PARSONS Both the Mustangs and Fillies were victorious at the Parsons Cross Country meet at Big Hill Lake on Thursday when they passed all-comers on their way to first-place finishes.
This is the second top finish for the Mustangs this season while it was a first-time overall win for the Fillies.
Between varsity and junior varsity, Iola scored 32 medals including team gold medals for both varsity squads and the junior varsity girls.
Neither team was 100 percent heading into the meet.
We are having a lot of leg problems at the moment but we got through the race OK, head coach Marv Smith said. Jack Adams, Cole Regehr, Bret Plumlee and Cal Leonard were all hobbling during the warmup, but when the gun fired, they went.
On the girls side, both Kelsey Morrison and Averie Sharon went in with some problems (they were the last two finishers for Iola but both still finished in the top-30) but multiple girls came into the meet fairly sore, Smith said.
Elka Billings, a junior, led the Iola girls, finishing second with a time of 22:29 followed by junior Elysia Kunkler, who emerged after a so-so finish at Fort Scott to finish eighth with a time of 22:51.
Rachel Bycroft finished 10th with a time of 24:14 and freshman Ursula Billings rounded out the top-15 Fillie finishers, ending up 13th with a time of 24:51.
All times were around a minute slower than our Fort Scott times and the big hill had something to do with that, Smith said. Independence and Anderson County both have very good teams up front but we have more quality depth which is why we walked away with the gold.
Madisyn Holloway finished 21st (24:51), Morrison finished 24th (26:14) and Sharon finished 30th (27:16).
Iola finished 10 points ahead of second-place Anderson County and 13 points ahead of third- place Independence.
While the Fillie finish was somewhat close, the Mustangs dominated their race grabbing six of the 15 places on their way to a 27-point performance.
For reference, second-place Anderson County ended up scoring 70 points and Erie finished third with 118 points.
We narrowly beat Anderson County for last years league title and we expected a real battle, Smith said. It did not materialize as such mostly thanks to our top two runners (sophomore Jack Adams and senior Cole Regehr) who passed Anderson Countys top runner early and left him far behind.
Adams won the race with a time of 18:30 with Regehr on his heels with a time of 18:35. Senior Bret Plumlee finished fifth with a time of 19:20 and freshman Trenton Varney finished eighth (19:39).
Senior Elijah Fawson finished 11th with a time of 20:14 and sophomore Riley Jay finished 15th (20:20). Senior Tavon Bass was the only varsity member to finish outside of the top 15 but not by much. He ended up in 19th with a time of 20:24.
