It was a successful close to the 2017-18 sports season for Glencoe-Silver Lake as three members of the Panther track and field teams earned their way onto the medal stand at the state Class A track and field meet last weekend.
Connor Kantack, Zoe Christensen and Kyle Christensen all closed out their high school careers with state medals for their efforts.
Kantack started the clicker on GSL’s state medal count with a third-place finish in boys’ shot put on Friday, June 8.
Competing in the second of two flights, Kantack’s medal-earning toss came on his second of three in the preliminary round.
After tossing his first shot 54 feet, 5.5 inches, he added another half-inch to his second effort and clinched third place at 54-06.
The next day, it was Zoe Christensen’s turn to toss the shot.
Christensen was making her third state appearance, having also competed in the Class A meet as a freshman and a junior.
She earned GSL’s second medal of the meet and her highest state placement in three tries by taking fourth with a personal best throw of 40-8.75.
She once again reset Panther girls’ record book with the throw, which came in her first effort of the championship round.
Christensen had finished seventh at both the 2015 and 2017 state meets.
Kyle Christensen, like Kantack, was making his first state appearance in his final high school meet.
He ran in both the 100- and 200-meter dash, appearing at state as the Section 2A champion in the 200.
On Friday, Christensen ran the preliminary heats in both events. In the 100, he took 13th with a time of 11.55 seconds, but did not qualify for the finals.
In the 200, he finished seventh with a personal-best time of 22.97 and qualified for the finals with the seventh-fastest preliminary time.
In the finals on Saturday, he improved in both time and placement, crossing the line for the final occasion as a high schooler as the sixth-fastest runner in Class A with a time of 22.73.
Links:
[1] http://www.glencoenews.com/category/byline/tom-carothers
[2] http://www.glencoenews.com/category/section/sports