YATES CENTER — Competing at home always brings out the best in athletes. Yates Center High’s track athletes were no exceptions at Tuesday’s Yates Center High Invitational.
Brae Adams and Sami Hatch went 1-3 in the girls’ discus. Adams won the event with a throw of 114 feet, 7 inches. Hatch took third at 66’4”.
The Yates Center girls scored 82 points for fourth place, one point from third place. Waverly won the meet with 97 points. Yates Center’s girls had athletes place in the top five of their events.
Yates Center’s boys — all three of them — placed in six of their seven events.
“It was a good day for all of our kids. They all hit personal bests, season bests and medaled,” said Dan Berg, YCHS head track coach.
David VanHoose seemed recovered from a leg injury suffered last week at a meet. VanHoose won the 200-meter dash in 23.42 seconds. He took third in the 100-meter dash in 11.59 seconds.
Sam Aguirre posted a personal-best time of 16.7 seconds for second place in the 100-meter high hurdles. He also had a personal-best leap of 18’6” for fifth in the long jump.
C.J. Stffler was second in the shot put with a throw of 37 feet.
“David had a very good 200 while C.J. had a super throw in the shot. Sam continues improving at a fast rate in the high hurdles,” Berg said.
For the Yates Center girls on the track, Paige Steinforth ran second in the 400-meter dash in 68 seconds with teammate Mindi Holloway in fourth at 69 seconds.
Cherokee Shafer was second in the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 58 seconds. Macey Heger finished fourth in 3:04.
Haley Bedell earned the silver medal in the 300-meter low hurdles in 57.34 seconds. Holloway placed third in the 100-meter high hurdles in 19.58 seconds and Bedell was fifth in 21.08.
Steinforth, Shafer, Holloway and Heger combined for a silver-medal time of 58.34 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay race.
The other gold medal for the girls came on the final race of the night. Yates Center’s Steinforth, Shafer, Bedell and Holloway won the 4×400-meter relay in 4:39.9.
“All four girls ran solid legs and Mindi held off the Waverly anchor runner at the end for the victory,” Berg said.
Steinforth and Shafer were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the high jump. Both cleared the bar at 4’8”. Bedell placed fifth in the javelin with a throw of 77’11”.
“It was just a great day for our athletes, plus again all the staff, administration and the volunteers from our baseball and softball teams helped make our track meet a success,” Berg said.
There was another Wildcat team of athletes feeling at home at the YCHS Wildcat track meet.
Marmaton Valley High’s track athletes had a good day. They earned nine medals and placed in 14 events.
Zach Louk was a double gold-medal winner. Louk won the 1600-meter run in 4:46.2. Marcus Miller ran fourth in the race in 5:34.
Louk captured the gold in the 800-meter run in 2:04.
Mercedes Trollope had a strong day in the jumping pits for Marmaton Valley. Trollope won the girls’ long jump with a leap of 14’7”. She took the silver medal in the triple jump at 30’3”.
Ashtynn Louk was the silver medalist in the 1600-meter run in 6:38 and in the 3200-meter run in 14:48. Rachel Boyd placed fourth in the shot put with toss of 25’11⁄2”.
Back to the MVHS boys, Zack English placed second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 45.49 seconds and Carlos Gonzales was fifth in 47.8. David Harris placed sixth in 100-meter dash in 12.34 seconds.
Marmaton Valley’s 4×100-meter relay team of Gonzales, Harris, Chase Dudley and English took second in 49.67 seconds. Louk, Gonzales and English combined with Lucas Hamlin for a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay race in 3:44.
Kaleb Stroud finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 36’61⁄2”. Ryan Stephens placed sixth in the event with a toss of 35’91⁄4”.
Jared Kale was fifth in the javelin with a throw of 124 feet. Dudley placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 37’10”.
Marmaton Valley goes to the Waverly Invitational at Burlington on Monday. It also has the Southern Coffey County High Invitational April 21.
Yates Center has until next Thursday to practice. The YCHS athletes will compete at the Fredonia High Relays on April 21.
Marmaton Valley, YC athletes do well at Yates Center meet
