Menk’s heart is heavy, but his feet are still swift

Forgive Dustin Menk if he lacked focus on Saturday afternoon while competing at the Missouri Class 3 Sectional 4 track meet at Kearney.

Menk, a Platte County senior, qualified in both the 300-meter hurdles and as a part of the 800 relay team. But he was distracted by thoughts of his older sister, who was lying in a hospital bed.

On Friday afternoon, Cheri Menk, a 2007 graduate of Platte County, was admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital diagnosed with meningitis.

The prognosis was grim, and she was on life support as her brother competed in the state qualifying meet.

“I had to come and run this and then go see her,” said an emotional Menk shortly after winning the 300 hurdles. “It really just puts everything in perspective.”

Menk got just an hour of sleep on Friday night, and it wasn’t certain that he would compete on Saturday.

“We had an alternate for the two relays ready to go,” Platte County coach Doug Kingery said. “We just left it up to him. If he didn’t come, we all understood why. If he did come and didn’t want to run, we understood why. And then if he wanted to run, we weren’t going to tell him no.”

Menk came from behind in the 300 hurdles to earn the gold medal, finishing in 39.62 seconds, his best time of the season.

It had already been a difficult postseason for Menk, who finished fourth at state in the 300 hurdles in 2008.

At the district meet last weekend, he was disqualified for knocking over hurdles in the 110 meter event.

“It was just a bad race,” Menk said. “I was trying to catch up and I hit a couple. They said I hit a couple of them intentionally.”

Pembroke Hill’s McReynolds on a rollTiffani McReynolds looks to be gearing up for a run at a third Missouri Class 3 state championship in the 100 hurdles.

The Pembroke Hill junior cruised to first-place finishes in both the 100 and 300 hurdles.

McReynolds won the 100 hurdles in 14.34 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 44.20 seconds. She also won the 300 hurdles at state in 2008, but she’s much more excited about the 100 hurdles.

“I’m hoping I can lower my 100-meter time, because (last) summer I was running high 13s (seconds). So I really want to get to that again before I get to summer track,” McReynolds said.

Noteworthy•Kearney junior Sydney Haase appears to be in good position to win the Missouri Class 3 pole vault.

Haase had no trouble winning Saturday, clearing 12 feet, 4 inches. That’s just 1 inch off the Class 3 state record held by Tara Diebold of Branson.

At sectionals, Haase had 12 feet, 6 inches cleared, but she hit the bar on her way down.

•Ruskin senior Roland Denson won both the 200 and 400. Meanwhile, Center speedster Cara Forte’ won both the 100 and 200.

submitted by COLE YOUNG - 2009-05-23 21:29:03

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