 3. Sada Kernodle, SMN, 11:32.0; 4. Claire Sanner, FS, 11:34.6; 8. McCord, FS, 12:25.7; 9. McEntire, LHS, 12:42.8.

4×400 — 1. LHS (Gabler, Pope, Edwards, Severa), 4:00.14; 2. SME, 4:01.98; 3. FS (Crews, Clark, Kennard, Sullivan), 4:06.07; 4. SMN, 4:09.53.

Boys

Team scores: 1. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 128; 2. Shawnee Mission North, 98; 3. Free State, 93; 4. Shawnee Mission West, 92; 5. Shawnee Mission East, 90; 6. Olathe Northwest, 34; 7. Lawrence, 21; 8. Kansas City, Kan., Wyandotte, 2.

State qualifiers (top 4)/city results

Javelin — 1. Alex Springer, SMNW, 176-2; 2. Carter Grissom, SMW, 176-2; 3. Lucas Werner, FS, 158-1; 4. Drake Wenciker, SMW, 152-4; 6. John Gregory, FS, 142-7; 10. Connor Ballenger, FS, 128-0; 14. Dominic Leslie, LHS, 120-2.

High jump — 1. Jackson Lockwood, FS, 6-4; 2. Mitchell Wade, SMW, 6-2; 3. Samuel Howell, ONW, 6-2; 4. Louis Rollins, SMW, 6-0; 5. Anthony Edwards, FS, 5-10.

Pole vault — 1. Derrick Yoch, SMN, 13-0; tie-2.Dan Krieger, FS, 13-0; tie-2. Alex Pruss, ONW, 13-0; 4. Alic Erpelding, SME, 13-0; 5. Trevor Hillis, FS, 13-0.

Triple jump — 1. Erik Parrish, LHS, 44-11; 2. Thomas McGillicuddy, SME, 43-10.5; 3. Cooper Arner, SMW, 42-7.5; 4. Clayton Drouillard, SMNW, 42-2; 7. Taylor Krejci, FS, 39-0; 8. Caleb Johnson, LHS, 38-10.5; 12. Kakra Boye-Doe, LHS, 33-6.5.

Shot put — 1. Maxwell Bullard, SMW, 51-4; 2. Austin Gray, FS, 47-7.5; 3. Maceo Mitchell, SMN, 45-7; 4. Lee Spight, SMW, 44-7; 9. Nicholas Hocking, FS, 41-8.5; 14. Josiah LeBrun, FS, 39-10; 16. Tre Sexton, LHS, 38-3.5; 17. Alex Jones, LHS, 38-0; 18. Jose Rodriquez, LHS, 37-11.

Long jump — 1. McGillicuddy, SME, 21-1.5; 2. Louis Rollins, SMW, 20-8.75; 3. Parrish, LHS, 20-6.5; 4. Demarko Bobo, FS, 20-5; 7. Johnson, LHS, 20-0.25.

Discus — 1. Spight, SMW, 148-0; 2. Maxwell Bullard, SMW, 147-9.5; 3. Hocking, FS, 142-2.5; 4. Bennett Uhl, SME, 137-6.5; 7. Gray, FS, 130-2.5; 13. SExton, LHS, 104-2.5; 15. Jose Rodriquez, LHS, 90-3.5.

4×800 — 1. SMN, 8:05.52; 2. SMNW, 8:07.16; 3. SMW, 8:08.87; 4. SME, 8:13.65; 5. FS (Stan Skwarlo, Sam Skwarlo, Ryan Liston, Fedor Sharov) 8:20.53; 7. LHS (Samuel Stephens, Ryan Yowell, Thomas Ezell, Andrew Freeman), 8:58.67.

100 — 1. Henry Bell, SMN, 10.86; 2. Caleb Denman, SMN, 11.09; 3. Troy Wilkins, SME, 11.14; 4. Ja’Darius Woods, LHS, 11.23; 6. Isaac King, FS, 11.6; 7. Ronald White, FS, 11.66.

110 hurdles — 1. Devin Burtin, SME, 15.3; 2. TJ Cobbs, FS, 15.46; 3. Mitchell Hodson, SMNW, 15.48; 4. Jake Horner, SMNW, 15.72; 6. Rueben Wesley, FS, 16.16; 8. Dearion Cooper, LHS, 30.44.

400 — 1. Wilkins, SME, 50.03; 2. Timothy Dormady, SMNW, 50.34; 3. Juan Ramos, SME, 50.53; 4. Colton Beaumont, SMNW, 52.27.

4×100 — 1. SMN, 43.52; 2. SMNW, 43.9; 3. FS (Seth Maples, Anthony Edwards, Tyler Odell, Isaac King) 43.95; 4. SMW, 44.01.

1600 — 1. Connor McDonald, SMNW, 4:28.6; 2. Ben Burchstead, SMN, 4:33.1; 3. Stan Skwarlo, FS, 4:33.4; 4. Ryan Cooney, SMW, 4:33.6; 9. Ethan Donley, FS, 4:50.7; 12. Thomas Becker, FS, 4:58.2; 15. Nathan Pederson, LHS, 5:05.2.

300 hurdles — 1. Burtin, SME, 40.06; 2. Cobbs, FS, 41.16; 3. Tyler Sliva, SMNW, 41.66; 4. Erik Harken, SME, 42.15; 5. Wesley, FS, 42.44; 6. Alexander Heath, FS, 42.54; 13. Cooper, LHS, 44.13.

800 — 1. Jackson Barbour, SMNW, 1:54.07; 2. Jonathan Raines, SMN, 1:57.81; 3. Stan Skwarlo, FS, 1:58.3; 4. Connor Kelley, SMNW, 1:59.05; 13. Colton Stallard, FS, 2:08.18.

200 — 1. Denman, SMN, 22.41; 2. Bell, SMN, 22.88; 3. Zerihun Pinkerton, ONW, 23.07; 4. Roosevelt Bryson, SMNW, 23.12; 5. Odell, FS, 23.23; 6. Woods, LHS, 23.87.

3200 — 1. McDonald, SMNW, 9:46.05; 2. Kirk Bado, SMNW, 9:48.91; 3. Clayton Henderson, SNNW, 9:50.77; 4. Burchstead, SMN, 9:52.43; 10. Trail Spears, FS, 10:18.23; 14. Liston, FS, 10:45.5; 16. Ezell, LHS, 11:00.68; 17. Evan Smith, FS, 11:02.5.

4×400 — 1. SMNW, 3:20.9; 2. ONW, 3:25.1; 3. SME, 3:27.1; 4. FS (Maples, Edwards, Adam Wagner, Stan Skwarlo), 3:28.8; 7. LHS (Nicholas Benton, Audie Monroe, Tae Shorter, Woods), 3:43.3.