PAOLA — Iola High’s track team used Thursday’s competition at the Paola Invitational as a measuring stick of sorts, head coach David Daugharthy explained.
“Every year this is one of our more competitive meets,” he said, noting the lineup consists of larger 4A schools, many of which have been traditional track and field powerhouses.
“While we might not have brought home a bunch of hardware, this was a great meet for us to go against some better competition early in the season to challenge ourselves.”
Highlighting the Mustangs’ day were Jackie Fager, who claimed third in the triple jump at 31 feet, 11.25 inches, and MaHailie Genoble, who took fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a season-best time of 51.80 seconds.
Of note, Genoble’s time was a tenth of a second faster than her state-qualifying mark from 2023. Fager, who narrowly missed out qualifying for state last season, just missed her regional mark by 3.5 inches, Daugharthy noted.
“Jackie is looking to make a push to beat that mark and hopefully become a state qualifier,” Daugharhty said. “And MaHailie came out of the gates on fire. She is proving her freshman year was not a fluke. She is hungry for more.”
On the boys’ side, Keegan Hill and Cortland Carson both racked up top-five finishes. Hill ran a season-best 10 minutes, 46.51 seconds in the 3200-meter run and 5:01 in the 1600 meters. Carson took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing in 44.99 seconds — missing out on a medal by .002 seconds.
“Keegan continues to impress in the distance races,” Daugharthy said. “We are expecting to break under 5 minutes in the 1600. And he shaved 19 seconds off his time in the 3200. He’s a great young competitor with a ton of promise.”
DAUGHARTHY touched on the season- and personal-best marks Iola racked up in Paola.
Griffin Westervelt reached new personal standards in the 100 meters and long jump, as did James Hunt and Brett Heinrich in the 1600. Charles Rogers and Alex Donnelly earned personal bests in the shot put and javelin, respectively.
“Our throwers Madelyn Ashworth, Kealie Keeler and Mayah Shaughnessy have been working hard,” Daugharthy continued. “They didn’t see the results they wanted, but it is going to come very soon.”
Anna Beckwith competed in her first meet of the season after dealing with an ankle injury, running the 400 meters in 1:06.4. “She isn’t quite in shape to have run that, but the potential to get back there is evident,” Daugharthy said.
Sam Sturgeon also competed in his first meet of the season. “He is picking up right where he left off,” Daugharthy said. “I expect times for him to begin dropping rapidly. And OkOlteon Greathouse continues to show promise in the throws. We’ve been working on some technical things in all of his throws. We expect him to put it together very soon.”
IOLA will send a group of 10 athletes to Wichita Thursday and Friday for the annual Wichita Pre-State Challenge, while the junior varsity athletes will be in Chanute Thursday.
Iola’s results from Paola follow:
