Roman Yocham ran the perfect race Friday on his home track.
Iola High’s Mustangs strong Kansas Class 4A regional track meet run was culminated with Yocham’s 3200-meter race. The sophomore admitted he had no plan going into the eight-lap race.
Just after the start of the race, Yocham settled in in the middle of the pack then moved up to fifth. For two laps, he and Connor Hopkins of Louisburg jostled for fourth as they followed leader Trevor Summers of Chanute and Drew Baum of Labette County. The foursome ran in a pack ahead of the rest of the runners in final four laps.
With two laps to go, the pace among the top four runners picked up. Yocham moved even with Summers as the runners approached the start-finish line for the gun-lap. Yocham moved past Summers into the lead but Summers sprinted back in front.
Then came the sprint to the finish. Yocham had the kick to finish that no one else had.
“I always do that,” Yocham said following winning the 3200-meter regional championship in a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 15.63 seconds. “I really didn’t have a plan going into the race. I just ran it.”
Yocham wasn’t the only first-time regional champion for the Mustangs Friday at the 2010 Kansas Class 4A Regional track meet hosted by Iola at Riverside Park.
Senior Ethan Fulton took the first step in defending his Class 4A state championship in the 110-meter high hurdles. Ethan and twin brother, Aaron, went 1-2 in the high-hurdle final in front of a home crowd. Ethan won the race in 15.14 seconds with Aaron the silver medalist in 15.21 seconds.
“It’s great to finally be a regional champion,” Ethan Fulton said. “I had a good race going and it’s nice to have Aaron pushing me.”
“Man, this is great for us to go first and second. I had a great race,” Aaron said.
This is the second year in a row the Fulton brothers have qualified for state in the high hurdles. But it is the first time they both qualified in the long jump.
Aaron Fulton took third with a leap of 20 feet, 1⁄2 inches and Ethan Fulton was fourth at 20’63⁄4”.
Aaron also is going back to state in the javelin as he placed fourth with a throw of 164’11”.
The Fulton twins combined with senior Shane Snavely and junior Dylan Allen to post the third-best time ever for a Mustang 4×100-meter relay team. The foursome ran third in 44.11 seconds qualifying for the state meet.
Coffeyville and Paola caught Allen at the finish line. Coffeyville won in 43.79 seconds folowed by Paola in 43.84, Iola 44.11 and Louisburg in fourth at 44.26 seconds.
The Mustangs broke out of the fifth-place rut in the 4×800-meter relay race at a regional meet. Seniors Aaron Cheung, Ryan Weir and Seth Browning along with sophomore Christian Kauth pulled out a second-place finish and are headed to state.
But there was a little drama on the way to the finish.
Kauth led off the race for the Mustangs and because of the fast pace set by other teams, Smith was trying to switch the order of runners then he said, “no we’re all right. We’re all right.”
Kauth had the Mustangs in fifth place when he handed off the baton to Cheung. Cheung moved up to third until the final 200 meters of his leg but had the Mustangs in fourth. Weir ran a strong third leg and had Iola in third place when he passed the baton to Browning.
“The plan was to have us in qualifying position and Seth would run a comfortable final leg, nice and easy, to save energy for the open 800,” Smith said.
“But I dropped the baton,” Browning said, of the mishap on his first lap. “I was trying to run relaxed and really didn’t have a strong grip on the baton. It hit off my hip and went out to the third lane. I had to stop and go back after it.”
After picking up the baton without interfering with any of the other runners, Browning got back in the race. He picked up his pace so much that a sprint with 300 meters left he went to second place and that’s where the Mustangs finished. Iola ran the race in 8:41.77.
“No more fifth-place finishes. We’ve been fifth at least four years in a row,” Cheung said. “We’re going to state.”
Darin Hutton, a senior, is making a return trip to the state meet also. He placed fourth in the regional discus with a throw of 136’6”.
Hutton was fifth in the shot put at 47’23⁄4”. Juniors Ralph Shafer and Charles Apt made the finals of the javelin event, finishing seventh and eighth, at 159’7” and 147’10”, respectively.
Iola’s 4×400-meter relay team of Browning, Apt, Snavely and sophomore Mikal Bossell placed sixth in 3:37.15. Kauth was 10th in the triple jump at 35’61⁄2”.
Next stop for the qualifiers is the 2010 Kansas State High School All-Class Track and Field Championships this Friday and Saturday in Wichita.
Yocham, Ethan Fulton are 4A regional champs
