Shawnee Mission North outdistances rivals in Kansas 6A regional track and field

Shawnee Mission North dominated the boys distance races Friday in the Kansas 6A regional track and field meet at Blue Valley High School.

SM North senior Noah Stevenson sprinted past senior teammate and 6A state cross-country individual champion Belesti Akalu in the last 10 meters to win the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 19.64 seconds. Akalu finished in 4:19.69.

Stevenson came back to win the 800 in 1:58.65, and he anchored SM North’s 3,200-meter relay team that won in 8:01.01.

The top four finishers in each event qualified for the state meet May 27-28 in Wichita.

“I qualified for state last year in the 800 but didn’t do well,” Stevenson said. “I was coming off a hip injury suffered in the league meet” last year.

The difference this year is that he put in more mileage in the offseason.

Akalu came back to win the 3,200 in 9:29.99, beating his junior brother, Alex, by less than a second.

He will be looking for his first gold medal at state. Last year, he finished ninth in the 3,200.

“I put in a lot of mileage, and my teammates have pushed me,” Belesti Akalu said.

Aiming for three

BV Northwest senior Hannah VanBuskirk won the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches.

She will be looking for her third consecutive title in the event at the state meet.

“I need to continue to practice well and continue what I’ve been doing all year,” she said.

She was also the KU Relays champion in the event, clearing 5-6.

Mastering hurdles

SM North senior Jazmin Williams captured the girls 300-meter hurdles in 46.08.

She won the event at state last year.

The secret to running well in the hurdles is “getting down to the ground quickly going over the hurdles,” she said.

Double the fun

BV North sophomore Sophie Scott was a double winner, capturing both the 1,600 and 800. She had a time of 5:05.17 in the 1,600 and 2:19.17 in the 800.

Scott placed second in the 1,600 last year at state as a freshman.

“I’m peaking at the right time,” she said. “I’m getting ready for the big races and just going out and competing.”

Jumper qualifies in two events

BV West senior Evan Hailes won the triple jump with a leap of 44-4  3/4 , and he was fourth in the long jump at 20-8  1/2 .

He has a best of 46-10 in the triple jump.

“I worked hard in the offseason, I made sure that I got better every day and I got stronger,” he said.

SM East, North win team titles

SM East easily won the girls team championship with 139 points.

The race for the boys regional title was a battle between SM North and Blue Valley. The Indians’ dominance in the distance events proved to be the difference as SM North had 150 team points, beating Blue Valley by 1.5 points.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission North outdistances rivals in Kansas 6A regional track and field."