The 2018 state track meet started with a bang for schools in the KCII listening area.

For the Washington Boys the Demon shuttle hurdle relay team of Mario Tapia, Lincoln Kleese, Ben Schiefer and Cade Hennigan was 18th in 3A with a time of 1:02.18. Washington’s Ethan Hunt was 20th in the 400 at 53.28 seconds. The Washington girls were led by Hannah Anderson taking 10th in the 200 prelims at 25.97 seconds.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks scored a pair of state championships Thursday. Floyd Evans brought home gold in the 3200 with a time of 9:42.34. Marie Hostetler was a state champ for the Golden Hawks in the 3000 with her time of 10:25.78. Other top finishes for the Golden Hawks included, the Mid-Prairie boys 4×800 team of Zach Pettit, Marshall Teets, Quinn Schmidt and Cary Schaefer finishing second, Anna Hostetler third in the 3000, Terrhyn Jacoby 13th in the 100, Schaefer 14th and Schmidt 21st in the 400. The Golden Hawk girls 4×800 team of Kate Cavanagh, Kessa Jones, Moriah Brase and Ana Fleming was 18th.

Iowa Mennonite School was led on Thursday by a pair of 10th place finishes with Suzanna Yoder taking 10th in the 400 with a time of 1:01.30 and Levi Geyer placing 10th in the 3200 in 10:14.54. Yoder was also 19th in the 100m dash.

The Highland Huskies crowned a state champion Thursday with Emily Yahnke winning gold in the long jump, clearing 17’8.50″. Yahnke was also third in the prelims of the 100m dash at 12.60 seconds, qualifying for this weekend’s finals. Aly Stokes placed 11th in the long jump for the Huskies.

The Lone Tree Lions saw Casey Shalla and Brady Dauber each place sixth in their respective events. Dauber sixth in the long jump, clearing 20’5.50″, Shalla sixth in the shot put with a throw of 45’1.50″. The Lions 4×800 team of Dauber, Harmon Miller, Keegan Edwards and Brock Smith was 11th. The Lone Tree girls shuttle hurdle team of Holley Johnson, Zoie Simonsen, Chloe Jacque and Emily Feldman were 15th.

For the WACO Warriors, Elijah McGohan was 15th in the 400 with a time of 52.89 seconds. The Warrior girls shuttle team took 17th in the prelims with Molly McLaughlin, Grace Conwell, Laney Graber and Kiana Miller on the roster. The Warrior boys shuttle hurdle team of John Skriver, McGohan, Drew Kissell and Colton Horak also competed.

Winfield-Mt. Union was led on Thursday by Brandon Snowden, finishing eighth in the prelims of the 200m dash to qualify for this weekends finals with a time of 23.42 seconds. Snowden also competed in the 100m dash taking 10th and the 400m taking 18th. For the Lady Wolves Anna Hudson was 24th in the shot put.

The Sigourney girls started their state team title defense Thursday with the best prelim time in the shuttle hurdle at 1:07.03 with a team of Summer Barthelman, Leah Carter, Sloane Magill and Autum Barthelman. The Savages also had a fifth place finish from Autum Barthelman in the 100m prelims to qualify for this weekend’s finals with a time of 12.65 seconds and 19th in the long jump from Summer Barthelman.