Only two area runners competed in the varsity girls’ race Tuesday at the annual Iola High Doc Stiles Invitational cross country meet. Both captured individual medals.
Iola High senior Sydney Owens earned the ninth-place medal. She ran the 4K course in 19 minutes, 31 seconds. She was the lone Iola girl in the race.
Kelli Wilkinson, a first-year sophomore runner from Uniontown High, took the 25th-place medal. Wilkinson posted a time of 21:41.
Parsons High’s Kaylee Krull won the girls’ varsity race in 17:58.
Zack Louk, senior from Marmaton Valley High, battled with Alex Bledsoe of Nevada, Mo., High throughout the boys’ varsity race. There were lead changes between the two runners during the 5K race.
Bledsoe had the lead at the end, winning the race in 17:39. Louk was second in 17:48.
Iola High’s Trent Latta, a sophomore, was top runner for the Mustangs in their home meet. Latta was fifth in 18:31, with Jeremy Spears 10th at 19:01 and Roman Yocham 14th at 19:13.
Also picking up individual medals for Iola were Christian Kauth in 22nd at 19:47 and Tyler Powelson in 25th at 19:58. Bryan Miller ended up 28th in 20:32.
Crest High senior Dustin Davis-Jones claimed the 16th-place medal running the race in 19:25.
Uniontown High’s Jordan Wheeler placed 45th in 22.40. Teammate Alex Bradbury ran 51st in 24:34.
Chanute High’s Blue Comets swept the varsity team titles.
Girard had two girls take a wrong turn during the race and Chanute won the team championship with 42 points. Girard was second with 46 and Fredonia third with 85 points.
Chanute placed five runners in the top 10 of the boys’ varsity race. The Blue Comets scored 30 points with the Mustangs coming in a distant second with 75 points. Girard had 121 points for third place.
“Our meet has changed a lot,” said Marvin Smith, Iola High head cross country coach. “We still have 20 schools competing but the numbers and quality have dropped considerably.
“For years, we were the only area school competing at Rimrock (KU’s high school meet) but now several other schools do. We don’t hold athletes out of our home meet but other schools hold runners out to keep them fresh for Saturday’s race in Lawrence.”
Smith said the Mustangs lost ground to Chanute in the final mile of the varsity race. He said Latta and Spears continue to run very well.
Iola’s boys dominated the junior varsity and freshman races. The Mustang JV won with 63 points followed by Humboldt High’s Cubs with 102 points.
Iola’s Jordan Strickler was up front throughout the junior varsity race and led it for awhile. At the end Strickler finished third in 20:33 as Chanute’s Brandon Swanson, 20:02, and Parsons’ True Williamson, 20;22, passed him.
Michael Wilson ran fifth for Iola in 20:48. Michael Armstrong finished 16th in 21:55 and Bryan Mueller picked up the 18th-place medal in 22:08.
Also placing for Iola were: 21, Tyler Shelby, 22:32; 22, Jarrett Mosbrucker, 22:45; 28, Jason Tidd, 23:25; 30, Arion Kunkler, 23:47; 33, Levi Baker, 24:21; 34, Christian Ruby, 24:25; 42, Drew Smith, 25:54; 45, Kaleb Beckham, 27:42.
Marmaton Valley’s Chance Stevenson finished eighth in 21:16. Humboldt’s Michael Davis was ninth in 21:21 and Dylan Greve took 15th in 21:53. Humboldt’s Nick Keazer earned the final medal, 20th place, in 22:29.
Humboldt’s Kendall West was 23rd in 22:51 and Marmaton Valley’s Garrett Booth placed 25th in 23:08. Kile Martin, Humboldt, placed 35th in 24:28 and teammate Logan Yokum was 40th in 25:47.
Blaine Klubek and Kohl Endicott ran first and second for Iola in the freshman boys’ race. The Mustangs placed five in the top 10, scoring 30 team points. Frontenac was second with 66 points.
Klubek ran the race in 16:35 and Endicott posted a time of 16:45. Jonathan Tidd was eighth in 18:17, followed by Travis Hermstein ninth in 18:24 and Tyler Holloway 10th at 18:34.
Logan Roettgen ended up 20th at 22:00.
Freshman Jo Lohman claimed the fourth-place medal in the girls’ junior varsity race. She ran the distance in 20:42.
Also for Iola, Shannon Vogel was 21st in 23:36, Lauren Hunt 28th in 26:36 and Carrie Mock 29th in 26:37.
Humboldt’s Kristin Todd placed 26th in 26:07. Crest’s Brooklynn Gray-LaCross was 30th in 27:06.
Iola will enter a selected few runners at Saturday’s University of Kansas’ Rimrock high school meet. Runners from several states compete in the races.
Next Thursday Iola, Humboldt, Marmaton Valley, Crest and Uniontown will compete in the Central Heights High Invitational in Richmond.
Medals go to locals at IHS Doc Stiles
