Lawrence High sprinter J.D. Woods heads into the lead between Free State runners Avin Lane, left, and Ronald White, during the final heat of the Boys 100 Meter event of a track and field dual on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at Lawrence High School.

Lawrence High junior sprinter JD Woods was exhausted. He had already won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and ran the anchor leg of the Lions 4×100 relay on Tuesday afternoon in a dual against Free State.

Now he needed to empty whatever he had left in the tank. In the last event of the day, Woods was the anchor leg of the LHS 4×400 relay and the Lions trailed Free State’s relay team by a few seconds.

After the second turn, halfway to the finish, Woods knew he wasn’t going to lose. He broke past Free State on the back stretch to win the relay and was mobbed by his teammates after he crossed the finish line. The Firebirds swept the duals with the girls winning 74-69 and the Firebird boys pulling out a 73-66 victory, but Woods had the last laugh.

“I came around that curve and I had that full speed,” Woods said. “I saw coach (Audrey) Pope just telling me I had to go. That’s when I took off.”

Woods said he will miss the team’s next meet when he takes an unofficial visit to Northern Iowa for football, but he initially wanted to scratch out of the 200 to save his energy for the relay. But when he is focused on a goal, there’s no stopping him.

“(Woods) always has something up his sleeve,” said FSHS sophomore Zack Sanders, who ran the third leg of the Firebirds’ 4×400 relay. “I know he’s incredibly fast, I knew he would catch up sometime.”

The Firebirds had several strong performances, including Sanders setting a personal record in the 300 hurdles (41.09). FSHS senior Gabbi Dabney took first in the long jump, high jump and 100 hurdles, senior Ryan Liston won in the 800 and 1,600, junior Claire Sanner won the girls’ 1,600 and sophomore Emily Venters was strong in her win in the 3,200. Jillian Schuler and Evan Bangladan also set personal records in the shot put and javelin.

But not many athletes have improved as much as FSHS junior pole vaulter Callie Hicks, who set a personal record of 11 feet at the team’s first meet last week and won by clearing 10 feet, 6 inches on Tuesday. She took 12th at state last year, clearing nine feet.

“That’s huge. To think about going up by feet is impressive,” FSHS coach Jordan Rose said. “She did a lot of work offseason and I can really see that paying off for her.”

Hicks, who helped the Firebirds win a state title in gymnastics, added 20 pounds of muscle over the offseason and grew three inches. Her goal is to clear 12 feet this year, which would help put her on the path to competing for a Div. I college. However, she’s had to deal with longtime injuries.

“I have shin splints really bad,” Hicks said. “So when it comes to lots of reps on the runway that’s when it gets painful. That’s when it’s kind of like, ‘Should I keep going to get the next height and injure my shins more, because they’re usually pretty sore the next day, or get the next height and deal with it.'”

The Lions had plenty of highlights with wins from senior Matia Finley (discus), senior Rebecca Finley (shot put), senior Leah Gabler (800), junior Caroline Dykes (javelin), senior Dearion Cooper (110 hurdles) and junior Amani Bledsoe (shot put), among others.

LHS senior Jensen Edwards won the girls’ 200 and 400 and ran the anchor-leg of the winning 4×400 relay. The relay team shaved seven seconds off its time from its first meet, while Edwards put up strong times after competing in club track for the first time this offseason.

“I was happy,” Edwards said. “This was a good meet because it was kind of like a practice. Just kind of gets us in the groove for the season and gets us used to running races again.”

Both schools will return to the track for meets on April 10.

Results

Tuesday at Lawrence High

Girls (Top-three)

100 — 1. Laura Kennard, FS, 13.43; 2. Ja Mya Dye, LHS, 13.87; 3. Rachel Walters, FS, 14.99.

200 — 1. Jensen Edwards, LHS, 26.84; 2. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 27.21; 3. Cameryn Thomas, FS, 28.79.

400 — 1. Jensen Edwads, LHS, 1:03.13; 2. Laura Kennard, FS, 1:04.35; 3. Marissa Pope, LHS, 1:06.83.

800 — 1. Leah Gabler, LHS, 2:30; 2. Marlee Yost-Wolff, FS, 2:40; 3. Isabelle Haake, FS, 2:48.

1600 — 1. Claire Sanner, FS, 5:36.62; 2. Kiran Cordes, FS, 5:58.35; 3. Marlee Yost-Wolff, FS, 5:58.36.

3200 — 1. Emily Venters, FS, 11:37.04; 2. Rachel Witt, FS, 13:37.28; 3. Mikayla Herschell, LHS, 15:54.28.

100 hurdles — 1. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 15.52; 2. Taylor Shields, LHS, 18.17; 3. Le-Asa Woods, 20.05.

300 hurdles — 1. Talima Harjo, LHS, 54.72; 2. Abby Zenger, FS, 56.81; 3. Hazel Scott, FS, 59.75.

Long jump — 1. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 16-11; 2. Cameryn Thomas, FS, 16-5.5; 3. Rachel Walters, FS, 13-1.75.

High jump — 1. Gabbi Dabney, FS, 5-2; 2. Caroline Dykes, LHS, 5-0; 3. E’lease Stafford, LHS, 4-10.

Triple jump — 1. Shemar Kamara, LHS, 33-6.75.

Shot put — 1. Rebecca Finley, LHS, 39-11; 2. Matia Finley, LHS, 36-4; 3. Jillian Schuler, FS, 34-3.

Discus — 1. Matia Finley, LHS, 148-0.5; 2. Rebecca Finley, LHS, 141-0; 3. Hannah Shoemaker, FS, 107-8.

Javelin — 1. Caroline Dykes, LHS, 110-8; 2. Kahler Wiebe, FS, 99-2; 3. Lexi Anglin, LHS, 96-1.

Pole Vault — 1. Callie Hicks, FS, 10-6; 2. Kennedy Dold, LHS, 7-6; 3. Avery Miller, FS, 7-6.

Boys

100 — 1. JD Woods, LHS, 11.16; 2. Avin Lane, FS, 11.20; 3. Ronald White, 11.22.

200 — 1. JD Woods, LHS, 22.83; 2. Tyler Odell, FS, 23.83; 3. Wilson, FS, 25.25.

400 — 1. Cole Stallard, FS, 55.57; 2. Connor Ballenger, FS, 58.20; 3. Tristan Gillespie, LHS, 1:00.37.

800 — 1. Ryan Liston, FS, 2:13; 2. Erik Shackelford, LHS, 2:15; 3. Owen Heffernan, 2:18.

1600 — 1. Ryan Liston, FS, 4:38.14; 2. Avant Edwards, FS, 4:52.06; 3. Erik Shackelford, LHS, 4:56.26.

3200 — 1. Tanner Hockenbury, FS, 10:44.17; 2. Garrett Prescott, LHS, 11:31.83; 3. Keegan Matheis, LHS, 11:56.14.

110 hurdles — 1. Dearion Cooper, LHS, 15.97; 2. Trey Moore, LHS, 16.06; 3. Gabe Clark, FS, 22.78.

300 hurdles — 1. Zack Sanders, FS, 41.09; 2. Trey Moore, LHS, 42.11; 3. Dearion Cooper, LHS, 43.03.

Long jump — 1. Khaury El-Amin, FS, 19-9.5; 2. Drew Tochtrop, FS, 17-8.75; 3. Jalen Dudley, LHS, 17-8.5.

Shot put — 1. Amani Bledsoe, LHS, 45-8; 2. Evan Bangalan, FS, 44-0.5; 3. Trey Georgie, LHS, 43-1.

Discus — 1. Nick Hocking, FS, 138-0.5; 2. Trey Georgie, LHS, 118-11; 3. Andrew Krejci, FS, 113-4.5.

Javelin — 1. Tye Carter, FS, 147-1; 2. Sam Fanshier FS, 145-6; 3. Leslie Dominic, LHS, 140-10.

Pole Vault — 1. Morgan Sisson, LHS, 9-0; 2. Alex Mwithiga, LHS, 9-0; 3. Cameron Hodge, FS, 9-0.