Fillies, Mustangs prepare for SEK meet

Southeast Kansas League athletes come to Iola for the second straight year Thursday for the annual SEK League Track Meet.
All nine league teams with girls’ and boys’ squads will compete for SEK track and field event championships. Then there’s the team championships on the line.
The 2011 league track meet is the second in a row and third overall for Iola High to host. Iola has had the all-weather, eight-lane track at Riverside Park’s stadium since 2007.
“We’re excited again to be hosting the league meet. Our varsity athletes don’t get to compete at home during the rest of the season and this gives them a great opportunity,” said Marvin Smith, Iola High head track coach.
“Our seniors get to compete at home and that’s important plus it’s the SEK League meet which adds a little more meaning to the competition.”
Field events get under way at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Running event preliminaries begin at 4:30. Finals for running events start at 6.
Eagle Eye Timing is providing the electronic timing for running events and scoring the meet.
There is no admission price for the league meet. The Iola High Booster Club is grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, which will be sold through the concession stand.
Smith said he had a great response from the community for volunteers to help run the meet Thursday. Of course, Smith pointed out, he relies on the expertise of Jack Morrell and Terry Lower along with others from Iola Middle School to run a large track meet smoothly.
The SEK has some of the best high school track athletes in the state in field events and on the track. Coffeyville’s Devin Cosper has had the top times in the girls’ 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Fort Scott’s Griffin Knopp is the defending Class 4A state champion in the high jump and is two-time SEK champion.
Pittsburg High’s girls and boys come in to defend their 2010 SEK track team championships. Smith said the Purple Dragon teams are his choices to repeat. The Pittsburg girls “are led by Skyler Muff in the hurdles and the 400. They have jumpers, throwers, good runners in the short races and the distance races.
“But Chanute’s girls are very balanced and Labette County will give chase and we can’t count out our girls. If we have a good meet, we could push people,” Smith said. Chanute finished second last year and the Iola High Fillies were third.
“On the boys’ side, if Pittsburg falters a bit such as Luke Lee not fully healthy and able to run in as many events as usually, Fort Scott and Chanute are sitting right there. It’s going to be tough for us as we’re going to have to scratch and claw to get points.”
For the Fillies, senior Maggie Wilson is the two-time SEK pole vault champion and is the favorite going into Thursday’s competition. Kirstin McGuffin, another senior, is out to defend her 2010 SEK javelin championship.
Wilson and juniors Kendra Taiclet and Kelsey Larson are back to go after back-to-back 4×100-meter relay championships. Chanel Coyne, a sophomore, has been running on the relay this year.
Taiclet has been winning in the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter low hurdles. She was fourth in both races last year at the SEK meet. Wilson and Taiclet run the 100-meter dash as Wilson was second a year ago in the race.
Larson was the silver medalist in both the 200-and 400-meter dashes a year ago. Look for her to push for the golds. Also Larson will look to place in the javelin.
Senior Katlyn Cleaver and McGuffin are back in the discus ring at the SEK meet. Cleaver finished second a year ago and McGuffin was fourth. Sophomore Breanna Stout and senior Molly Maxwell are in the high jump and Stout competes in the pole vault.
Iola High’s Mustangs may have to relinquish hold on the SEK 4×800-meter relay title, which they’ve held four straight years. Smith said the Mustangs would have to “come up big” Thursday to retain the title.
“We have hard-working runners on the relay team but we’re not as fast as we have been in the past,” Smith said. Junior Christian Kauth is the lone runner back from last year’s SEK champion relay team. Senior Charles Apt, juniors Mikal Bossell, Roman Yocham, Bryan Miller and freshman Tyler Powelson are possible runners for the relay Thursday.
Yocham is the SEK two-time cross country champion and finished third in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter races in last year’s SEK track meet. Miller was 10th in the 3200-meter race a year ago.
Senior Drew Shepherd earned the bronze medal a year ago in the pole vault. Joining him in the event is senior Dylan Lower.
In the throwing events, senior Kyle Heffern is out for a SEK medal in the discus with sophomores Eli Grover and Stephen McDonald in the event. Apt and senior Ralph Shafer, who was fifth at the league meet a year ago, are competing in the javelin.