ShawneeDispatch.com

Photo by Chris Wristen

Shawnee Mission Northwest junior Linda Kuenzi elevates toward the bar during the pole vault on Friday at the Class 6A state meet. Kuenzi cleared 11 feet and finished third.

Photo by Chris Wristen

Shawnee Mission Northwest freshman Sterling Spencer led early before finishing fourth in the 3,200 at the Class 6A state track meet.

Wichita — Christen Botteron concluded her high school pole vaulting career as the Class 6A state runner-up.

Botteron, a Shawnee Mission Northwest senior, finished second in the event with a clearance of 11 feet.

It was an improvement on the third-place finish she turned in as a junior. She didn't get the gold medal she'd hoped for on Friday, but Botteron said she is pleased with the body of work she compiled throughout the season. That included numerous meet championships and, most important, numerous personal records. Her season-best vault of 11-8 is the best mark in the state this year.

"It's more about just the season and improving so much," she said.

Cassie Craig, a senior from Maize, was the state champion with a clearance of 11-6.

Botteron has been invited to walk on to the track team at Brigham Young University in the fall, and she plans on doing that. It's the next step in what has been a solid vaulting career so far.

"I'm very proud (of what I've accomplished)," she said, "but I'm also looking to improve a lot more."

One thing that helped Botteron improve so much this season was the presence of teammate Linda Kuenzi in practice every day. Kuenzi, a junior, improved steadily throughout the season and cleared 11-0 late in the season. She matched that mark at state and finished third.

"I'm very pleased with her," Botteron said. "She is probably the hardest worker I've ever met, so I have no doubt she will do amazing this coming year."

Candice Owen also competed in the pole vault and narrowly missed medaling. She placed eighth and cleared 9-0.

Also for Northwest, Lisa Imgrund placed fourth in the 3,200-meter run in 11:35.36.

Sterling Spencer was fourth in the boys' 3,200 in 9:42.15 and Aaron Thornburg was sixth in 9:45.37.

Trevor Hughes also found his way to the medal stand. He turned in a leap of 21-3 3/4 in the long jump and finished fifth.

A slew of other Cougars competed in preliminaries on Friday and advanced to Saturday's finals. Alex Reynolds finished fifth in the 400 in 49.89, less than one second off of the fastest qualifying time.

Evan Mesh turned in the second fastest qualifying time in the 300 hurdles when he ran 39.18.

The boys 1,600 relay team of Nick Kolega, Mark Fancher, Jared Ellsworth and Alex Reynolds ran the second fastest qualifying time of 3:23.24, and the girls 1,600 relay team of Cailee Kelly, Kirstie Sanders, Alicia Watson and Lauren Karley squeaked into the finals, finishing eighth in 4:06.74.

Some Cougars competed Friday but didn't medal or advance to Saturday's finals.

Mesh competed in the 110 hurdles, but he missed qualifying for finals by .01 when he placed ninth in 15.06 in the preliminaries. The boys 400 relay team of Trevor Hughes, Evan Hayes, Alex Reed and Mark Fancher finished 10th in 43.45. Anthony Williams finished 12th in the 300 hurdles in 41.97.

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