By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
It came down to his final attempt of the day, but Washburn Rural senior thrower Josh Sulzen-Watson got the discus throw he's been waiting for in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational at Rural.
Washburn Rural senior Josh Sulzen-Watson (left) beams after hearing his winning distance of 179-2 in Thursday's discus event in the Jerry Beardslee Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Josh Sulzen-Watson releases his personal-best discus throw of 179-2 in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sulzen-Watson, fourth in the Class 6A discus as a junior, unleashed a throw of 179 feet, 2 inches to win the discus title by more than 30 feet while improving his personal record by nearly 20 feet.
"I've been working all year for this,'' Sulzen-Watson said. "Every practice I'm getting closer and closer and I was like, 'This is the time to do it.' I just had to go for it.''
As soon as he released his final throw he knew it was a big one.
"I knew immediately,'' he said.
Sulzen-Watson also gained some family bragging rights with Thursday's clutch throw, surpassing the high school personal-best of older brother Zach, the 6A discus runnerup in 2022 who now throws for Emporia State.
"I've always looked forward to passing him,'' Josh said. "It's always been a back and forth competition and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to pass him this year.' ''
Now, with his 179 throw on the books, he wants to set his sights higher.
"Definitely, I think maybe even a 190 throw now,'' Sulzen-Watson said. "If I get a good wind it might really fly for me.''
Sulzen-Watson, fifth at state in the javelin in 2023, also added a personal-best winning throw of 187 feet, 10 inches in that event Thursday while junior Jacob Hawks made it a sweep of the throws for Washburn Rural with a win in the shot put at 47-5.25.
Other meet highlights:
Washburn Rural junior Payton Fink led a one-two-three Rural finish in Thursday's girls 1,600-meter run in the Jerry Beardslee Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Washburn Rural junior distance star Payton Fink led a one-two-three finish in the girls 1,600-meter run with a win in 5 minutes, 16.93 seconds.
Rural junior Rylee Ismert was the runnerup in 5:20.83 while sophomore Emily Graf was third in 5:23.12.
Fink also posted a second-place finish in the 800 in 2:25.13.
Washburn Rural senior Raegan Petersen won the girls discus with a throw of 112-1 in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Washburn Rural sisters Raegan Petersen and Kailyn Petersen went one-two in the girls discus while Kailyn Petersen added a win in the shot put.
Senior Raegan Petersen won the discus with a winning throw of 112 feet, 1 inch while freshman Kailyn was second at 107-11.
Kailyn Petersen won the shot put in the first meet of her high school career with a throw of 34-5.75.
• Seaman senior Maggie Lesmeister posted her second straight win of the season in the girls javelin, recording a top throw of 122 feet, 8 inches.
Seaman sophomore Brody Anderson won the boys 800 meters in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational in 1:59.81. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Seaman sophomore Brody Anderson followed up his 800 meters win in the season-opening Topeka West Invitational with a second straight win on Thursday, with Anderson clocking a personal-best time of 1:59.81.
The Vikings also got a win from senior Aaron Merritt in the boys 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 15.15 seconds while Seaman junior Kaden Whitehurst won the triple jump at 41 feet, 9.50 inches.
• Washburn Rural senior Titan Osburn won the boys long jump with a best jump of 21-2.50 while Rural junior Isaiah Terry won the 400 dash in 53.14.
Terry also teamed with sophomore Liam Morrison, sophomore Draden Chooncharoen and senior Devin Roney to win the 4x400-meter relay by more than four seconds in 3:30.01.
JERRY BEARDSLEE INVITATIONAL
At Washburn Rural
GIRLS
Individual results
100 -- 1. Gage, Mill Valley, 12.96; 2. Helm, Lawrence, 13.12; 3. Woods, Lawrence, 13.56.
200 -- 1. J. Besson, Lawrence, 28.04; 2. Gage, Mill Valley, 28.06; 3. S. Bessom, Lawrence, 28.09.
400 -- 1. G. Besson, Lawrence, 62.53; 2. Essman, Free State, 62.69; 3. Moore, Free State, 63.07.
800 -- 1. Roth, Mill Valley, 2:24.94; 2. Fink, Washburn Rural, 2:25.13; 3. Howard, Mill Valley, 2:26.00.
1,600 -- 1. Fink, Washburn Rural, 5:16.93; 2. Ismert, Washburn Rural, 5:20.83; 3. Graf, Washburn Rural, 5:23.12.
3,200 -- 1. McAfee, Mill Valley, 11:45.22; 2. Maddox, Washburn Rural, 11:54.69; 3. Anderson, Mill Valley, 12:04.43.
100 hurdles -- 1. Benson, Mill Valley, 16.69; 2. Stallbaumer, Seaman, 16.71; 3. Grace, Highland Park, 18.59.
300 hurdles -- 1. Benson, Mill Valley, 51.00; 2. Stallbaumer, Seaman, 52.75; 3. Graham, Free State, 53.37.
4x100 relay -- 1. Mill Valley (Welch, Gage, Alston, Benson), 50.48; 2. Lawrence (Helm, Wesley, L. Woods, Y. Woods), 51.18; 3. Washburn Rural (Blanco, Estudillo, Raub, Worley), 52.08.
4x400 relay -- 1. Free State (Essman, Cronemeyer, Barnes, Weinkauf), 4:18.57; 2. Washburn Rural (Peterson, E. Blanco, M. Blanco, Blow), 4:21.02; 3. Seaman (Heston, Steiner, Stallbaumer, Robinson), 4:21.43.
4x800 relay -- 1. Mill Valley (Roth, Caldwell, McAfee, Anderson), 9:48.49; 2. Mill Valley (Howard, Culbertson, Hanks, Johnson), 10:19.87; 3. Seaman (Heston, Spencer, Robinson, Sampson), 10:36.08.
High jump -- 1. Platt, Lawrence, 5-4; 2. Strathman, Mill Valley, 5-2; 3. Pickman, Lawrence, 4-10.
Pole vault -- 1. Fleetwood, Mill Valley, 11-6; 2. Payne, Mill Valley, 11-0; 3. Skinner, Mill Valley, 9-6.
Long jump -- 1. Gage, Mill Valley, 17-8; 2. Jones, Free State, 17-3.50; 3. Welch, Mill Valley, 17-0.
Triple jump -- 1. Alston, Mill Valley, 35-2.25; 2. Platt, Lawrence, 33-2.50; 3. Pickman, Lawrence, 32-3.
Shot put -- 1. K. Petersen, Washburn Rural, 34-5.75; 2. Speciale, Mill Valley, 32-10.50; 3. Jaimez, Free State, 31-9.
Discus -- 1. R. Petersen, Washburn Rural, 112-1; 2. K. Petersen, Washburn Rural, 107-11; 3. Reynolds, Free State, 96-10.
Javelin -- 1. Lesmeister, Seaman, 122-8; 2. Platt, Lawrence, 118-10; 3. Ray, Washburn Rural, 109-2.
BOYS
Individual results
100 -- 1. Legleiter, Mill Valley, 11.77; 2. Osburn, Washburn Rural, 11.90; 3. Watts, Mill Valley, 12.06.
200 -- 1. Moore, Mill Valley, 23.82; 2. Watts, Mill Valley, 24.15; 3. Willams, Mill Valley, 24.21.
400 -- 1. Terry, Washburn Rural, 53.14; 2. Loos, Free State, 53.58; 3. Williams, Mill Valley, 53.82.
800 --1. Anderson, Seaman, 1:59.81; 2. Cline, Mill Valley, 2:00.43; 3. Lichauer, Free State, 2:03.44.
1,600 -- 1. Cline, Mill Valley, 4:22.32; 2. Loos, Free State, 4:23.90; 3. Whittlesey, Free State, 4:37.88.
3,200 -- 1. Wohler, Free State, 9:39.51; 2. Vazquez, Mill Valley, 9:49.63; 3. Anderson, Mill Valley, 9:50.85.
110 hurdles -- 1. Merritt, Seaman, 15.15; 2. Ingenthron, Washburn Rural, 15.31; 3. Carter, Free State, 15:37.
300 hurdles -- 1. Carter, Free State, 40.73; 2. Morrison, Washburn Rural, 40.83; 3. Johnson, Mill Valley, 41.36.
2,000 steeplechase -- 1. Frye, Free State, 6:33.35; 2. Walker, Seaman, 7:17.30; 3. Gordon-Ross, Lawrence, 7:22.31.
4x100 relay -- 1. Lawrence (Sandefur, Bachman, Damron, Riccardo), 44.47; 2. Mill Valley (Legleiter, Moore, Woods, Williams), 45.24; 3. Free State (Carlson, Preston, Simpson, Jasso), 45.47.
4x400 relay -- 1. Washburn Rural (Terry, Morrison, Chooncharoen, Roney), 3:30.01; 2. Free State (Loos, Laney, Hedges, Stutler), 3:34.31; 3. Mill Valley (Moore, Cline, Haase, Williams), 3:38.61.
4x800 relay -- 1. Free State (Frye, Willis, Johnson, Lichauer), 8:25.18; 2. Mill Valley (Vazquez, Strack, Lehan, Lauer), 8:28.42; 3. Lawrence (8:37.40).
High jump -- 1. Carpenter, Mill Valley, 6-0; 2. McGee, Seaman, 6-0; 3. Osburn, Washburn Rural, 5-10.
Pole vault -- 1. Lawler, Mill Valley, 14-0; 2. Beard, Lawrence, 12-0; 3. Litton, Washburn Rural, 11-6.
Long jump -- 1. Osburn, Washburn Rural, 21-2.50; 2. Holmes, Seaman, 21-2; 3. Lucas, Lawrence, 21-0.
Triple jump -- 1. Whitehurst, Seaman, 41-9.50; 2. Lucas, Lawrence, 41-1; 3. Shorten, Mill Valley, 39-4.
Shot put -- 1. Hawks, Washburn Rural, 47-5.25; 2. Woods, Mill Valley, 47-3.25; 3. Lane, Washburn Rural, 47-1.75.
Discus -- 1. Sulzen-Watson, Washburn Rural, 179-2; 2. Woods, Mill Valley, 148-10; 3. Kirkwood, Lawrence, 135-7.
Javelin -- 1. Sulzen-Watson, Washburn Rural, 187-10; 2. Strobel, Mill Valley, 165-0; 3. Pittenger, Mill Valley, 158-10.
