By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays State University track team is getting closer and closer to the end of the season, and the athletes are showing they are ready for the occasion with continued improvements and impressive performances across the board.
The team split into three different meets recently: the Coyote Classic for the distance crew, the Loper Invitational at Kearney, Nebraska, for the rest of the team, and the KU relays for a handful of athletes.
At the KU relays, Emily Diercks and Christian Darrah stood out in the 1500-meter race, climbing to third on the FHSU all-time performance list. Diercks clocked a time of 4 minutes, 36.45 seconds, and Darrah at 3:48.22 in the men’s race.
For the rest of the team, the most impressive performances came from the UNK meet. In ideal weather, the athletes capitalized and produced fast times in the running events and strong marks in the field.
Sprints coach Kelly Meyer was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I was very encouraged by our performances today,” she said. “Coming in, just knowing that we have a lot of injuries that we’re kind of dealing with sort of made me start it off feeling a little bit unsure, but we had great weather and really solid performances.”
Avery Albright led the way in the 400 and the 200, marking an impressive personal best of 47.81 seconds for second place in the men’s 400, followed with another second-place finish in the 200-meter dash, clocking a time of 21.69 seconds — just 0.05 ahead of fellow Tiger Toby Wahlmeier (21.74).
In the 400-meter hurdles, the Tigers dominated with a top-two finish. Drew Tolar crossed the line at 54.08, just ahead of Mayan Paz, who came second at 54.12. Both clocked personal bests and the times they have produced placed them fifth and sixth in the MIAA, as well as the FHSU all-time performance list. On the women’s side, Reba Mader continued her outstanding season with a time of 56.24 in the 400 race and a personal best of 25.50 in the 200.
Meyer said she was happy to see so many good performances just two weeks before the MIAA Championship.
“I was really pleased to see some PRs today,” she said. “I feel like this is good timing because we can figure out what we need to do, taper off a little bit for the home meet, have some fun but also just take that time to fine tune some things and kind of refresh. So it’s good timing.”
In the field events, Emma Slade, a freshman, established herself as a national contender. Slade has the school record for the discus at 48.81 meters, and she backed that mark with a throw of 45.02 during the weekend. Slade is ranked in the top 18 in the nation, which would qualify her for the national championship meet.
In the pole vault, the Tigers’ dominance extended for men and women as Brady Deges and Josiah Ball cleared 4.88 meters to win the men’s competition. Deges was first with fewer foul attempts, and Annabeth Baalmann won the women’s competition with a jump of 4.01 meters.
With Baalmann’s win, and reflecting on her attempts to break the school record in past competitions, she said she is excited for the remainder of the season and the chance to etch her name in the FHSU record book.
“It is definitely one of the best feelings, I think, because you know you’re standing on the back of the runway and you know what you’re going for,” Baalman said. “You know you’re going for a school record, go over the bar, and still see it up there when you’re on the mat. It’s definitely a feeling you can’t really describe until it happens.”
The Tigers host the FHSU Alex Francis Classic on Thursday.