SMOKY VALLEY GIRLS/BOYS FINISH 2ND AT MARION RELAYS

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

MARION – Wind and chilly temperatures did not stop the Smoky Valley track/field teams from both placing second on Friday at the Marion Relays as the Lady Vikings rolled up 157 points and the Viking boys scored 132.

Next up for the Viking track/field teams will be to host a meet on Thursday, April 14.

“We have had a week of practice where we dealt with continuing to learn to do events in the win and then we tossed in some cold,” noted Viking head coach Jay Myers. “Seems to have helped as a number of our athletes were pleased with their efforts today and I am not going to argue with them. Among a few disappointments we had quite a few accolades and numerous personal records set. I was happy with how we competed and got after it.

The Lady Vikings lost by just 2.5 points to Chapman as both teams far outdistanced the other 11 teams participating by rolling up 159.5 points for the Irish and 157 for the Smoky Valley while third place SE-Saline had just 87.5.

Breanne Peters led the Lady Vikings as she recorded four first-place medals with individual wins in the 100 meters, pole vault, and long jump while also running the second leg of the first place 4×100 meter relay team.

Individually, Abby Rose also won a first-place finish in the 400 meters, as well as running legs on all three of the Lady Viking relay teams that scored first-place wins in the 4×100, 4×400, and 4×800 meters.

Another highlight came when Keira Mullen and Katja Blanchat gave the Lady Vikings a one-two-three finish in the 400 meters behind Rose winning the event.

Talking about the girls, Coach Myers added, “So, our girls lost by 2.5 points, fair and square. We will see what we can do about that since I believe Chapman will be at our home meet next Thursday. Highlights for the girls came in the sprints, 400 meters, jumps, throws, vaults and of course the relay teams that rocked.”

For the Viking boys, they also placed second scoring 132 points to meet champion SE-Saline’s 165. El Dorado was a distant third with 97.

Lukas Apel scored the lone individual first-place finish when he won the 400 meters, an event that the boys mimicked the girls with a one-two-three place finish as Wyatt Johnson and Karson Pihl came in close behind their teammate.

The Viking boys won the 4×400 and 4×800 meter relays while finishing second in the 4×100 meter relay. Apel gained two more gold by running the second leg of the 4×400 relay and the final leg on the 4×800 relay.

Speaking of the Viking boys, coach Myers said, “Our highlights were the sprints, relays, and field events. There is more to come as we had lots of concentrated and focused effort out there and it is just April 8. We will get better.”

Coach Myers concluded his post-meet reflections by explaining, “It is possible, and it happened today, that an athlete can show improved effort or fundamental form but with a lesser mark than desired. That is the reality of track/field. Deal with it, handle it, and keep going. There will be an ebb and flow, up and down, to our results. Most important, as I have said numerous times – how we handle it and what we do about it lies the biggest key to improvement next to attitude.”

LADY VIKINGS RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

Team Scores: 1. Chapman 159.5; 2. LADY VIKINGS 157; 3. SE-Saline 87.5; 4. Leon/Bluestem 77; 5. Goessel 56; 6. Marion 48; 7. Hutchinson Central Christian 46; 8. El Dorado 20; 9. Wichita Independent 16; 10. Centre 10; 11. Wichita Central Christian 9; 12. Chase County 2; 13. Peabody/Burns 0.

100 Meters: 1. BREANNE PETERS 13.11; 5. Noelle Peters 13.70; 9. Clara McElroy 13.87.

200 Meters: 4. Gabby Behanna 28.45; 6. Jillian Fishback 28.88; 10. Madi Oakes 30.01.

400 Meters: 1. ABBY ROSE 1:01.75; 2. Keira Mullen 1:04.95; 3. Katja Blanchat 1:05.92.

800 Meters: 2. Gracie Lambert 2:21.96; 9. Sophia Fruits 2:45.02.

3,200 Meters: 3. Sophia Fruits 13:17.30.

100-Meter-High Hurdles: 3. Clara McElroy 17.60; 5. Lydia Peterson 18.25.

300 Meter Hurdles: 5. Clara McElroy 52.83; 7. Lydia Peterson 55.09.

4×100 Meter Relay: 1. LADY VIKINGS 53.28 (Noelle Peters, Breanne Peters, Clara McElroy, Abby Rose).

4×400 Meter Relay: 1. LADY VIKINGS 4:15.72 (Abby Rose, Keira Mullen, Katja Blanchat, Gracie Lambert).

4×800 Meter Relay: 1. LADY VIKINGS 10:31.85 (Keira Mullen, Sophia Fruits, Abby Rose, Gracie Lambert).

High Jump: 6. Hope Duncan 4’6”.

Pole Vault: 1. BREANNE PETERS 9’6”; 2. Noelle Peters 9’0”; 4. Lydia Peterson 7’6”.

Long Jump: 1. BREANNE PETERS 16’3.5”; 5. Gabby Behanna 15’4.75”.

Triple Jump: 6. Hope Duncan 31’8”.

Shot Put: 7. Jaida Weis 28’4”.

Discus: 6. Jaida Weis 89’0”.

Javelin: 5. Keira Mullen 91’1”; 9. Laini Haigh 74’11”.

VIKING BOYS RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

Team Scores: 1. SE-Saline 165; 2. VIKINGS 132; 3. El Dorado 97; 4. Marion 66; 5. Chapman 54; 6. Leon/Bluestem 52.5; 7. Goessel 45; 8. Hutchinson Central Christian 37; 9. Chase County 16.5; 10. Centre 9; T-11. Wichita Independent & Peabody/Burns 8; 13. Wichita Central Christian 7.

100 Meters: 2. Jerome Autry 11.66; 3. Justice Autry 11.67; 4. Gavin Stambaugh 11.82.

200 Meters: 2. Justice Autry 23.93; 5. Gavin Stambaugh 24.03; 9. Zach Gross 24.69.

400 Meters: 1. LUKAS APEL 52.50; 2. Wyatt Johnson 53.57; 3. Karson Pihl 54.60.

800 Meters: 10. Garret Huffman 2:16.58.

1,600 Meters: 4. Tytus Reed 4:53.09; 6. Garret Huffman 5:05.10; 10. Britton Becker 5:18.13.

3,200 Meters: 4. Britton Becker 11:02.96; 7. Samuel Peterson 11:21.09.

4×100 Meter Relay: 2. Vikings 45.37 (Wyatt Johnson, Zach Gross, Justice Autry, Jerome Autry).

4×400 Meter Relay: 1. VIKINGS 3:32.34 (Karson Pihl, Tytus Reed, Wyatt Johnson, Lukas Apel).

4×800 Meter Relay: 1. VIKINGS 8:53.89 (Tytus Reed, Justice Gardner, Karson Pihl, Lukas Apel).

High Jump: 3. Haven Lysell-Stewart 5’6”; 8. Vincent Pickering 5’0”.

Long Jump: 5. Haven Lysell-Stewart 18’3”.

Shot Put: 3. Justin Holt 38’11.75”; 6. Trystan Stambaugh 37’5.75”.

Discus: 4. Trystan Stambaugh 114’9”; 5. Mason Morel 112’9”; 8. Justin Holt 104’6”.

Javelin: 5. Trystan Stambaugh 130’7”; 9. Justin Holt 119’11”.

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