CHANUTE — Iola High’s junior varsity track teams collected 11 medals — six of them gold — at Monday’s Chanute High JV Invitational.
“This was a very good junior varsity meet. Usually there are six to eight kids who are varsity types ‘making up’ a missed varsity meet but this year it only had junior varsity athletes,” said Marvin Smith, Iola High head track coach.
“It made for very good competition for the younger kids.”
The Mustangs finished second with 92 points behind Chanute with 118. They earned a team trophy. Labette County was third with 70 points.
Stephen McDonald was a double gold-medal winner for the Mustangs. He won the high jump, clearing the bar at 5 feet, 6 inches.
Later, McDonald claimed the gold in the 200-meter dash in 25.1 seconds. Iola’s 4×800-meter relay team of Jacob Cooper, Bryan Miller, Jason Tidd and Jeremy Spears turned in a winning time of 10 minutes, 24 seconds.
The Mustangs went 1-2-3 in the pole vault led by Michael Wilson, who cleared 9’6”. Justin Baker took the silver at 9 feet and Jacob Rhoads was third at 8 feet.
Rhoads captured the gold in the javelin with a mark of 126’8”. Tyler McIntosh took the silver medal in the long jump with a leap of 17’7”. He also was fifth in the triple jump at 33’8”.
Iola’s 4×400-meter relay team of Cooper, McIntosh, Fryendz and Rhoads took the bronze in 4:10.1. The 4×100-meter relay team of Wilson, Denton Christian, Levi Baker and Joel Mefford was sixth.
Eli Grover placed fourth in the discus with a personal-best throw of 99’6”. Christian finished sixth in the event at 95’2”.
Bryan Mueller placed fifth in the 3200-meter run in 13:00.8 and Sparks was sixth at 13:00.8. Miller placed fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:31.7 and Cooper was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1:04.3.
“This group made a lot of improvement over their first meet and the wind hurt everything that went around the track,” Smith said.
The Fillies scored 33 points and finished seventh. Fredonia won the meet with 115 points.
Darci Collins made it two golds in a row. Collins won her second shot put competition with a throw of 28’11”. That earned her a trip to the varsity meet at Independence Friday.
Alexis Hobbs cleared 4 feet in the high jump and took a bronze medal. She also was fourth in the javelin with a throw of 73’5” and sixth in the 100-meter dash in 15 seconds.
Essence Owens placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 25’9”. Collins was fourth in the discus with a toss of 65’5”.
Sydney Owens placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 3:02.5.
The next junior varsity meet is April 26 at Fort Scott. Some of the junior varsity athletes will go to Friday’s varsity meet at Independence.
Iola JV athletes bring home medals
