Raymore-Peculiar’s Miranda Dick tops sister in 2,000 steeplechase at Kansas Relays

For at least another year, Miranda Dick has bragging rights.

The Raymore-Peculiar sophomore won the 2,000-meter steeplechase Saturday morning at the Kansas Relays, beating younger sister Marissa Dick by 10 seconds and leading a Ray-Pec sweep of the top three spots in the race.

It was just Miranda Dick’s third time competing in the event but she was determined to pull out a win in her second attempt at KU. She finished second here last year with a time of 7:52.47.

“I just felt so good,” she said. “Definitely did not expect it. I was nervous because I ran (two events) yesterday and was still a little sore from that.”

Miranda Dick finished the first leg in seventh place, six seconds behind Lansing’s Victoria Robinson in the lead, but by the end of the fourth lap she was five seconds ahead of teammate Makenzie Stucker. Dick shaved another second off her final lap, finishing the leg in 1:29.81 on her way to the win.

Her older brother, junior Nolan Dick, also ran the steeplechase Saturday. He scraped up his hands during the race and placed 17th with a time of 7:02.31.

Four Dick siblings compete for Ray-Pec, but the senior of the bunch, Peyton, has sat out with an injury this season.

“My dad always teases me about Marissa being faster than me as a freshman,” Miranda Dick said. “But I’m really proud to have a little sister running too. It’s cool.”

Miranda Dick’s win, in a school-record 7:32.85, is Ray-Pec’s second consecutive steeplechase victory at Rock Chalk Park.

Girls high jump

Just a month and a half removed from winning the girls high jump at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York with a leap of 5 feet, 10  3/4 inches, Carlie Queen came onto the grass at the Kanasas Relays on Saturday raring to set her personal best outdoors jump.

All season, the Summit Christian senior has chased down a 5-10 mark, a performance that would boost her confidence in time to attempt a tie of the 17-year-old Missouri high school record of 6-0. Entering the Relays, her highest jump of the spring (5-8) led the state of Missouri.

With the wind gusting up to 30 mph and temporary fences falling down behind her as a result, it wasn’t going to be easy for Queen to get to 6 feet. Queen cleared her first two bars with ease, but it took a second attempt to jump over the 5-8. Olathe Northwest sophomore Maddi Righter didn’t ease the pressure, either, clearing 5-8 right before Queen took her second turn.

Two weeks ago at the Olathe East Invite, Righter jumped 5-9, which was still the best mark in Kansas entering this weekend.

Queen had to use the tailwind to her advantage. She couldn’t arrive at her jump mark with too much momentum or she would risk knocking down the bar. She only did so once on her way to winning Saturday’s event at 5-10, but couldn’t get enough air to clear the 6-0 bar in three attempts.

“I have a tendency to go in too fast sometimes so I was trying to make sure I was controlled since I already had so much power from behind,” said Queen, an Arkansas signee. “We’ve had terrible weather every meet. It was hailing in one of our meets, so I was thankful this weather was at least decent.”

Queen, a three-time high-jump state champion, did not set a meet record but her jump was the highest at the Kansas Relays since 1987.

This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Raymore-Peculiar’s Miranda Dick tops sister in 2,000 steeplechase at Kansas Relays."