By MARSHALL MOORE

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mmoore@gctelegram.com

Delayed because of inclimate weather Friday, Mother Nature finally permitted the Southwest Kansas Relays to start in Lakin on Monday.

Well, barely.

"It was dicey," Lakin coach Mark Calderwood said. "After watching hurdles blow across the track and mats getting pinned against the fence on Friday, we just sat there and watched the lightning meter. We actually got through the whole thing."

Despite slow moving severe thunderstorms moving through Southwest Kansas dropping golf ball to softball sized hail and winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour, nine area track teams finally had a chance to showcase their skills in Lakin.

Sublette's girls track team took first out of the 12 team field with 101 points, beating second place Ulysses by 12 points.

Senior Emily Lucas took first place in the 200-meter dash and the high jump while holding down the second leg of the Larks' first place 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

The relay teams, consisting of Lucas, Aileen Gonzales, Megan Reiss and Hope Lucas, won with times of 51.55 seconds in the 100 and 4:06.98 in the 400.

Lucas clocked a 26.48 in the 200 while clearing 5-feet-2 in the high jump to hold off runner-up Amanda Payne from Cimarron.

Aileen Gonzales earned 10 points for Sublette in the 300 hurdles, beating second place Allie Jones of Lakin by over two seconds with a time of 46.50. Reiss finished just behind Lucas in the 200 and third in the 400 with a time of 1:03.57. Hope Lucas placed second in the 400 with a time of 1:02.91.

Janni Meierhoff gave the Ulysses girls a big lift. She placed first in the 800, 1,600, and 3,200. Meierhoff ran a 13:14.62 in the 3,200 to top second place Courtney Siruta of Stanton County by 10 seconds.

"Janni had a good day," Ulysses coach Jason Kenny said. "We have high expectations for her this year."

Jennifer Long also took first in the 100 hurdles for Ulysses with a time of 16.05 to beat Wichita County's Kyla Bishop.

Brittany Moral added a first place finish in the 400 for the Lady Tigers, posting a time of 1:01.56.

"That was (Moral's) best time of her career," Kenny said. "It just kind of came out of nowhere."

The Ulysses boys placed second behind meet champions Meade with 106 points.

Sprinter Derek Newell scored 18 points for the Tigers by placing first in the 100 with a time of 11.06, and second in the 200.

Newell also ran the third leg on Ulysses' winning 400 relay team along with Andrew Anderson, Jared Grimes and Jared Stringham. The four ran a 44.58 to edge Sublette's team of Mason Hibbard, Adam Patterson, Tyler Bruce and Brett Holloway by .73 seconds.

Michael Morales breezed through the discus for Ulysses, throwing a distance of 146-08 to beat second place Brady McFall of Meade by 15 feet. Stringham beat Morales in the shot put with a distance of 49-2 to give the Tigers a one-two finish in the event.

"It's always nice when you can get multiple kids placing in an event like that," Kenny said. "It's fun for the kids. They have a friendly competition going on."

Lakin, led by distance runner Zac Anthony, finished fourth in the standings with 53 points. Anthony placed first in the 3,200 with a time of 10:39.40 while finishing second to Greeley County's Kaman Schneider in the 1,600.

Anthony also joined teammates Bryce Koehn, Marshall Lynch and Kayson Matthews to take first place in the 3.200 relay with a time of 8:46.03.

"Zac had an excellent meet," said Calderwood. "He ran really competitively. He's a kid that's really improved in high school, and it's nice to see kids like him step up and perform."

Schneider ran a 4:50.00 in the mile, and placed fourth in the 800 to help the Jackrabbits to a sixth place finish.

Sublette finished third in the boys standings with the help of Brett Holloway, who took first in the 400 with a time of 52.80. Holloway was also part of the Larks' winning 1,600 relay team along with Tyler Bruce, Luis Hernandez and Kaleb Birney.

The four posted a time of 3:36.17 to beat out second place Ulysses.

Brice Peters also finished first in the javelin for Sublette with a throw of 174-4, while Birney took first in the 800 with a time of 2:06.61.

Other first place finishers include Syracuse's Michael Brown, who took first in the triple jump with a distance of 41-5 1/2.

Syracuse finished seventh with 32 points, just one point ahead of eighth place Wichita County. Stanton County finished fifth with 51 points, while Dighton finished 11th with eight. Cimarron was 12th with two points.

In the girls' events, Syracuses' Kamie Rash led the Bulldogs to a third-place team finish by winning the 100 with a time of 12.77 and the triple jump with a distance of 34-0 1/4.

Cali Shamburg won the pole vault for the Lady Bulldogs, clearing 9-6 to beat Lauren Elder of Sharon Springs by a foot.

Shawna Ruiz added another first place finish for the Bulldogs with a throw of 115-2 in the discus.

Greeley County finished seventh with 43 points, 10 of which came in a win by the 3,200 relay team of MacKenzi Bender, Jasmine Dixon, Madison Moser and Carly Robertson. The team posted a time of 11:06.06, beating Stanton County's second place team of Patty Perez, Rachelle Folger, Gylee Martin and Courtney Siruta.

The Lady Trojans placed 11th with 19 points while the Lady Jackrabbits took seventh with 43 points.

Wichita County finished two points ahead in sixth with 45, just one point behind the fifth place Lady Broncs. Cimarron, finished fourth with 47 1/2 points.

Dighton places 12th with one point.

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See meet results on Page B2