The Cardinals ran, jumped, and vaulted into the record books at the first official KHSAA Indoor Track State Meet. Senior Joey Hill claimed two state titles in the long jump and triple jump events.
“I thought Indoor State went pretty well,” says Coach Terry Yeast. “To compete in four events in 3A and score in 75% of them, I think is amazing.”
This was GRC’s first boys’ individual track state title since 2009. Hill jumped two impressive marks of 21-06.75 in the long jump, and 43-04.50 in the triple jump.
“It takes a lot of time and effort to do great,” says Hill. “Thankfully my hard work and patience has paid off in a good way.”
Hill has been working since last outdoor season in preparation to compete again this year.
“I was trusting in my training,” says Hill. “I’ve been working on my steps and my techniques with Coach Yeast and I’ve used them to my advantage to get great jumps.”
Junior Cooper Wasson competed great at the meet as well, running a 4:04.5 to claim 5th place in the 1500m.
“Definitely not satisfied with my race; the goal is always to win,” Wasson says. “But given the adversity I’ve faced with injuries over the past year, I have to be realistic right now. I’m in a good spot, but there’s a lot of work to do before June 1st.”
The distance crew looks to make a big run this year as several runners have been working since the cross country season.
“I think we have a special group,” says Wasson. “We have a chance to have more guys under five minutes in the mile than we’ve ever had in school history. I think the team can take down a lot of the standing school records, too.”
Sophomore Bailey Howard took home an 8th place finish in the women’s pole vault at the event. Clearing the 10’ bar, Howard looked comfortable as ever.
“I know I could’ve jumped better, and I have in the past,” says Howard. “I’m staying positive though, and ready for outdoor track.”
While this was not Howard’s best performance, she looks forward to getting to compete outdoors this season.
“I’m really excited to see the improvements I’ve made in practice and seeing it show in my heights,” she says. “I’m also really excited to see how far the team can go with our new coaches.”
The GRC Track and Field team is eager to compete this year while being under new management. Coach Terry Yeast is excited to see the maximum potential of all athletes.
“I noticed students that are not very confident in themselves,” says Coach Yeast. “I think once they start realizing that they’re better than they think they are, they’ll be a lot better. Our core group has a chance to battle for a regional championship and compete for a high level at the state championship.”
(This story was first published in our print newspaper.)
