Check out additional photos from Tuesday’s Humboldt-Iola Invitational here.
HUMBOLDT — An occasional burst of wind out of the north was the only impediment to some blistering fast times on the cross country course Tuesday.
Humboldt and Iola high schools combined to co-host a meet at the Humboldt Municipal Golf Course.
And with temperatures the coolest they’ve been all season, the runners were raring to go.
On the boys’ side, Iola’s Jesse Taylor, Kaster Trabuc and Cole Moyer combined to go 2-3-4 in the varsity race, good enough to propel Iola to second as a team, behind Pittsburg, which placed five in the top 14.
As for the girls, Iola’s Elanie Sturgeon and Sage Barney pulled in their customary top-10 finishes as well, with Sturgeon coming in fifth and Barney seventh.
How fast was the action?
Iola’s Taylor took second at 17 minutes, 33 seconds — more than 2½ minutes faster than the time he posted in winning a meet at Big Hill last week. Sturgeon’s mark of 22:37 also bettered her Big Hill time by 2½ minutes.
“It was so nice we were able to work together and have a great meet for the kids,” Iola head coach Brit Daugharthy said.
In addition to Iola and Humboldt runners, teams from Yates Center, Marmaton Valley and Crest were among those competing.
Humboldt’s Lady Cubs secured second as a team, led by fourth-place finisher McKenna Jones and Anna Heisler in 10th. Nevada, Mo., which had the top two runners in the race, took first as a team.
Humboldt head coach Eric Carlson held his team’s no. 1 runner, Drew Wilhite, out of the race because of a lingering upper respiratory infection.
Wilhite is expected to run Saturday at a meet in Lawrence, where Humboldt and Iola will both attend.
THE OTHER area schools had high marks as well, particularly in the younger classes.
Marmaton Valley’s Zach Allee took seventh in the junior varsity boys race, while Yates Center’s Jarrett Birk took 10th and Brigg Shannon was 14th.
