Free State's Alexa Harmon-Thomas throws the Javelin during a track meet Friday, April 25, 2014, at FSHS.

Free State's Gabbi Dabney, left, and Kiara Clark run 1-2 in the prelims in the 100-meter hurdles on Friday, April 25, 2014, at FSHS.

Free State junior Laura Kennard stretches out in the 100-yard prelims on Friday, April 25, 2014, at Free State.

Lawrence High's Rebecca Finley prepares to throw the discus on Friday, April 25, 2014, at Free State High.

Lawrence High's Zach Sanders clears a hurdle in the 100 yard high hurdles on Friday, April 25, 2014, at Free State.

Since the end of last season, Free State High senior Alexa Harmon-Thomas has competed at track meets in Albuquerque, N.M., St. Louis, the Ukraine, Arkansas and New York. And right now, all she can think about is getting back to Wichita.

That’s where she helped the Firebirds win the 2013 Class 6A state championship. Last summer, a return trip seemed like a no-brainer for the promising young star, who went on to sign a letter of intent with the University of Texas. The rest of her senior season appears cloudier now, only because she suffered stress reactions in the fifth metatarsal and heel of her left foot while competing at an indoor meet this past winter.

Harmon-Thomas wore a boot on her bum foot for a while in hopes that would do the trick, but when she competed at the New Balance Nationals in March, the injury wouldn’t go away, and she had to “shut it down.”

The typically explosive Harmon-Thomas, a defending state champ in the 100 and 300 hurdles, as well as the long jump, took another small step toward normalcy Friday at the Free State Barrier Breakers meet by throwing.

The FSHS girls and boys teams combined to finish second to Olathe East, and Harmon-Thomas hurled the shot and javelin, but she’d rather be sprinting, jumping and hurdling. She at least received clearance to begin running the day before the home meet. That inspired her to do more than the shot put, which she was limited to in her season debut the week before.

“I decided I would do jav, but I couldn’t really plant really hard or run very much since I just got released,” Harmon-Thomas said after taking fifth in shot put and not placing in javelin because she couldn’t twist her left ankle. “I didn’t throw well, but I kind of used it as a practice for what I need to work on.”

The idea, which her teammates and Firebirds coaches completely endorse, is to ease back into competition.

“Hopefully, by the time state comes around, I’ll be able to do my hurdle events and long jump,” Harmon-Thomas said. “I think it’ll be a little bit longer for the high jump, just because I put so much pressure and stress on the outside of the foot, where the injury was.”

Hurdling forces her to come down on her foot pretty hard, so next week she wants to get back on the track with the 200.

“I don’t want to push it,” she said of trying to do too much the next few weeks, “and come back to where I am now.”

That’s because her mind is on the last weekend in May, and Wichita, and competing in as many state events as possible.

“The team is counting on everyone to do their best there,” Harmon-Thomas said, “and score the points we need to win again.”

Her Firebirds teammates were in full force Friday, with first-place finishes by Claire Sanner (3,200), Gabbi Dabney (100 hurdles), Kiara Clark (300 hurdles) and Scout Wiebe (javelin).

The FSHS boys won a pair of events, too, thanks to Stan Skwarlo (800) and Trevor Hillis (pole vault).

But perhaps the most impressive feat of the day came from Lawrence junior Rebecca Finley. She broke the school record in the discus, flinging it 148-11 — more than 6 feet farther than the old mark, 142-9, set by Laurie Trapp in 1988.

“Every time you set a record at Lawrence High, it’s a big deal,” Lions coach Jack Hood said. “We’ve been doing track for more than 100 years.”

Finley, whose twin sister, Matia, finished second in the discus (134-1.5), also won the shot put, chucking it 39-10, a personal record.

LHS senior Alex Jones helped the Lions sweep in shot with a mark of 49-1, beating his previous best by 6 feet. Kyleigh Severa won in long jump, giving Lawrence its fourth first-place finish at the meet, where they placed fourth in the team standings.

Lions junior Dearion Cooper lowered his personal best in the 110 hurdles to 15.69, good enough for second place. His goal is to qualify for state in both hurdles events this year after missing out on both as a sophomore.

“The 110s, I just need someone to push me in that last race,” Cooper said, adding he has improved in 300s this spring, too. “If I don’t get that, it just doesn’t click to go faster, I guess.”

What’s more, he’d like to break the LHS record in the 110: 14 seconds flat.

“I know that’s down there,” he said, “but I’ve still got a year. And I’ve still got more meets this year.”

2014 Barrier Breakers Meet

Friday at Free State High

Team scores (girls and boys combined): 1. Olathe East, 117; 2. Free State, 69; 3. Shawnee Mission North, 62; 4. Lawrence, 51; 5. Blue Valley West, 43; 6. Shawnee Heights, 36; 7. Bishop Miege, 32; 8. Topeka West, 16.

Free State girls results

100-meter dash: 2. Laura Kennard, 12.73. 16. Brogan Scott, 13.50.

200-meter dash: 5. Laura Kennard, 26.70. 16. Brogan Scott, 27.95. 21. Marilee Neutel, 28.83.

400-meter dash: 6. Bailey Sullivan, 1:02.94. 11. Marilee Neutel, 1:04.06.

800-meter run: 3. Emily Venters, 2:24.58. 5. Bailey Sullivan, 2:28.56. 8. Claire Sanner, 2:30.25. 12. Molly McCord, 2:35.38. 15. Abigail Zenger, 2:39.18. 25. Marlee Yost Wolff, 2:44.88.

1,600-meter run: 3. Emily Venters, 5:41.74. 4. Claire Sanner, 5:41.76. 6. Abigail Zenger, 5:45.85. 6. Bailey Sullivan, 5:45.85. 9. Molly McCord, 5:48.68. 12. Marlee Yost Wolff, 6:06.41.

3,200-meter run: 1. Claire Sanner, 11:33.98. 4. Kiran Cordes, 12:16.71.

100-meter hurdles: 1. Gabbi Dabney, 15.42. 2. Kiara Clark, 15.48.

300-meter hurdles: 1. Kiara Clark, 46.81. 2. Gabbi Dabney, 48.85.

4×100-meter relay: 4. 51.46.

High Jump: T-1. Gabbi Dabney, 5-00. T-3. Natalie Clarke, 4-10.

Pole vault: T-2. Callie Hicks, 8-06. T-5. Alyssa Hicks, 8-00. T-8. Meghan Perry, 7-06. T-8. Jessica Huffman, 7-06. 10. Avery Miller, 7-00.

Long jump: T-6. Natalie Clarke, 14-08.50. 10. Callie Hicks, 12-01.50.

Discus: 4. Hannah Shoemaker, 106-11.50. 10. Kahler Wiebe, 82-03.50.

Shot Put: 5. Alexa Harmon-Thomas, 34-01. T-9. Hannah Shoemaker, 31-01. 11. Hannah Walter, 30-10. 13. Caylee Irving, 29-03.

Javelin: 1. Scout Wiebe, 130-02. 9. Kahler Wiebe, 94-03. 12. Hannah Shoemaker, 89-00.

Free State boys results

100-meter dash: 2. Issac King, 11.17. 10. Ronald White, 11.48. 23. Tyler O’Dell, 11.65. 33. Nathan Thomas, 12.00. 36. Nichalus Williams, 12.22.

200-meter dash: 5. Tyler O’Dell, 11.65. 23.22. 6. Ronald White, 23.44. 7. Issac King, 23.55. 18. Elijah Harvey, 24.07. 21. Ian Sellens, 24.26. T-25. Nathan Thomas, 24.52. 33. Nichalus Williams, 24.87. T-36. Caleb Holland, 25.18.

400-meter dash: 2. Elijah Harvey, 52.76. 4. Ian Sellens, 53.37. 6. Stan Skwarlo, 53.68. 10. Nichalus Williams, 55.61. 14. Drew Tochtrop, 56.30. 17. Issac King, 56.85. 19. Caleb Holland, 56.99. 23. Nathan Thomas, 58.05. 24. Ronald White 58.49.

800-meter run: 1. Stan Skwarlo, 1:59.24. 9. Ethan Donley, 2:05.38. 14. Ryan Liston, 2:07.79. 16. Thomas Becker, 2:08.94. 18. Tanner Hockenbury, 2:09.66. 21. Cole Stallard, 2:10.75. 23. Owen Heffernan, 2:11.62.

1,600-meter run: 3. Stan Skwarlo, 4:39.87. 8. Tanner Hockenbury, 4:48.71. 10. Thomas Becker, 4:49.92. 11. Ryan Liston, 4:50.01. 13. Ethan Donley, 4:51.50. 18. Connor Ballenger, 4:53.73. 24. Curtis Zicker, 4:57.97. 27. Cole Stallard, 5:04.43. 28. Owen Heffernan, 5:05.27.

3,200-meter run: 5. Thomas Becker, 10:25.65. 6. Ryan Liston, 10:25.68. 7. Tanner Hockenbury, 10:38.42.

110-meter hurdles: 3. Rueben Wesley, 16.10.

300-meter hurdles: 3. Rueben Wesley, 43.16.

4×100-meter relay: 7. 45.17.

4×400-meter relay: 7. 3:38.11.

High jump: T-6. Drew Tochtrop, 5-08.

Pole vault: 1. Trevor Hillis, 15-00.

Long jump: 15. Azariah LeBrun, 19-06.75. 24. Drew Tochtrop, 18-03.25.

Triple jump: 8. Azariah LeBrun, 41-03.50. 19. Drew Tochtrop, 38-02.

Shot put: 18. Evan Bangalan 38-09.50. 19. Sam Fanshier, 37-11. 21. Aaron Simon, 35-01.50.

Discus: 2. Nick Hocking, 137-01. 14. Reid Buckingham, 110-02.50. 18. Andrew Krejci, 106-03. 22. Sam Hambleton, 101-11.50.

Javelin: 3. Lucas Werner, 174-01. 8. Connor Ballenger, 142-07. 15. Sam Fanshier, 134-01. 20. Sky Carey, 124-08. 22. Simeon Windibriziri, 123-02. 24. Jake Hill, 116-03. 26. Alder Cromwell, 115-01. 27. Sam Hambleton, 112.09.

Lawrence High girls results

100-meter dash: 6. Myah Yoder, 13.03.

200-meter dash: 6. Jensen Edwards, 26.76. 10. Marissa Pope, 27.09. 13. Myah Yoder, 27.54.

400-meter dash: 2. Jensen Edwards, 59.88. 4. Marissa Pope, 1:02.15.

800-meter run: 24. Cienna Sorell, 2:43.73.

1,600-meter run: 21. Cienna Sorell, 6:29.07.

4×400-meter relay: 3. 4:10.91.

Pole vault: T-2. Kennedy Dold, 8-06. T-2. Kaytlin Riedesel, 8-06.

Long jump: 5. Kyleigh Severa, 17-00.50. 10. Bri Martin, 14-10.

Discus: 1. Rebecca Finley, 148-11. 2. Matia Finley, 134-01.50. 6. Mouneqe Bean, 100-07. 11. Lexi Anglin, 81-08.

Shot Put: 1. Rebecca Finley, 39-10. 3. Matia Finley, 37-11. 7. Brittany Kampfer, 31-07.50. 8. Mouneqe Bean, 31-02. T-9. Lexi Anglin, 31-01.

Javelin: 6. Marlee Bird, 98-01. 8. Miranda Sexton, 94-06. 15. Jasmine Keys, 79-05. 16. Jedzia Hicklin, 79-04. 17. Madison Carbrey, 79-01.

Lawrence High boys results

100-meter dash: 5. JD Woods, 11.32. 7. J’Mony Bryant, 11.37. 13. Kakara Boye-Doe, 11.54.

200-meter dash: 3. JD Woods, 22.94. 8. Cor’Tae Brady, 23.59. 10. Lavontae Shorter, 23.71.

400-meter dash: 3. Nick Benton, 53.08. 20. Kakara Boye-Doe, 57.52.

800-meter run: 15. Eric Shackelford, 2:08.24. 17. Sam Stephens, 2:09.58.

1,600-meter run: 15. Eric Shackelford, 4:52.81. 26. Alex Mwithiga, 5:03.60. 33. Keegan Matheis, 5:17.66.

3,200-meter run: 17. Keegan Matheis, 11:17.08.

110-meter hurdles: 2. Cooper Dearion, 15.69. 4. Tre Moore, 16.44. 5. Zach Sanders, 16.63.

300-meter hurdles: 2. Cooper Dearion, 43.01. 4. Zach Sanders, 43.68.

4×100-meter relay: 2. 43.97.

4×400-meter relay: 5. 3:36.21.

Long jump: 6. Lavontae Shorter, 20-08. 10. Erik Parrish, 20-06.75.

Triple jump: 2. Erik Parrish, 45-03.50. 5. Lavontae Shorter, 43-11. 15. Kakara Boye-Doe, 38-10.

Shot put: 1. Alex Jones, 49-01. 7. Amani Bledsoe, 44-07. 14. Trey Georgie, 40-05.50.

Discus: 9. Jose Rodriguez, 121-03. 12. Trey Georgie, 111-03.50. 19. Amani Bledsoe, 105-06. 23. Alex Jones, 101-04.50.

Javelin: 11. Dominic Leslie, 140-08. 16. Josue Lorenzo, 132-06. 21. Simeon Windibriziri, 95-03.