SMOKY VALLEY TRACK TAKES 1ST & 2ND TO OPEN SEASON

By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

BELLEVILLE = Opening the 2022 season much like they finished the 2021 season, the Smoky Valley girls track/field team scored a dominating win at the Republic County Invitational while the Viking boys finished second just 1.5 points short of a team championship.

In scoring 181 team points the Lady Vikings far outdistanced second place Beloit by 28 points.

Breanne Peters took three individual wins in the long jump, pole vault, and 100 meters while also gaining a first place running a leg on the 4×100 meter relay.

Both Clara McElroy and Keira Mullen also had multiple wins with McElroy winning both the 100 and 300 hurdles while being a leg in the 4×100 relay, and Mullen taking a first in the 400 meters and being a leg on the winning 4×800 relay team. Gracie Lambert gained another first for the Lady Vikings by winning the 800 meters.

The Smoky Valley girls also took first-second-third in the both the pole vault and 400 meters while finishing first-third-fifth in the 3,200 meters.

Overall, the Lady Viking finished the meet with nine first place finishes while medaling at least one in 16 events and getting multiple placings in eight.

The one event not showing up with medals was the meet winning 4×400 meter relay quartet due to being disqualified after winning the event because of an error made during a passing of the baton. As head coach Jay Myers noted, “A valuable learning lesson.”

Just 1.5 points kept the Smoky Valley boys from winning the meet as they rolled up 175.5 points to Concordia’s meet winning 177.

The Viking boys swept all three of the relay events with Lukas Apel, Karson Pihl, and Tytus Reed all gaining three wins in the meet.

Pihl won all three of his golds as legs in the three relays while Apel earned two relay golds plus he won the 400 meters and Reed took first in the 1,600 meters while being a member of two of the relay teams. Britton Becker also took gold for the Vikings when he won the 3,200 meters.

The Smoky Valley boys went first-second-third-fifth-sixth in the 400 meters, along with a first-second-third finish in the 1,600 meters as the team placed at three in the top-six of seven different events while having at least one medal one in 15 events overall.

Next up for the Smoky Valley track/field team will be a road trip on Friday, April 8 to Marion.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING RESULTS:

Team Scores = 1. LADY VIKINGS 181; 2. Beloit 153; 3. Minneapolis 83; 4. Concordia 71; 5. Republic County 56.

Individual Results (Top 6 placements only):

Discus: 4. Jaida Weis 88’6”.

Javelin: 5. Keira Mullen 96’0”.

Long Jump: 1. BEANNE PETERS 17’5”.

Triple Jump: 4. Hope Duncan 30’11.5”.

High Jump: 2. Hope Duncan 4’10”; 4. Anastacia Barve 4’8”.

Pole Vault: 1. BREANNE PETERS 10’6”; 2. Noelle Peters 9’6”; T-3. Lydia Peterson 7’6”.

4×100 Meter Relay: 1. LADY VIKINGS (Noelle Peters, Breanne Peters, Clara McElroy, Gabby Behanna) 53.11.

4×800 Meter Relay: 1. LADY VIKINGS (Keira Mullen, Sophia Fruits, Katja Blanchat, Gracie Lambert) 10:41.60.

100 Meters: 1. BREANNA PETERS 14.02; 2. Clara McElroy 14.63; 5. Noelle Peters 14.87; 6. Gabby Behanna 14.93.

200 Meters: 5. Gabby Behanna 31.24; 6. Taytum Reed 31.89.

400 Meters: 1. KEIRA MULLEN 1:05.55; 2. Katja Blanchat 1:07.56; 3. Nevaeh Spitler 1:09.37.

800 Meters: 1. GRACIE LAMBERT 2:30.52; 2. Sophia Fruits 2:49.80.

1,600 Meters: 6. Esther Clark 7:01.44.

3,200 Meters: 2. Sophia Fruits 13:50.80.

100 High Hurdles: 1. CLARA MCELROY 17.79; 4. Lydia Peterson 19.39.

300 Low Hurdles: 1. CLARA MCELROY 52.38; 3. Lydia Peterson 54.87; 5. Taytum Reed 57.84.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BOYS RESULTS:

Team Scores: 1. Concordia 177; 2. VIKINGS 175.5; 3. Beloit 107; 4. Minneapolis 62.5; 5. Republic County 32.

Individual Results (Top 6 placements only):

Shot Put: 6. Justin Holt 40’.5”.

Discus: 6. Trystan Stambaugh 113’10”.

Javelin: 3. Justin Holt 123’6”; 4. Trystan Stambaugh 122’7”.

Long Jump: 4. Haven Lysell-Stewart 17’5”.

Triple Jump: 4. Trystan Stambaugh 34’3.5”; 5. Haven Lysell-Stewart 33’11”; 6. Vincent Pickering 33’7”.

High Jump: 4. Haven Lysell-Stewart 5’4”.

4×100 Meter Relay: 1. VIKINGS (Wyatt Johnson, Karson Pihl, Vincent Pickering, Gavin Stambaugh) 46.46.

4×400 Meter Relay: 1. VIKINGS (Ki Blanchat, Tytus Reed, Karson Pihl, Lukas Appel) 3:39.37.

4×800 Meter Relay: 1. VIKINGS (Tytus Reed, Samuel Peterson, Karson Pihl, Lukas Apel) 8:54.90

100 Meters: 2. Justice Autry 12.31; 3. Jerome Autry 12.39; T-6. Gavin Stambaugh 12.77.

200 Meters: 2. Gavin Stambaugh 24.67; 3. Zach Gross 24.67; 4. Justice Autry 25.18.

400 Meters: 1. LUKAS APEL 52.45; 2. Wyatt Johnson 53.69; 3. Karson Pihl 53.77; 5. Ki Blanchat 55.10; 6. Tytus Reed 55.24.

800 Meters: 2. Garrett Huffman 2:15.73; 4. Justice Gardner 2:22.96; 5. Samuel Peterson 2:24.16.

1,600 Meters: 1. TYTUS REED 5:04.43; 2. Garrett Huffman 5:12.54; 3. Britton Becker 5:14.93; 6. Brayden Eyer 5:48.06.

3,200 Meters: 1. BRITTON BECKER 11:27.93; 3. Brayden Eyer 13:30.26; 4. Sebastian Pavlovich 12:36.02.

(William is a free-lance writer covering McPherson County Activities – he can be reached at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)