BUFFALO — The Wildcats had it Tuesday.
Whether it was the Yates Center High’s Wildcats or the Marmaton Valley High Wildcats, it didn’t matter. The two Wildcat boys’ track teams went 1-2 at Tuesday’s Altoona-Midway High Invitational track meet and the Yates Center girls claimed their division team title.
Yates Center’s girls had 11 first-place finishes on their run to the team championship.
“We’re extremely proud of the girls’ efforts for the first meet. We hope to continue the success,” said Dan Berg, Yates Center head coach. “The boys had a great first outing also. We’re looking forward to improvement as our year progresses.”
Hurdle races belonged to Yates Center High’s athletes Tuesday.
Yates Center went on a 1-2-3 sweep of the girls’ 100-meter high hurdles led by Mindi Holloway winning the race in 19.4 seconds. Haley Bedell ran second in 21.17 seconds followed by Nikki Akin in 22.8.
Bedell captured the gold in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 55.4 seconds.
Sam Aguirre claimed the gold in both the boys’ hurdle races for Yates Center. He won the 110-meter highs in 15.6 seconds and turned in a first-place time of 44.07 seconds in the 300s. Marmaton Valley’s Zack English was second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with 46.06 seconds.
Holloway won the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 55 seconds and Macey Heger finished third in 3:20. In between the two Yates Center runners was Marmaton Valley’s Dawn Hobbs for second in 3:01.
Paige Steinforth ran the 400-meter dash in 69.61 seconds, which was the winning time, and Mazie Wilson was fourth in 1:38. Marmaton Valley’s Tessa Olson earned the silver medal in the race in 1:10.2 and teammate Lauren Korte took the bronze in 1:26.
Rylie Albert captured gold in the 200-meter dash in 30.77 seconds for Yates Center. Kelsey McClintock, Marmaton Valley, placed fifth in 39.76. McClintock was third in the 100-meter dash in 18.67 seconds.
Two of the three relay races went to the Yates Center girls. Akin, Wilson and Heger combined with Marlana Buchanan to win the 4×800-meter relay in 14:02.
The YCHS girls’ 4×100-meter relay team of Albert, Steinforth, Holloway and Lindsay Francis took first in 56.4 seconds. The same foursome finished second in the 4×400-meter relay race in 5:10.77. Marmaton Valley’s Hobbs, Korte, Louk and Olson ran the 4×400 in 6:34 for second place.
Marmaton Valley’s Ashtynn Louk was a double gold medal winner on the track. Louk won the 1600-meter run in 6:48 and the 3200-meter run in 15:26. Yates Center’s Rachel Mentzer collected the silver medal in the 3200-meter run in 17:25.
In field events, Steinforth cleared the high jump bar at 4 feet, 8 inches for the gold medal, and Bedell won the javelin with a throw of 66’5”. Francis was the gold-medal winner in the long jump at 12’11” just ahead of Marmaton Valley’s Olson at 12’4½”. Yates Center’s Mentzer placed fourth with a leap of eight feet.
