LA CYGNE — Iola High’s cross country season had to adapt quickly to start the 2020 season Thursday.
With the COVID-19 threat limiting the number of schools able to attend a meet in Garnett, Iola had to find a suitable locale for a makeup competition. A drawing was held to determine which teams stayed in Anderson County, and which teams had to look elsewhere.
This led Iola, Crest, Jayhawk-Linn, Pleasanton and host Prairie View for the aptly named “Short Straw Invite.”
The Mustang and Fillies runners seemed to make due just fine.
Keyed by Jack Adams, the Mustang runners placed all seven runners in the top 10, easily winning the boys championship in the process.
Meanwhile, Josie Plumlee and Elanie Sturgeon went 3-4 in the girls varsity race, where the Fillies took third as a team.
In the boys race, Adams led from start to finish, and won without a challenge, finishing the 5K in a blistering 17 minutes, 44 seconds.
Riley Jay was Adams’s nearest pursuer, finishing more than 90 seconds behind in second at 19:15. Jesse Taylor was fourth, Kaster Trabuc sixth, Nathan Louk seventh, Eli Adams eighth and Landon Carson 10th.
As a team, Iola compiled 15 points, a whopping 34 points ahead of runner-up and host Prairie View.
“Riley, Jesse and Kaster had very good times for the first meet,” Iola head coach Marv Smith said, “but we have to reduce the time gap to Jack. We are looking forward to our next race.”
PLUMLEE and Sturgeon spent most of the race chasing eventual race winner Ursula Billings, a former Iola student now running for Crest High.
Billings ran the 5K in 23:05.50.
Plumlee finished in 24:11, followed by Sturgeon in 24:16. Averie Sharon, who continues to recover from a severe ankle injury, was 13th at 27:07, Audrey Coltrane was 15th, Callie Murcko 17th and Kaylin Klubek 18th.
“Ursula had a very good race,” Crest head coach Kaitlyn Dispensa said. “The varsity boys and girls ran together. This helped Ursula have some competition to run with. She was pacing herself the whole race, which is hard to do on a hot day.”
“Josie and Elanie had very good races,” Smith said. “These two will be our leaders all season, but will be joined by Averie and Audrey as the season progresses.”
Iola’s junior varsity boys took home the top eight times in their 5K, led by Drake DeLaTorre’s 21:52.
Cole Moyer also won the eighth-grade boys race, a 2-mile run, in 13:48, a whopping 3:46 ahead of his nearest competitor.
