photo by: Chris Duderstadt

Lawrence High's Hunter Krom makes his way down the runway at the Kansas Relays on Saturday at Rock Chalk Park.

Between the Lawrence High duo of Hunter Krom and Harry King, Free State’s tandem of Nathan Spain and Bo Miller and Eudora’s Jon Bock, the Lawrence area was well represented in the boys javelin competition at the Kansas Relays on Saturday at Rock Chalk Park.

Krom was the No. 2 seed coming in, and he held his spot to earn runner-up honors with a throw of 189 feet, 7 inches.

“Just clearing my mind and just letting it go,” Krom said of his mentality throughout the competition. “I didn’t really want to think about anything else because that just makes the next throw worse.”

Although Krom did his best to focus on himself rather than the damp conditions or the other competitors, it was difficult to ignore Manhattan standout sophomore Sam Hankins consistently throwing around 200 feet on each attempt. The best throw from Hankins — who edged Krom by 8 inches to win state last year — sailed 205 feet, 2 inches.

“It just gets me more motivated for state,” Krom said of Hankins. “I’ve got to get that mentality of just facing him and just wanting to beat him.”

Krom was disappointed that he wasn’t able to come closer to Hankins’ marks, but he was very proud of King for placing with a seventh-place throw of 172 feet, 8 inches.

“He improves every day,” Krom said. “I’m just ready to see both of our final throws at state.”

Bock finished one spot ahead of King in sixth to become the third medalist from the Lawrence area. The Eudora senior’s top throw of 173 feet, 9 inches came on his second attempt.

“Especially being my first time here, it was really important to get a few good marks out there just to have some confidence going into finals,” Bock said. “I felt like my pop on my plant was good. My steps were right on my mark.”

Bock struggled to keep his form during his final four throws, three of which were fouls. That didn’t diminish Bock’s experience, though.

“I met some great people, some great javelin throwers,” said Bock, who had a conversation with Hankins shortly after the competitions. “I just ended up having a good time in the rain.”

Spain and Miller placed 13th and 17th, respectively, with throws of 154 feet, 11 inches and 148 feet, 8 inches.

Free State boys, Lawrence High girls 2nd in Sunflower 4×100 relays

Being in Lane 8 isn’t the optimal position for the 4×100-meter relay with not being able to see who is running behind you, but it hasn’t bothered Free State’s Cole Phillips, JaBrandion Douglas, Tanner Cobb and Tyler Bowden this season.

The Firebirds placed second in the Boys Sunflower 4×100 relay with a time of 44.31, and they felt good about their position the whole way through.

“It was really good,” Cobb said. “I remember at the Blue Valley meet we got our best time in Lane 8, so we’re feeling pretty comfortable there around Lane 8.”

Going into this weekend, there was a chance for Cobb to also be running in the Sunflower or championship heat of the 4×400-meter relay. However, the Firebirds were disqualified in Friday’s prelims, which gave Cobb plenty of motivation for bouncing back on Saturday.

“I think it was a good week,” Cobb said. “There were a lot of ups and downs, but we improved as a team and we can just get better from here.”

The Firebirds followed up a runner-up finish by the Lawrence High’s Ashley Wildeman, Zoe Bridges, Asjah Harris and Courtney Fritzler in the Girls Sunflower 4×100 relay. The Lions clocked in at 50.33 — just 0.21 behind Leavenworth.

Lawrence’s Seratte 4th in 400

After placing sixth in the girls 800 meters on Friday, Lawrence High’s Evann Seratte picked up another medal on Saturday in the 400-meter dash. Seratte dropped 0.4 seconds from her time in prelims to finish fourth at 59.18.

“It felt good,” Seratte said. “I was a little more worried just because of the rain — it’s a little slicker out — but it definitely felt better than yesterday.”

The improvement from Friday to Saturday in the 400 gave Seratte a definitive goal that she wants to achieve when the Lions compete next at the Seaman Relays.

“I definitely want to get into a consistent sub-59 race every time,” Seratte said. “I’m just aiming for 58, 57 — somewhere in there.”

Tonganoxie, Perry-Lecompton relays earn hardware

The Tonganoxie girls sprints crew had its work cut out with only five runners filling out the Chieftains’ 4×100, 4×400 and sprint medley relay teams, but Corinn Searcy, Natalee Shepard, Sierra Staatz, Mia Bond and Trinity Touchton were up for the challenge.

Staatz, Shepard, Bond and Searcy qualified for finals in the 4×400 relay by winning their heat in prelims. The Chieftains finished eighth in the finals, but it was their time of 4:22.50 that had them feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

“We shaved seven seconds from what we’ve been running all year, which was really great,” Searcy said. “Just being in finals and being able to run against some really fast people that aren’t from Kansas really helps push us and get us where we need to be.”

Searcy joined Shepard, Staatz and Bond on the Chieftains’ sprint medley relay earlier in the day. Tongie took 10th with a time of 4:39.66. Staatz, Shepard, Searcy and Touchton placed 24th in the 4×100 prelims on Friday, and they’re champing at the bit to get back on the track to rewrite the THS record books.

“For our 4×1, we’re off our school record by .01,” Searcy said. “So we’re aiming to break that. My freshman year we broke the 4×4 (record), and we’re aiming to break that again this year.”

Perry-Lecompton’s sprint medley relay team of Josh LeClair, Dalton Kellum, Shane Quinlan and Ty Packard had a medal-worthy performance after taking eighth with a time of 3:42.77, which was good for eighth place.

Talisa Stone placed in the girls high jump for the Kaws after tying for seventh with a clearance of 5 feet.

Kansas Relays (High School)

Saturday at Rock Chalk Park

Day 2 of 2

Area Results

Girls long jump — 11. Cameryn Thomas, Free State, 16-10.5; 19. Carly Lindenmeyer, Baldwin, 16-04.5.

Girls high jump — T-7. Talisa Stone, Perry-Lecompton, 5-00.

Girls shot put — 15. Krissy Howard, Lawrence, 35-10.

Boys shot put — DNS. LeeRoi Johnson, Tonganoxie,

Boys javelin — 2. Hunter Krom, Lawrence, 189-07; 6. Jon Bock, Eudora, 173-09; 7. Harry King, Lawrence, 172-08; 13. Nathan Spain, Free State, 154-11; 17. Bo Miller, Free State, 148-08.

Girls sprint medley relay — 10. Sierra Staatz, Natalee Shepard, Corinn Searcy, Mia Bond, Tonganoxie, 4:39.66; 12. Ana Holladay, Destiny Downing, Emma Hertig, Erin Fagan, Free State, 4:41.62.

Boys sprint medley relay — 8. Josh LeClair, Dalton Kellum, Shane Quinlan, Ty Packard, Perry-Lecompton, 3:42.77.

Girls 4×800 relay — 22. Ambrynn Stewart, Josie Boyle, Alexia Nelson, Natalie Beiter, Baldwin, 10:24.09.

Boys 4×800 relay — 29. Parker Wilson, Grady McCune, Jayce Dighans, Jacob Bailey, Baldwin, 8:36.50; 34. Josh Bosley, Dylan Graham, Jacob Foley, Jakob Edholm, Tonganoxie, 9:06.58.

Sunflower Girls 4×100 — 2. Ashley Wildeman, Zoe Bridges, Asjah Harris, Courtney Fritzler, Lawrence, 50.33; 9. Natalee Shepard, Corinn Searcy, Sierra Staatz, Trinity Touchton, Tonganoxie, 52.13.

Sunflower Boys 4×100 — 2. Cole Phillips, JaBrandion Douglas, Tanner Cobb, Tyler Bowden, Free State, 44.31.

Girls 400 — 4. Evan Seratte, 59.18.

Sunflower Girls 4×400 — DNS. Abby Ogle, Natalie Beiter, Josie Boyle, Carly Lindenmeyer, Baldwin.

Girls 4×400 — 8. Sierra Staatz, Natalee Shepard, Mia Bond, Corinn Searcy, Tonganoxie, 4:22.50.