Espinoza qualifies for four events
Basore wins 1st in javelin for girls’ team
Staff writer
Centre sophomore Xavier Espinoza qualified for this week’s state track meet by placing third in three events — 100 meter, 400 meter, and long jump — and being a member of a 4x100-meter relay team that placed fourth at last week’s regional meet in Burlington.
“Xavier becomes the first Centre athlete to qualify in four events in a number of years,” coach Alan Stahlecker said. “I don’t recall it happening in my 16 seasons.”
Junior Kate Basore finished first in javelin with a throw of 121 feet 9 inches.
“Kate led the competition from the opening round and increased her distance with her longest throw of the day in the fourth round,” Stahlecker said.
This is her second consecutive year to qualify for state. She placed seventh last year. Her season best this year was 130’2”, the 24th farthest distance in the state before regionals.
The relay team included Espinoza, Max Svoboda, Braxton Smith, and Aidan Svoboda.
“Running from the eighth lane as the team with the eighth fastest entered time, the team edged out Southern Coffey County by .01 second for the final qualifying spot at state,” Stahlecker said.
State meet schedule
Friday:
8 a.m. – Espinoza, long jump.
10:05 a.m. — relay team preliminaries.
10:45 a.m. — Espinoza, 400 meter preliminaries.
11:30 a.m. — Basore, javelin.
Saturday:
9 a.m. — Espinoza, 100 meter preliminaries; 1:05 p.m. finals.
3:20 p.m. — 4x100 relay finals.
4:05 p.m. — Espinoza, 400 meter finals.