CHANUTE — Several Iola High track athletes displayed marked improvements in just their second competition of the season.
They showed their mettle, while winning plenty of medals Monday at the Chanute JV Invitational.
Leading the way on the girls side was Caiden Cloud, who won the 100-meter hurdles in 19.10 seconds and took third in the 300-meter hurdles at 1 minute, 2.94 seconds. Both were personal bests.
“Hurdling is all about rhythm, and Caiden is starting to gain that in her events,” IHS head coach Dana Daugharthy said. “With more practice, we hope she will be able to start ‘three-stepping’ the 100m hurdles, which would allow her time to really drop.”
Cara Porter brought home a pair of runner-up finishes, in the 1600- and 3200-meter runs.
“Cara has found early success by running hard in all of her races,” Daugharthy sad. “As she gets more in shape and gets more confident, we believe she can develop into a solid runner.”
Ally Ellis earned silver in the triple jump with a leap of 26 feet, 3 inches and fifth in the javelin with a personal-best toss of 79’10”.
“She is extremely coachable and works hard,” Daugharthy said. “She had clear goals for this meet and she accomplished all of them.”
The girls 4×100-meter relay team also nabbed second at 58.53 seconds, with Abigail Hirt, Ashtyn Aikins-Ansley, Abigal Meiwes and Cloud running.
“This was was a personal best for this relay team,” Daugharthy said. “They all ran well.”
Other notable performances for the Fillies, who took fourth as a team, were Abigail Hirt in the 100-meter dash, Elizabeth Baker and Meiwes in the 100 and 200 and Aikins-Ansley in the 100. All ran either personal- or season-best marks in their respective races, Daugharthy said.
ON THE boys’ side, Kyler Mittlemeier brought home third in the 110-meter hurdles in 18.2 seconds and fourth in the 300-meter hurdles at 50.01 seconds. Daugharthy noted Mittlemeier had run hurdles in middle school, but this was his first events as a high-schooler.
“Which is a big transition because the hurdles are higher,” Daugharthy said. “He has been working hard in practice, and it is showing.”
Japheth Rutoh took third int he triple jump and fourth in the high jump. “He has potential to improve both of these marks in the next couple of weeks,” Daugharthy said.
A pair of Mustang relay teams, the 4×100 and 4×400 squads, each took fourth, whale Brock Sander took fifth in the long jump. Kolton Greathouse notched fifth in the shot put. Travis Wanker took sixth in the 1600.
