BY TAYLOR ELDRIDGE (@tjeldridge24)

5:29 PM — Update after the 200-meter dash qualifiers. In 4A, area finalists include Hesston’s Ali Jost, Cheney’s Taylor Needham, Wellington’s MEgan Campbell and Buhler’s Karrisa Severud, although none are in the top 3. In 5A, Newton freshman La’tiyera Yeargin turned in a big-time performance with a pre-lim time of 25.21, her best mark of the season. She won her heat and has the best mark in the field. In 6A, Heights’ Taylor Chandler did the same. Up against some serious competition, Chandler proved she belong by winning in a time of 25.13. The other area qualifier was Goddard’s freshman Natali Engle.

4:47 PM — In the 3 o’clock field events, we had some news. In the 6A High Jump, Heights’ Tahlia Pope took fourth with a jump of 5-foot-4. In the 5A Pole Vault, Bishop Carroll’s Cara Detmer won with a vault of 12-0, which ties the meet’s best mark. She had lost last year based on jumps, so this was nice redemption for Detmer, who didn’t jump her best but did enough to win. In 4A Long Jump, we had absolutely no one from the area place in the top-5. In 6A Javelin, there was a somewhat good story of East senior Haleigh Lewis  coming back from being struck in the face at the league meet with a stray discus. She took 2nd place in the javelin with a season-best throw that also broke the City League mark at 129-9. Goddard’s Abagayle Spilinek was the other area placer in 4th place with a toss of 120-5.

4:32 PM — Update after the 300-meter hurdles qualifiers. In 4A, the big news was Maize South’s Hannah Grubbs false-starting in the pre-lims. Obviously that’s a disappointment, although she’s had a great season this year. Clearwater’s Hannah Tjaden was the only area qualifier, as she took the 5th spot in a time of 46.96. In 5A, Bishop Carroll’s trio of Kristen Powell (2nd, 46.54), Magie Seiler (5th, 47.69) and Brady Nordhus (7th, 48.20) got in as well as Newton’s Baron in the last spot. In 6A, Maize’s Lisa Tomasu looked really good in winning her heat in a time of 45.72, good for the 2nd best mark in pre-lims. The other area qualifier was Hutchinson’s Madison Schrock.

3:51 PM — Update after the 400-meter qualifiers. In 4A, Cheney freshman Taylor Needham owns the field’s fastest mark at 59.22. Hesston’s Mollie Nebel won the other heat and will be Needham’s top challenger. Other area finalists are Dominique Staats of Pratt and Rachel Grubbs of Maize South. In 5A, Bishop Carroll’s Katherine Dillard was the only area finalist as she qualified in 6th with a time of 59.50. In 6A, Derby’s Alyxis Bowens won her heat in a time of 58.49, as Northwest’s Amanda Johnson and Heights’ Ashea Hanna squeaking in to snag the final two spots for the finals. Goddard’s Natali Engle barely missed the finals, so there won’t be 4 finals tomorrow for the freshman.

3:04 PM — The qualifiers for the 4A, 5A, 6A 4×1 relays are over. In 4A, Andale won its heat in a time of 50.00 seconds to own that second-fastest lane. Other area finalists are Hesston with Wellington and Mulvane just missing the cut. In 5A, Newton, McPherson and Kapaun Mt. Carmel are all finalists. That’s a great appearance by Kapaun, which wasn’t in the top 9 coming in. In 6A, the City League is well-represented by Heights and Southeast, the 3rd and 5th teams for finals tomorrow.

2:16 PM — The qualifiers for the 4A, 5A & 6A 100-meter hurdles are over. In 4A, Clearwater’s Hannah Tjaden found out she will have some stiff competition tomorrow to defend her title. She finished third in qualifying at 15.44. Other area finalists are Maize south’s Hannah Grubbs, Hesston’s Mollie Nebel and Kingman’s Hayley Mertens. In 5A, Le’Tristan Pledger put on a show. The KC Washington senior has the top mark at 13.95, which was good for 6th-fastest all-time. Area finalists in that race will be Carroll’s Kristen Powell and Brady Nordhus, McPherson’s Payton Shook and Newton’s Riley Roberts. A bit of a surprise there is that McPherson’s Courtney Pavlik didn’t qualify, as she had the 2nd fastest time coming in. In 6A, it looks like it’s giong to be between Junction City’s Kasha McDougald and Free State’s Alexa Thomas-Harmon. But Heights’ Tahlia Pope turned in a very solid performance, winning her heat in a time of 15.19.

1:32 PM — Garden Plain’s Page Stuhlsatz wins the 3A pole vault with a leap of 10-6. It wasn’t close to her best, but the senior will take it after pulling her hamstring last week at Regionals. Her left hamstring was heavily bandaged during the competition and you could tell it was bothering her. She could have gone higher, but Stuhlsatz will gladly accept becoming a two-time champion after winning her sophomore year as well.

12:34 PM — Not much going on right now. The prelims of the 4×4 relays are actually going on right now, which take forever. There wasn’t much local action in 3A, but Hutch-Trinity and Douglass did get into the finals in the 5th and 6th spots, respectively.

11:59 AM — Independent’s Imani Fenner and Tina Liu did what they needed to do to get in the finals of the 3A finals of the 200. Fenner won her heat in a time of 26.65 to finish 2nd overall and Liu was right behind her in 3rd in a time of 26.87. They will both have some major competition from Rossville’s Mindy Wilson, who has been all over this morning. Wilson has the top qualifying marks in the 400, 300 hurdles and now the 200.

11:27 AM — Sierra Hays of Garden Plain has been busy this morning. She qualified 1st in the 100-meter hurdles earlier and took 5th in the long jump. Just now she made the finals in the 300-meter hurdles. Conway’s Emily Doffing owned the best time in the field, but she’ll have a challenger in Rossville’s Mindy Wilson, who edged Doffing for the best pre-lims time. Hays didn’t run her best race, but barely snuck in to the finals in the 8 spot.

11:08 AM — A big surprise in the 3A long jump. Sedgwick’s Jamie Lovett came in with the best mark at 17-10.5, but her mark of 16-7.25 was bested on Saturday by Hoisington’s Savannah Rose. Rose came in with the third-best mark, but won the competition when she was the only one that matched her season-best mark at 17-0.5. Garden Plain’s Sierra Hays took 5th and Collegiate’s Claire Provenzano took 7th, both were on the medal stand.

10:55 AM — Another field event just trickled in and its the 3A shot put. Our next area athlete to be featured on this blog is the lucky senior from Lyons Anna Nusser. She came in with the fourth-best mark and finished in 3rd, so no complaints there even though her throw of 37-9.5 wasn’t her best of the season. No other area placers.

10:45 AM — The 400 qualifying races didn’t feature much action from the area. I guess Peabody-Burns sensation Lauren Pickens did win the 2A qualifying with a time of 59.16. Nowhere near her best, but I expect to see that from her on Saturday. The 3A race didn’t have much area flavor in it, but Douglass’ Sarah Bergley and Bluestem’s Janelle Reinert did get in the finals. Bergley ran a season-best time of 1:01.04 and Reinert snuck in the finals by less than a tenth of a second.

10:09 AM — Also no surprises in qualifying for the finals of the 3A 4×1 relay finals. Independent won its heat in a time of 51.30, the top mark. Conway Springs won its heat in a time of 51.55, good for second. Those two will definitely duke it out for the title, since Phillipsburg surprisingly didn’t qualify. Douglass also got in the finals in the 6 spot.

9:33 AM — No surprise qualifying in the 3A 100-meter hurdles. Sierra Hays of Garden Plain won her heat with a time of 15.35, the top qualifying mark. The other top contender, Conway Springs’ Emily Doffing, won her heat as well, in a time of 15.41. Medicine Lodge’s Faydra Rice snuck in to qualify for the finals in the 8th spot. But the showdown between Hays and Doffing tomorrow will be one to watch for sure.

9:27 AM — It wasn’t what Shanise Rice wanted, but her jump of 5-2 was still good enough to win the 3A high jump title. The senior wanted a jump similar to her season-best one of 5-8, but she said it was one of her worst jumps of the season. Funny enough, it was still good enough to win based on jumps. Four others girls cleared 5-2, but Rice won because she was the only one that cleared it on the first try. Whitney Gordon of Marion took 3rd and Douglass’ Taren Houser placed 5th.

8:58 AM — The Class 3A 3200 race just completed and it wasn’t much of a race. TMP’s Heather Ruder, the sophomore who won 3A cross country in the fall, led wire-to-wire and won by 35 seconds in a time of 11:30.13. She took out fast and no one challenged her early, as the rest of the pack fell well behind. The best of the rest happened to be Douglass’ Savannah Wright, a friend of the blog. She broke away from the pack with about two laps to go and finished in second place with a season-best time of 12:05.42.

Preview: It’s bright and early and I am officially up the earliest I have ever been in the year 2011. I am proud to say I can always remember the earliest I have to wake up every year by the state track meet. It’s like clockwork. Anyways, it’s supposed to be pretty nice out today at Cessna Stadium and hopefully we’ll have fair conditions for these athletes to compete in.

Today breaks down into 3 categories pretty much: 1) Half of finals in the field are completed, 2) Pre-liminaries for all but two events on the track, and 3) Finals of the 3200. I’ll be bringing you the latest from the girls’ side of things, as the much more highly-esteemed Joanna Chadwick will bring you the latest on the boys’ action. We’ll do our best to update, but the speediness may rest on whether or not the elevator is working. So let’s get to an area-exclusive preview for the day.

ON THE TRACK

3200-METER RUN (FINALS)

Class 3A (8:35 AM): Douglass’ Savannah Wright, from the famed Wright sisters, will be in the hunt for the title. She has the second-best time in the field of 12:14. This will likely come down to her and Heather Ruder of TMP, the Class 3A cross country champion. Wright is the underdog, but has a realistic shot of pulling the upset.

Class 4A (6:30 PM): It’s Molly Milbourn’s race. The El Dorado senior is the huge favorite in the race. Don’t see anyone coming within 15 or so seconds of her, but it’s never safe to assume. Pratt’s Cheyenne Becker has an outside chance of cracking the top 5.

Class 5A (6:55 PM): This state title will be decided within the area, count on it. The heavy favorite going in is Valley Center’s Morgan Wedekind. But it’s hard to count out Bishop Carroll’s Kaelyn Balch and even harder to do to former state champion Mackenzie Maki. THose three make up the three fastest times in the field and I expect them to go 1-2-3.

Class 6A (7:20 PM): They don’t have the fastest time in the field, but I would put Derby’s Emily Hornbeck and North’s Amber Eichkorn as the two favorites in this race. Don’t count out Olathe East’s Brenna McDannold, but I think Eichkorn will win this race. No one else in the area will place in the top 5.

100-METER HURDLES (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (9:14 AM): The state title will likely be decided between Conway Springs’ Emily Doffing and Garden Plain’s Sierra Hays. If either fail to make the finals, it will be news.

Class 4A (2:00 PM): Hannah Tjaden of Clearwater won last year and returns as the favorite with the field’s fastest time at 15.24. She’ll have plenty of tough competition here, which makes the finals hard to predict. Other area athletes with a good chance of qualifying for the finals include: Hesston’s Mollie Nebel, Maize South’s Hannah Grubbs, Kingman’s Hayley Mertens and Pratt’s Aubrey Hoover.

Class 5A (2:07 PM): The clear favorite is KC Washington’s Le’Tristan Pledger. Everyone else is running for second place. Top candidates to do that are: McPherson’s Courtney Pavlik, Newton’s Riley Roberts, Bishop Carroll’s Kristen Powell and McPherson’s Payton Shook.

Class 6A (2:14 PM): Again, the clear favorite in this race is Junction City’s Kasha McDougald. It’s going to be hard to place in the top 3, but Heights’ Tahlia Pope has an outside shot at doing so in a very tough field.

4×1 RELAYS (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (9:55 AM): The favorite tomorrow will likely be Independent. Conway Springs has an outside shot of making it interesting, and should be a lock to qualify. Douglass and Hutch-Trinity are the other two area schools that have strong shots.

Class 4A (2:45 PM): It’s going to be a close one here. There are a lot of area teams that will put out very competitive relay teams. None have broken 50 seconds, though, and that will be required to win this race. Those contenders are Andale, Hesston, Wellington and Mulvane.

Class 5A (2:50 PM): Not many contenders close to home, although Newton and McPherson have a chance of cracking the top 5.

Class 6A (2:55 PM): It’s going to be hard to catch Junction City, but Southeast does have the tradition on its side. It would be a miracle, but never discount the Buffaloes. Heights has a decent shot at making the finals, as well.

400-METER DASH (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (10:34 AM): No one from the area has a shot at winning, but Bluestem’s Janelle Reinert should be able to qualify.

Class 4A (3:20 PM): A strong chance that an area athlete comes out the winner here, someone likely between Cheney’s Taylor Needham (best time at 58.38), Hesston’s Mollie Nebel (58.97) and Dominique Staats (59.55). Others with strong shots at qualifying for the finals are Rachel Grubbs of Maize South and Katelynn Slade of Rose Hill.

Class 5A (3:27 PM): Not a real strong chance, but Bishop Carroll’s Katherine Dillard has a shot at cracking the top-5.

Class 6A (3:34 PM): It looks like it’s Derby’s Alyxis Bowens’ race to lose. She put up the best time at Regionals at 57.02 and she appears to be on a redemptive path after not qualifying last year as a freshman. Others that could make some noise are Goddard’s Natali Engle and Northwest’s Amanda Johnson.

300-METER HURDLES (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (11:17 AM): Conway Springs’ Emily Doffing is the big favorite heading into the race with a time (46.01) a second faster than anyone else in the field. Garden Plain’s Sierra Hays also has a good bet at qualifying for the finals.

Class 4A (4:00 PM): Attack of the Hannah’s. Grubbs of Maize South and Tjaden of Clearwater represent the two best chances at winning tomorrow. They should both easily qualify. Others with decent chances at qualifying for the finals are El Dorado’s Jaimie House and Pratt’s Aubrey Hoover.

Class 5A (4:08 PM): Bishop Carroll’s Kristen Powell has a legitimate shot at a state title. She enters with the field’s second-best time of 46.30. Her teammates Magie Seiler and Brady Nordhus should also qualify with McPherson’s Payton Shook owning a fairly decent shot at making the finals.

Class 6A (4:17 PM): It’s a fast field, but Maize’s Lisa Tomasu has a very good chance at cracking the top 3. I don’t think anyone can catch Alexa Thomas-Harmon over at Free State, but Tomasu could very easily be #2. Hutchinson’s Madison Schrock is the only other area option to likely make the finals.

200-METER DASH (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (12:04 PM): Independent has a pair in Imani Fenner and Tina Liu that should be two of the favorites. Fenner has the fastest time in the field at 26 seconds flat, but don’t discount teammate Liu.

Class 4A (4:50 PM): This field is wide open and that includes contenders in Hesston’s Ali Jost and Cheney’s Taylor Needham. There is no clear-cut favorite, so it will be interesting to see how pre-lims shake out. Others with a decent shot at making finals are Buhler’s Karissa Severud, Wellington’s Megan Campbell and Maize South’s Rachel Grubbs.

Class 5A (4:57 PM): She’s only a freshman, but don’t doubt what Newton’s La’tiyera Yeargin can do. She’s running in a ridiculously fast field, but she has a shot to crack the top 3. Valley Center’s Katie Hurlbutt has a good chance at making finals too.

Class 6A (5:03 PM): It’s up to Heights’ Taylor Chandler to carry the torch for the City League. Her main competition will be Junction City’s Alisha Keys. But don’t discount Goddard freshman Natali Engle, who has an outside chance of making some noise. Hutchinson’s Lauren Jacobs appears to be right on the bubble of making the finals going in.

4×4 RELAYS (QUALIFYING)

Class 3A (1:20 PM): No one from the area will be a favorite entering the finals of this rae. Douglass, Conway Springs and Hutch-Trinity all have good shots at qualifying for the finals with an outside shot, though.

Class 4A (5:30 PM): No one can touch Baldwin, but Hesston and Cheney will do their best. Andale could also sneak into the conversation to make things interesting.

Class 5A (5:40 PM): Bishop Carroll has a good chance at a state title with the second-fastest time in the field at 4:05. It will likely come down to them and Shawnee Heights. Newton is the only other area squad that is favored to make the finals.

Class 6A (5:50 PM): It’s a fast field, so it’s kind of wide open. But it’s hard to crack the North’s best in Olathe South, BV Northwest, Olathe East and SM East. But Heights is the best shot for the area with Hutchinson, Maize and Goddard duking it out for the final spots in the finals.

IN THE FIELD

8 AM

Class 3A High Jump: Medicine Lodge’s Shanise Rice is the favorite to win it, as she is the only one to have cleared 5-8 this season. Other strong contenders for top spots will be Douglass’ Taren Houser, Marion’s Whitney Gordon and Hutch Trinity’s Rachel Vieyra.

9:45 AM

Class 3A Long Jump: The overwhelming favorite will be Sedgwick’s Jamie Lovett, who has cleared the best mark of 17-10.5. But she might have a pair of challengers in Collegiate’s Claire Provenzano and Garden Plain’s Sierra Hays.

Class 3A Shot Put: Lyons’ Anna Nusser has an outside chance of placing in the top 3.

11:30 AM

Class 3A Pole Vault: The favorite to win will be Garden Plain’s Page Stuhlsatz, rightfully so since she is the only one in the field that has cleared 11-foot this year. She’s gone 11-9, in fact. Douglass’ Amanda Gardner is the next-best and she’s at 10-6. Conway Springs’ Ashley Koester might place well if she can match her best at 9-6.

1:15 PM

Class 3A Javelin: The top two spots are locked down by two of the best in state in Rock Creek’s Elizabeth Herrs and SW Heights’ Heidi Brown. But the best of the rest is open for contention and that will be challenged heavily by Medicine Lodge’s Shanise Rice, and a pair from Conway Springs in Rachel Becker and Lucy Fisher.

3:00 PM

Class 6A High Jump: Tahlia Pope is the best the area has to offer in this competition. The Heights’ junior will be in contention for the state title if she can match her season-best mark of 5-5.

Class 5A Pole Vault: Bishop Carroll’s Cara Detmer is the only one in the field that has cleared past 11-6. Just last week she put up the state’s third-best vault of all-time at 12-6. Anything in the 12′s will likely win this competition.

Class 4A Long Jump: Circle’s Megan Walthers had an off-week last week at Regionals, but did enough to qualify. She’s the one from the area that has cleared past 16-10 and if she can duplicate her season-best of 17-4.75, then she’ll be in contention for a top 3 medal.

Class 6A Javelin: Probably won’t be an area winner, but Goddard’s Abagayle Spilinek has a good shot at medaling in the top 5.

4:45 PM

Class 5A Discus: Newton’s Brooke Regier owns the field’s second-best mark at 132-8. The only other area kid with hopes of cracking the top 5 is Ark City’s Lacey Tipton.

Class 4A Javelin: Haven’s Katie Ostlund owns the field’s ebst mark at 131-6 and will be the favorite going in. Though they probably won’t be able to match her, Circle’s Aimi Orton and Hesston’s Sam Short have outside shots at cracking the top 3.

6:30 PM

Class 4A High Jump: No one will touch Louisburg’s Colleen O’Brien, the state’s top high jumper, but some area kids that have a chance of cracking the top 3 are Trinity’s Blair Bohm and Clearwater’s Alex Mumma.

Class 6A Pole Vault: If anyone can reach 11-feet, that might be the golden ticket to win state. But who knows, 10-6 might as well. There are a slew of vaulters right around that mark, including Southeast’s Alison Meeth and Maize’s Janelle Wilgers. Those two have legitimate shots at winning and Northwest’s Brooke Doerksen could place if she clears 10-0 again.

Class 5A Long Jump: No one in the area cleared 17-feet in the season, so probably no contenders. But Andover Central’s Stephanie Knab has an outside chance of cracking the top 5. If you get a chance, watch KC Washington’s Le’Tristan Pledge. She can fly. She’s gone 19-7 this season.

Class 6A Triple Jump: It’s going to be insanely tough to challenge BV West’s Alyssa Kelly (40-0.75), but Southeast’s Kerisha Broadus is the top challenger for the state title. Others with good chances of placing high are South’s Jayda Kitchen, Southeast’s Tiffany Anderson and Northwest’s Tondria Nolen.

Class 6A Discus: I don’t see anyone from the area with a decent shot at cracking the top 5 here.