LACYGNE — Marv Smith’s anxiety didn’t end after Iola High’s track teams completed their work Thursday in the Pioneer League Meet.
As has been the case all season, Smith has mixed and matched his relay teams in order to maximize Iola’s potential in those and in individual races.
The strategy paid off beautifully on Thursday, as Iola’s girls tied for second overall, despite one of the smallest rosters in recent history.
But the drama didn’t end at the meet’s conclusion.
Smith and Co. left the meet thinking the Fillies had tied for second with Wellsville before he was notified Friday morning that organizers had “found” another point for Wellsville, relegating IHS to third.
The point differential came on a tie-breaker in one of the jumping events, Smith noted.
But he received a second notification later Friday noting Wellsville had been incorrectly awarded one point too many in a second jumping event, pushing them back into a tie with Iola.
The late drama did little to douse Smith’s enthusiasm for his team’s accomplishments. He expected the IHS girls to score between 80 and 85 points.
“We ran our few number of girls ragged in covering all of the relays and still getting them into the open events,” Smith said. “They earned every point.”
Emery Driskel was the primary catalyst, taking gold in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles races, while Abigail Taylor — who has battled illness for most of the season — was tops in the 1600- and 3200-meter runs. Darci Collins, meanwhile, took gold in the shot and silver in the discus.
With that hardware came perhaps the most gratifying race of the day, the Fillies’ third-place finish in the 4×800 relay.
“Megan Klubek, Shannon Vogel, Mikaela Platt and Jo Lohman finished in 11 minutes, 24 seconds.
“That bronze medal made my day,” Smith said. “Those four girls work so hard, and we were projected to finish fourth.”
The first three runners gave Lohman a healthy lead over Osawatomie’s Teri Cole, considered by Smith the best middle distance runner in the Pioneer League, on the anchor leg.
“Cole closed to within a couple of steps, but Jo had enough at the end for us to medal,” Smith said.
THE MUSTANGS saw some familiar faces take gold — Michael Wilson in the pole vault and Tyler Powelson in the 1600 meters — but the team’s success received a vital assist from the IHS freshman class.
Braden Plumlee took silver in the 1600 meters, bronze in the pole vault and a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters.
Tyler McIntosh and Adam Kauth continue to recover from early-season injuries. Kauth claimed bronze in both hurdles races, while McIntosh was a part of the gold-medal winning 4×800 relay team. He ran with Brian Hu, Chase Regehr (another freshman) and Jeremy Spears, who has battled allergies for much of the season.
As with the girls, Smith was pleased with how his team battled, despite lower numbers than some of their competitors.
“The pole vault, 1600, 800 and the 4×800 relay accounted for 65 of our points,” Smith said. “There was not a lot we could have done to squeeze out more points.”
Wellsville’s boys and Anderson County’s girls — anticipated to win the team titles — did so with ease. The Eagles racked up 173 points, including sweeping the top three in both the long jump and the 3200.
Anderson County’s girls earned 10 gold medals on the day in scoring 184 points.
Pioneer League Meet
Girls
Team totals: 1. Anderson County, 184; 3. Iola, 106
Shot put — 1. Darci Collins, 36’4”
Discus — 2. Collins, 81’10”; 3. Jessica Oakley, 76’1”
110m hurdles — 1. Emery Driskel, 16.63; 3. Cassie Delich, 19.30
4x800m relay — 3. Iola (Megan Klubek, Shannon Vogel, Mikaela Platt, Jo Lohman), 11:24
1600 meters — 1. Abigail Taylor, 5:59
4x100m relay — 4. Iola (Delich, Vogel, Platt, Oakley), 58.3
300m hurdles — 1. Driskel, 50.1; 4. Delich, 59.96
800 meters — 5. Jo Lohman, 2:50.7
3200 meters — 1. Taylor, 13:27; 2. Megan Klubek, 13:35
4×400 relay — 4. Iola (Vogel, Delich, Platt, Driskel), 4:59
Boys
Team totals: 1. Wellsville, 173; 3. Iola, 91
Pole vault — 1. Michael Wilson, 12’6”; 3. Braden Plumlee, 9’6”; 4 (tie), Travis Hermstein, 9’
110m hurdles — 3. Adam Kauth, 16.31
4x800m relay — 1. Iola (Tyler McIntosh, Brian Hu, Chase Regehr, Jeremy Spears), 8:59
1600 meters — 1. Tyler Powelson, 4:56; 2. Plumlee, 5:01
4x100m relay — 4. Iola (Wilson, Kauth, McIntosh, Darius Greenawalt), 48.23
400 meters — 5. Chase Regehr, 57.00
300m hurdles — 3. Kauth, 44.21
800 meters — 2. Powelson, 2:13; 3. Brian Hu, 2:14; 4. Plumlee, 2:15.2
3200 meters — 6. Spears, 11:58
4x400m relay — 3. Iola (McIntosh, Powelson, Regehr, Kauth), 3:58
