Allen County athletes knew going in that they were going to have to step it up if we were going to improve on last years 8th place finish. This year's team is led by freshman with a lot of potential. We needed every point that we were entered in. Phillip Dale was the team's highest scorer with 20 points. "I was not surprised by Phillip's performances this weekend." "Phillip is a pressure athlete, he thrives in that atmosphere." Phillip increased his personal best in the long jump with a 23-05.5 jump which puts him 3 inches away from qualifying. Staying with the jumps, Lee Johnson had a huge personal best jump. Lee had not hit 22 since the Nebraska Indoor meet and breaks out with two 23+ jumps and ends up hitting 23-03.25 feet. On that jump, Lee still had over six inches of room on the toe board to use. Going into finals, Allen County was sitting 1st and 3rd in the conference. They ended up finishing 3rd and 4th. In woman's Pole Vault, Kayla Irwin qualified for Nationals in the Pole Vault when she cleared 9-09. "I'm very impressed by Kayla's performance; she is a double sport athlete at Allen County." Basketball being the sport that brought her here, however, she was an outstanding pole vaulter in high school. Kayla has had limited practice this year in the vault. Kayla ended up finishing 4th in the conference. Allen County's triple jumpers were able to grab 18 points in the triple jump.

Phillip Dale finished 2nd in the conference with a 44foot jump and Lee only taking two jumps because of his hamstring finished 3rd with a 43-01.75. In 5th was Andrew Schroter who hasn't jumped in four years, but was able to step in and grab us some points. Phillip finished his day in the High Jump with a 3rd place showing. Colby Segraves had his seasons best in the Javelin this year with a throw of 163-11. Daniel Colina sacrificed a chance to throw well by running the 1st leg of the 4x800 which was about 15 minutes before he had to throw. Daniel split 2flat in the 4x800, which was very impressive considering he has not trained for an 800. "I thought we were making the right move with having Daniel in the 4x800, hoping to get more points, but it turned out to back fire a little and Daniel did not throw very well in the Javelin." "But that is what kind of athlete Daniel is, he'll do whatever it takes for the team." The 4x100 was disqualified for dropping the baton. Chase Bradley led off the 4x100 in lane 1, and made up the stagger against lanes 2 and 3. Chase to Harry hand off was near perfect, full extension. "After I saw their hand off, I knew we were going to qualify." But Harry to Andrew was where the baton was dropped. "Sometimes those things happen, it just had to happen to us, because we were on pace to qualify." Michael Valenti ran really well in the 10K and 5K. Posting a time of 35:02.57 and 16:35.02 respectively. Allen County ended up finishing 5th in the conference and 12th overall in the Region. Last year, Allen County was 8th in the conference and 16th in the Region. With two months to actively recruit last year, Allen County was able to make great improvements. I can see us next year competing for Top 3 next year in the conference. We have a very talented freshman class coming in loaded with mid distance/distance runners and jumpers so I think Allen County is just going to keep getting better. Allen County is competing at the Last Chance meet held in Emporia State next Saturday. The 4x100m relay will be heading Cowley County on Thursday while Allen County will hold a Last Chance Throwers Meet that same day.