The Baker men’s track team took first at the Baker Relays Saturday and qualified four athletes for nationals.
The Baker women’s team took second and qualified one athlete for the national meet.
Senior Aaron Hannon led the way on the men’s side placing first in the pole vault and qualifying in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.95 seconds. Hannon also qualified as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team.
Hannon said the athletes on the relay team were excited and relieved to qualify in the first meet of the season.
“Coming out and running qualifying marks being so cold and on the very first race, it’s really fun and it just relieves a lot of weight off our shoulders,” Hannon said. “Now we can just go for bigger marks for the rest of the season.”
Sophomore Aubree Gustin qualified on the women’s side in the javelin throw. Fresh out of basketball season, Gustin had to make a quick transition into track, but did so gracefully throwing 137.5 feet and grabbing first place in the event.
“Well, I qualified at the same meet last year too, so I was hoping I could do it again,” Gustin said. “I actually threw just a little bit farther than I did last year at the same meet.”
The women grabbed another victory on the field with senior Carrie Lister grabbing first place in the shot put with a throw of 12.26 meters. On the track, junior Mary Loveland grabbed a victory in the 3000-meter steeplechase, running a time of 12 minutes, 37.78 seconds.
Poor weather conditions created a less than perfect environment for competing athletes. Wind and rain made it difficult for the athletes to stay warm and stay focused.
“A few people, including me, ran kind of tight and it was cold and hard to warm up,” Hannon said. “But still everybody was pumped for the first meet so they came out and did what they could do.”
Head coach Zach Kindler said the teams performed to his expectations considering the weather conditions the athletes faced.
“Weather was a little rainy, a little wet and a little cool, so obviously we are not going to see extremely exciting marks in that type of condition,” Kindler said. “I mean, there are some that really did extremely well and others that we just need to work out a few kinks and just continue working through the rest of the outdoor season.”
Both teams will compete at the Emporia State University State Farm Relays April 3.
Kindler said he is expecting tougher competition at this meet.
“It’s a good opportunity of for us to see where we are at against that level and see how are athletes are going to step up and compete,” Kindler said. “With us, we never really go after and try to win meets at this type of environment, we just go out and try to compete individually.”
