By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

Goessel High School athletes qualified in 14 events for the state track meet this weekend in Wichita, but they wondered how often they would finish in the top seven. To the pleasure of the faithful Bluebird fans, athletes competing in eight of the events scored points at the premiere high school event.

Aspen Frey started the scoring for the Bluebird girls Friday evening with a school record performance in the 3200-meter run. Frey, a senior who has qualified for the state meet all four years, settled into fifth place after several laps, dropping into eighth place in the middle of the race and then working her way back into medal contention. She ended the race comfortably in fifth place with a time of 12 minutes, 16.87 seconds. A brief clench of her fists and a smile of relief and accomplishment spread across her face as she realized that she broke the school record in that event.

Evan Hiebert stayed among the leaders in the high jump as a group of six athletes all cleared 6 feet, 2 inches, but none of the group could clear 6-4. The number of misses by other jumpers at the previous height gave the Goessel senior his first points at a state meet with a tie for second place.

On Saturday, the girls 4x800 relay team was determined to get on the medal platform. Although her team was seeded 12th of 16, Kendra Flaming finished her two laps in fifth place. Karina Harvey took the baton for two laps and kept the team in front of a pack of runners trying to stay in the top eight spots.

Freshman Jessica Harvey kept up the pace, but finished near the pack fighting for sixth place. Frey ran the anchor leg, promptly secured sixth place for the Bluebirds, and held on to that position to put the Bluebirds on the podium for sixth place with a time of 10:26,19.

John Berkholz ran the 400-meter dash in the heat of the day from lane one. As he came out of the final turn, he was able to hold on to sixth place with a time of 51.53.

“This is it!” Berkholz said when asked his fastest time of the season.

For the second day in a row, Tia Goertzen ran the 300-meter hurdles from lane eight. With her two fastest times of the season at the state meet, she finished seventh, earning one more point for the team.

Weston Hiebert ran a solid race in the boys 300-meter hurdles with a third-place finish.

“I like running into a little breeze to finish the race,” Hiebert said with a smile. “It tires the other runners but motivates me.”

The 4x400 relay team of Jessica Harvey, Karina Harvey, Jennifer Van Horn, and Flaming, earned a spot on the medal podium, just edging St Mary Colgan for seventh place. As a team, the girls scored seven points and medaled in four events to finish in 29th place out of 64 schools.

The boys 4x400 relay team of Berkholz, Cameron Stultz, Braden Unruh, and Hiebert cut more than one second from their previous best time of the season and leaned for fourth place in the 4x400 relay.

The boys finished the meet with 19 points and medaled in four events for 13th place out of 64 2A schools.

individual results
GIRLS

Aspen Frey — 5. 3200, 12:16.87 (school record); 11. 1600, 5:48.29; 14. Javelin, 103-1;

Tia Goertzen — 7. 300-meter hurdles, 50.27; 13. Triple jump, 32-4.25.

Brittny Czarnowsky — 14. 3200, 13:26.00.

Flaming — 12. 400, 1:04.66.

4x100 Relay — 15. Flaming, Van Horn, Karina Harvey, Goertzen, 54.15.

4x400 Relay — 7. Jessica Harvey, Karina Harvey, Van Horn, Flaming, 4:25.24.

4x800 Relay — 6. Flaming, Karina Harvey, Jessica Harvey, Frey, 10:26.19.

boys

Weston Hiebert — 3. 300-meter hurdles, 41.40.

Evan Hiebert — 2. (tie) High jump, 6-2; 10. Triple jump, 40-5.50.

Berkholz — 6. 400, 51.53.

Jared Reimer — 12. 3200, 10:44.60.

Laird Goertzen — 15. 3200, 11:05.19.

4x100 Relay — 10. Berkholz, Unruh, Weston Hiebert, Stultz, 45.16.

4x400 Relay — 4. Berkholz, Stultz, Unruh, Weston Hiebert, 3:32.77.