Top 5 Girls State Track Performances

State track is over as is the sporting season. Now it is time for a little reflection. I was at the state track meet for every single race starting Friday morning and ending Saturday evening. My main focus was a live blog for the state track meet.

Towards the end of the blog several readers asked me to name my meet MVP’s and it was easily Hallie Kuhlman of Wallace County for the girls (four gold medals and second place as a team alone) and Adam Porter of McPherson for the boys.

That got me thinking though, who’s performances were most impressive? Today I will release what I considered the top 5 girls performances from the state track meet and tomorrow I will release the boys list. Remember, these are not necessarily the MVP’s, just the most impressive in my opinion.

5. Abreanna Parker – Shawnee Heights
Parker won three gold medals and a silver at this year’s state meet. She did it in class 5A, which makes this feat more impressive. She won the 100 and 200 and ran on the state champion 400 meter relay. Her only silver came because she ran up against the 5th best high jumper in the state’s history in Le’Tristan Pledger. Parker finishes her career ranking in the top 10 in Kansas history in the 100-meter dash (4th) and the long jump (7th).

4. Heather Ruder – Thomas More Prep

Ruder was a freshman this year that tried to pull off the rarest quadruple. The TMP freshman was gunning to win the 400-800-1600-3200. She almost pulled it off too. In the 800-1600-3200 it was not even close as Ruder cruised to big victories in all three events. Her only stumble was in the 400 as she finished second to defending champion Mandy Wilson of Rossville. Even at that three golds and a silver in those four events is unbelievable to me. Ruder has a very rare blend of speed and stamina and it speaks well to her future.

3. Hallie Kuhlman – Wallace County
Kuhlman is well on her way to being the most decorated athlete in Kansas State Track and Field history after she had her second quadruple gold medal win in the 100-200-400-800. Also, for the second year in a row, she won second place for Wallace County as a team in class 1A all alone. Last season as a freshman she was a surprise, this year she had a target on her back and it did not matter. Even though her qualifying times in the 100-200 were not favored coming in, Kuhlman rose to the challenge and beat all-comers in class 1A.

2. Breeana Coleman – Olathe East
It took a lot for me to drop Kuhlman all the way to third on this list, but these top two ladies deserve to be ranked higher. Coleman is one of the best sprinters/hurdlers the state has ever seen on the girls side. The marks were not wind-legal, but at the state track meet this year Coleman won three gold medals in three attempts and broke two state records. In the 100 she ran a time of 11.71-seconds. That was .09 seconds faster than the old 6A meet record that had stood for 27 years. Just before that, Coleman smashed the 6A state record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.80 seconds. That lowered the old record by a whopping 0.38 seconds. In those two events she finishes her career with the third-best and second-best marks in the history of Kansas respectively. Coleman later won the 200-meter dash into a headwind to get her third gold medal.

1. Kearsten Peoples – Ottawa
State meet records are broken every year, but it is not often that an athlete breaks two all-time state records regardless of meet. Peoples accomplished that feat this season when she became the first girl in Kansas high school history to unleash a shot put throw of more than 50-feet and break the discus record the next day. The Ottawa standout broke records that were 28 and 25-years-old respectively. That throw in the shot put was the best in the nation this year. Her throw in the shot put improved her own 4A state meet record by more than 5-feet or about 10-percent better. That would be the equivalent of a runner improving from a 5-minute mile to a 4:30 mile time. Her discus throw broke the 4A state meet record by 17-feet and she became the first girl to throw over 160-feet in the discus at a state meet.