ShawneeDispatch.com

The Shawnee Mission Northwest boys and girls track and field programs appear to be peaking at just the right time after putting together impressive performances at the Sunflower League Championships at the Olathe District Activity Center.

Behind junior distance runner Kyle Schlicht's league championship finish in the 3,200 meters, the Cougar boys racked up 102.5 points to finish third out of 12 teams in Friday's meet. Schlicht is one of several Northwest distance runners - along with Jared Ellsworth, Sterling Spencer and others - who appear to take turns grabbing first-place glory in the Cougars' different meets. Schlicht's first was the only Cougar title in the meet but was followed by several top-three finishes.

Ellsworth earned second in the 1,600 meters and a third-place medal in the 800, while junior Alex Reynolds grabbed second in the 400 meters. Senior Evan Mesh finished slightly off the Northwest record in the 300 hurdles while taking second. Ellsworth and Reynolds then joined senior Alex Reed and junior Mark Fancher in setting a personal best mark in the 1,600 relay and taking second in the event. The combo of Fancher, Reed, Mesh and Reynolds then united to break the school record in the 800 relay by one second and claim another second-place finish.

The Cougars received an added boost in the field events - an area in which the squad had fallen short through much of the season - when senior Trevor Hughes leaped to a second-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 11 inches. Zach Kinsey also added some field points when his pole vault mark of 13-0 - a personal record - was good enough for third.

The final medal for the Cougar boys came in the medley relay when the team of junior Ethan Elmer, freshman Seth Kotzman, freshman Aaron Thornburg and junior Nick Kolega earned third.

The Cougar girls finished fourth on the day, a three-spot leap from 2007. The most impressive of the girls' results came in the pole vault where the Cougars almost came away with a clean sweep of the top three spots. Senior Christen Botteron matched her Northwest record - set a week ago - of 11-6 to earn first in the vault while junior teammate Linda Kuenzi grabbed second at 11-0. Fellow junior Candace Owen cleared 9-0 to take fourth.

Sophomore thrower Erica Brand continued her impressive season with a second-place finish in the discus (124-0) and fourth in the shotput.

The girls also had a relay champion as the medley relay squad of senior Cailee Kelly, junior Alicia Watson, senior Lauren Karley, and sophomore Christine Nelson helped Northwest repeat as the event's title-holder after claiming the championship in 2007. In addition, the 1,600 relay team of Kelly, sophomore Kirstie Sanders, Watson and Karley improved their personal best by five seconds and claimed fourth in their race.

Sophomore Lisa Imgrund finished the medal count for the Cougar girls by placing second in the 1,600 and a third in the 3,200.

Northwest coach Mike Cooper has been pleased with chemistries of the boys and girls squads and commented on how the makeup of the squads has been integral to their success.

"On the girls' side, all our point people are back from last year," Cooper said. "For our girls to finish fourth, it's the same crew, they're just tougher, wiser and more confident. On the boys' side we have a nice mix of juniors and seniors. We have a balance between youth and experience."

The Cougars will return to ODAC at 3 p.m. Friday for regionals and a new round of challenges. While Cooper and his assistant coaches feel confident in events such as the distance races, schools like Olathe South will offer stiff competition in the sprints.

"Olathe South is really strong in the sprints and really strong in the field events," Cooper said. "They'll have Evan Pearson, their top sprinter back after he was out for three weeks, and we only beat them by three points at league when they didn't have him."