EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Liberal completed its athletic season for the school year Saturday at the Kansas State Track Meet in Wichita.
The boys 4X400 meter relay was the highlight with a third place finish with the team’s record time of the season in back-to-back weeks.
Bentley Fitzgerald qualified for State in the 400 meter dash but finished 12th in the preliminaries with a time of 1:01.51.
Daniel Cerda ran the 800 meter run at State and finished 15th with a time of 2:38.53. Cerda also ran the mile at State and finished 12th with a time of 5:35.54.
Janaya Devorce also qualified for State in the mile and finished 15th with a time of 5:55.40.
The Lady Redskins relay team of Fitzgerald, Paris Bond, Cerda and Hannah McCarter qualified for State in the 4x400 meter relay but finished 12th in the preliminaries with a time of 4:14.853.
The Lady Redskins 4x800 relay team of Jenny Casas, Fitzgerald, Devorce and Cerda also qualified for State and finished 12th with a time of 10:18.970.
Shamari Lewis qualified for two events at State, but scratched all of her jumps in the long jump. She finished fourth at State in the triple jump with a jump of 36 feet, 9.75 inches.
The Redskins also had several participants, including Edgar Alvarado, who surprised Coach Tracer Haskell by qualifying for State in the 400 meter dash. Alvarado finished 16th at State with a time of 54.69.
Cesar Pavia finished fourth in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:57.74.
MJ Foster also ran the 800 meter run at State and finished ninth with a time of 2:01.58.
Pavia also qualified in the mile and finished 13th at State with a time of 4:29.03.
Liberal’s 4x400 meter relay team of Alvarado, Foster, Zayden Martinez and Pavia turned in the fastest time in the preliminaries and finished third at State in the finals with a time of 3:22.26, their fastest time of the season.
Liberal's 4x800 meter relay team of Alex Koerner, Pavia, Beto Torres and Foster finished ninth at State with a time of 8:09.638.
Three Redskins swept the javelin at the Regional meet, but were not able to replicate their success at state. Ayden Juarez finished 13th at State with a throw of 134 feet, 10 inches. Ivan Moreno finished 14th at State with a throw of 133 feet, 11 inches. Xavier Tafoya finished 16th with a throw of 126 feet, 1 inch.
The Lady Redskins finished 23rd as a team out of 33 teams with five points. The Lady Redskins finished ahead of Western Athletic Conference competitors Dodge City (24th) and Garden City (31st). Olathe Northwest won the Class 6A girls championship with 77 points.
The Redskins finished 20th at State with 11 points and tied with Garden City. Dodge City finished 23rd. Olathe West won the Class 6A boys title with 81 points.
