Baldwin girls win 4 events, finish 3rd at state meet

The Baldwin High girls 4x800 relay celebrates winning the Class 4A race in a state-record time.

By Jimmy Gillispie

WICHITA — Thanks to another gold medal race, the Baldwin High girls track and field team brought home a third-place trophy from the Class 4A state meet.

The Bulldogs won the final race of the two-day event after a couple weather delays pushed the meet back during the final hours of the weekend. The Bulldogs defended their 4x400-meter relay victory from the prelims where they raced to a new state record time.

Baldwin took the lead on the opening leg and never looked back, easily winning the 4x400 relay. The team of Shea Griffith, Cheyenne Brunker, Rachel Watkins and Kami Moore won the gold medal in a time of 4:00.09. In the prelims, Baldwin set a new state record, running 3:58.59.

The 4x400 relay pushed Baldwin ahead of Wellington in the team standings. Baldwin scored 57 team points to finish third. Andale (98) won the title and Buhler (75) placed runner-up.

Baldwin won three others events at the meet. The Bulldogs started off the second day with a 4x800-meter relay that broke the state record, which was set in 2005 by Clay Center, winning in a time of 9:27.47. The relay members were Griffith, Irelyn Kennedy, Watkins and Moore.

Kennedy earned an individual state title and a runner-up finish at her final high school meet. She won the 1,600-meter run (5:07.87) and placed second in the 3,200-meter run (11:06.03). It was Baldwin’s first win in the 1,600 at state since Heather Garcia repeated as champ in 2008.

Later in the meet, and shortly before the first weather postponement of the night, Baldwin finished first and second in the 800-meter run. Moore and Griffith took off in the lead and held on to early 18 big points. Moore won in a time of 2:16.9, with Griffith coming in at 2:18.41.

The Bulldogs’ other state placer was Ivy Holloman in the 300-meter hurdles. She finished eighth, one spot behind her prelims race finish.

The Baldwin boys team placed 11th overall. The Bulldogs scored points in the 4x800 relay (fourth), from Kasey Hamrick in the 400-meter dash (eighth), 4x400 relay (third), Brendan O’Connor (second in the shot put and fourth in the discus) and David Wilson in the triple jump (third).