Tiger Girls Begin Defense of Title With Early Bird Win

Worth County’s girls came back as a strong favorite to defend their state title this year with many of their players back. They got off to a good start Thursday with a meet victory at the Early Bird. Worth County had 123 points, followed by Mound City with 86. Bedford had 61, Stanberry 57, Tri-County 37, NEN and Albany 38, East Atchison 36, North Andrew 26, King City 18, Union Star 16, South Harrison 14, and Gilman City, Pattonsburg, and North Harrison each with 8.

Liz Lyle was fourth in the 100 with a time of 14.42. Kristin New was fifth in the 1600 with a time of 6:43.68.

While Worth County only got two medals in the running events, Anna Gladstone had little trouble defending her State Title in the 100 Hurdles. She won handily with a time of 16.27, beating Hannah Wedlock (Mound City) out by 1.28 seconds. Wedlock finished with a time of 17.55. Aivry Griffin was sixth with a time of 19.37. Anna had just as little trouble in the 300 Hurdles, where she beat out Paige West (NEN) by over two seconds. Gladstone had a time of 52.87 to West’s 55.11.

Mound City came out with a strong 4x100 team, winning the event; however, Worth County got some points as well, as they were third. The team of Navada Hoff, Regan Allee, Anna Spainhower, and Liz Lyle was third with a time of 57.99 to Mound City’s 55.77. The 4x200 team of Navada Hoff, Eleonora Bernini, Aivry Griffin, and Anna Spainhower was fourth with a time of 2:08.83. The 4x400 team of Megan Cassavaugh, Allison Larison, Jill Hardy, and Braidy Hunt was second with a time of 5:08.50. And the 4x800 team of Megan Cassavaugh, Kristin New, Justina Wimer, and Jill Hardy was second with a time of 11:41.52.

Anna Gladstone picked up her third media in the High Jump, where she was second with a jump of 4’10”. The challenge will be to beat out Marissa Jensen (Stanberry), who has excelled in that event, and who won with a height of 5 feet. Worth County was 1-2 in the Pole Vault as Keelin Engel won with a height of 9 feet and Regan Allee was second with a height of 8’6”. Anna Gladstone beat out Jensen in the Long Jump, winning with a jump of 16’4½ to Jensen’s 15’8”. That gave Anna three firsts for the afternoon and one second. Liz Lyle was fifth with a jump of 13’10½”. Liz Lyle was second in the Triple Jump with a jump of 30’6”, while Jill Hardy was fifth with a jump of 26’10½”.

Merrideth Spiers returns in the throwing events, where she excelled last year. She started off well in the Shot Put, winning by almost three feet with a throw of 33’9½”. Keelin Engel was fifth with a throw of 30’3”. Spiers won the Discus by almost 30 feet, getting a winning throw of 126’6”.