ALTAMONT — Iola High’s Mustangs kicked off the 2013 track and field season in fine fashion Thursday, taking second place among 10 schools at the Labette County Invitational. IN OTHER junior varsity action, Iola took sixth overall with 43 points. Fort Scott won the JV boys competition with 162 points. Labette County was second at 102 points.
“We would have had the first place trophy if we had a smarter coach,” head coach Marv Smith said afterward.
How so?
Iola narrowly lost the boys championship to Labette County, finishing a scant 4.5 points behind (100.5 to 96).
Had Coach Smith entered Terrill Smith in the varsity pole vault, Iola would have taken the overall gold.
Terrill Smith easily won the junior varsity pole vault, clearing 9 feet, 6 inches. Such a clearance would have netted him at least the bronze in the varsity pole vault, and another six points.
“That would have gotten us around Labette County,” Coach Smith noted.
As it was, Smith was plenty happy with Thursday’s results.
“They were far beyond my expectations, considering the bad weather we have had since the first day of practice,” he said.
The Mustang were buoyed by gold-medal performances by Tyler Powelson, who won the 1600-meter run, Michael Wilson, who won the varsity pole vault, and the 4×800-meter relay team of Jeremy Spears, Powelson, Tyler McIntosh and Justin Baker.
“Our kids performed very well,” Smith said. “A second-place trophy in a 10-team meet is very nice, but I am looking forward to practices more so than the next meet.”
Powelson’s monster day featured his winning time of 4 minutes, 46.7 seconds in the 1600. In addition to his time on the 4×800, Powelson also narrowly missed out on a third gold.
He took silver in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:08.0, about a second behind the first-place runner.
“Tyler ran a 2:06 in the 4×800,” Smith noted. “His 800 was his third distance race of the day.”
Wilson also started off in fine fashion by clearing 11’6” in the pole vault. Baker took second at 9’6” — equal to Terrill Smith’s JV mark.
The 4×800 team finished in 9:05 to win its gold.
Other silver medalists for Iola were Jacob Harrison, who ran the 400-meter run in 53.5 seconds; McIntosh, who went 19’6” in the long jump; and the 4×400-meter relay team of Adam Kauth, Harrison, McIntosh and Baker, that finished in 3:45.9.
Kauth’s day also featured a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.6 seconds; a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 17.4 seconds; and a fifth-place finish in the high jump at 5’6”.
Eli Grover took sixth in the shot with a toss of 36’5”. McIntosh also was sixth in the triple jump, clearing 38’1”.
“Our field event people have had almost no opportunity for practice,” Smith said. “Tyler McIntosh had only one day of approaches from a measured mark before his two jump events. Adam had only been over a flight of five hurdles in practice.”
Jesse Zimmerman took the silver in the discus, going 106’10”, fifth in the shot put at 33 feet and sixth in the javelin at 107’3”.
Terrill Smith teamed with Jason Tidd, Jonathan Tidd and Paul Specht to take third in the 4×100-meter relay at 51.7 seconds; the 4×400 relay JV squad of Jeremy Spears, Smith, Jonathan Tidd and Michael Wilson also finished third at 4:11.
The Tidds joined Blaine Klubek and Travis Hermstein to place fourth in the 4×800-meter relay with a time of 10:28. Terrill Smith also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash at 25.9 seconds.
“Terrill Smith and Jesse Zimmerman had a good start to their season,” Coach Smith said. “Jesse is a junior in his first year of track and has had almost no outside practices.”
The 4×100 relays also were an unmitigated success.
“I planned to go sit on the bus when the 4x100s ran since we had a high potential for disaster,” he joked. “But all three teams had zero problems with the exchanges.”
Mustangs take second
