By BRETT MARSHALL
Western Athletic Conference
Garden’s Brown repeats as Girls Athlete of the Year
When Kip Keely was promoted to the head track coach at Hays High School after serving two years as an assistant to Tony Crough, he knew he was walking into a solid program.
After all, the Lady Indians had just completed one of their best seasons in 2024 by finishing second in the Western Athletic Conference meet to champion Great Bend. In fact, they were only 15.5 points behind the Lady Panthers in the final points race.
Now, a year later, Keely can chalk up his first WAC championship after holding off Garden City, 95-88, to earn the team’s first conference title since 2005.
“I think our success is combination of many things,” said Keely. “We have really good coaches and we’ve got a great group of kids. We are fortunate in the way we set things up with our coaches, especially in the field events where a coach only has one event for which they are responsible.
“That allows them to spend more time in working on the techniques of each event and don’t have to be pulled to other events.”
That philosophy worked well for Keely and the Indians this year, scoring 56 points in six of the seven field events and then tacked on 39 points in the track events for their 95 points.
“Everything was where we wanted it to be,” Keely said of the field event performances.
Of the seven field events, the Indians took first in four — the high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put. They went 1-2 in both the high jump and the long jump. The only event where they didn’t score came in the discus.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that we begin to identify their event early on in their freshman and sophomore years and can specialize with them,” Keely said. “Many of our girls play other sports where they have success. Most of our coaches are at the high school and they do a great job of encouraging kids to come out and try the sport. For many of our kids, track is a secondary sport and for others it is their primary sport.”
Katie Linenberger captured the high jump at 5-06 and is one of the tops in her event in Class 5A. Lynsi Kanak took the long jump at 17-05.75 while Rylen Harrington captured the javelin (124-11) and Zoe Winter the shot put (38-10).
Additionally, the Lady Indians secured three runner-up finishes in the field events. On the track, the results were a mixed bag.
Kamryn McCall (25.65) and Lyndi Zimmerman (25.81) went 2-3 in the 200-meter dash and then the two switched places in the 100-meters (Zimmerman second, 12.25) and McCall (12.41, third). The only gold medalist on the track came from Aralen Maupin in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.28.
Garden City’s speedy Brown repeats WAC track Athlete of Year
In her first two years of running high school track, Garden City’s Hailey Brown showed promise of greatness, only to be derailed by injuries near the end of each season.
By the time her junior season rolled around in 2024, Brown remained healthy by a variety of workouts and entering different events each week while not competing in all of her four specialties — the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long and triple jumps.
“Last year, I knew things were starting to come together, but I wasn’t quite confident,” said Brown, who earned her second WAC Girls Track Athlete of the Year Award after claiming gold medals in her three individual events (100, 12.02), (200, 24.91) and triple jump (36-08) at this year’s conference meet.
Head coach Brian Hill convinced Brown to abandon the long jump and substitute running the third leg of a young, talented 4Ă—400-meter relay team. That paid off as the Lady Buffs won that event in 4:02.94 where the senior Brown paired up with sophomores ThayLee Powers and Erin Finch and junior Ava Luna.
“Just making the switch to the relay team has been a lot of fun,” said Brown of her younger teammates. “I enjoy them and it feels good to be part of a team. And they are really good and I think we’ve got a good relay team. They’re like my little sisters.”
Brown even admitted that she struggled with how to use the blocks for her two sprint races. It was only until recently in her senior season that she switched to her lead foot coming out of the blocks, going from leading with her left to her right.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” Brown said. “Now, my feet and arms are working together and it has allowed me to run faster. Now, it feels like I can explode out of the blocks.”
She broke the school record set in 1981 by Bobbi Greenlee in the 100-meters at the WAC meet, clocking a 12.02 that erased the 44-year mark of 12.20. At the same meet she came within .01 of a second of breaking the 1977 time of 24.90 set by Lady Buffs legendary JoEva Tuttle.
While she excels in both, Brown says she thinks the 200 is her best event of the two sprints.
“I’ve improved on it a lot more,” she said of the 200. “I like coming off the curve and then it feels like a slingshot. I had to keep telling myself it would come. I would do everything the coaches told me to do, but sometimes I’d just get in my own head.”
Breaking the 100-meter school record was a meaningful and somewhat surprising moment for Brown, who has signed to run at Fort Hays State University next year.
“It’s been my goal now for two years and I think I was in shock after I got the 100 record,” Brown said. “I was just as shocked at my 200.”
The triple jump is always a work in progress, Brown said, noting that the three elements are all different.
“The first phase (hop) is good and then I transition into the second (skip/step), and then I’m trying to elevate as much as I can for the third phase (jump),” Brown said. “It does get a little complicated but I’ve gotten more consistent this season.”
Now, as she enters the final weeks of her senior season, Brown can look back and appreciate the journey.
“I had no idea when I was just a little freshman that I would be where I am today,” Brown said. “Getting a chance to compete at state is a great honor and I just want to have a good finish to my career.”
While undecided as to her academic pursuit at FHSU, Brown says she can visualize something in sports exercises or athletic training, having worked with GCHS athletic trainer Mattie Silva.
“I’m sure it will have something to do with sports,” Brown said.
For now, she can appreciate her two-year dominance at the Western Athletic Conference track and field meet.
Western Athletic ConferenceThursday, May 15, 2025At Memorial Stadium • Dodge City
Girls Team Scores
1. Hays, 95
2. Garden City, 88
3. Dodge City, 79
4. Great Bend, 68
5. Liberal, 45
First-team All-WAC(Winners of each Event)
- High jump–Katie Linenberger, Hays, 5-06
- Long jump–Lynsi Kanak, Hays, 17-05.75
- Javelin–Rylen Harrington, Hays, 124-11
- Shot put–Zoe Winter, Hays, 38-10
- Triple jump–Hailey Brown, Garden City, 36-08
- Pole vault–Caitlyn Pfaff, Dodge City, 10-00
- Discus–NaZiah Williams, Liberal, 127-01
- 4x800m relay–Great Bend (Reese Bullard, Bella Long, Brooklynn Kelly, Kate Welcher), 10:23.36
- 100m hurdles–Lily Pfaff, Dodge City, 15.84
- 100m–Hailey Brown, Garden City, 12.02
- 1600m–Cate Wiese, Garden City, 5:33.90
- 4x100m relay–Dodge City (Katie Rouse, Joslyn Scheck, Carina Myers-Soltero, Emma Bell), 49.85
- 400m–Aralen Maupin, Hays, 1:00.28
- 300m hurdles–ThayLee Powers, Garden City, 45.31
- 800m–Reese Bullard, Great Bend, 2:24.49
- 200m–Hailey Brown, Garden City, 24.91
- 3200m–Bella Long, Great Bend, 12:15.87
- 4x400m relay–Garden City (ThayLee Powers, Erin Finch, Hailey Brown, Ava Luna), 4:02.94
Track & Field Athlete of the Year–Hailey Brown, Garden City, Sr.
WAC Girls Coach of the Year–Kip Keely, Hays