BURLINGTON — The Yates Center track and field team challenged some of the area’s bigger schools on Tuesday in the Burlington Invitational and the Wildcats came out on top.
The Wildcat boys won the team crown by 13 points over Santa Fe Trail with Chanute finishing in third.
It was the distance runners that set the tone for the Wildcats with the 4×800 relay team of Jordan Smith, Colin Bedell, Kobe Forsyth and Hadley Splechter taking first with an 8:27.91.
The momentum kept building in the next long-distance event with Splechter taking second in the 1600-meter run with a 4:30.75 and Smith taking fourth with a 4:48.38.
Splecter typically takes gold in the 1600, but Olpe’s Kyler True — the state record-holder — ran a 4:10 to take first.
Levi Cooper picked up gold for the Wildcat sprinters in the 400-meter dash with a 51.98 and teammate Quin Lowder finished sixth.
True, also the state record-holder in the 800 meters, took gold in that event with a time of 1:51:26. Splechter was third with a 2:06.65 and Smith was fourth with a 2:07.74.
Cooper netted another medal by taking second in the 200-meter dash with a 23.58.
The Wildcats dominated the 3200-meter run to wrap up their scoring on the track and the team title.
Bedell won the race with a 10:41.17, Splechter took third with a 10:59.21 and Smith was fourth with an 11:00.14.
In the field events, Thayne Smith finished sixth in the long jump with a 18’10.5 — he also was sixth in the 100-meter dash — and Forsyth was seventh in the triple jump with a 36’2”.
Austin Crabtree was also strong in the hurdle events for the Wildcats. He took fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a 17.80 while Southern Coffey County’s Chonnor Ludolph — the Titans only competitor in the meet — won the event with a 15.69.
Crabtree was seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with a 45.94 and Ludolph took third with a 43.30.
Lowder, Thayne Smith, Forsyth and Cooper combined to take third in the 4×100 relay with a 46.0.
For the Yates Center girls, freshman Jaylee Catron was the star on the track.
Catron was sixth in the 400-meter dash with a 1:07.19 and seventh in the 100-meter hurdles with a 19.9.
The girls finished tied for 15th overall.
IOLA
The Iola boys tied for 12th as a team on Tuesday.
Senior Trea Williams was the team’s top finisher with a third-place throw of 40’7”. He set a new personal best by two feet.
“It is good to see him put everything together to get into the 40’s,” Iola coach Dana Daugharthy said. “I have been really proud of Trea. He has been a four-year trackster and has really worked hard. Getting third against some tough competition is a great achievement.”
Nathan Sprague took fifth in the 400-meter dash with a personal best of 54.0.
Senior Chase Regehr was seventh in the 800-meter run with a 2:10.48.
The 4×800 relay team finished fifth with a 9:15.
On the girls’ side, Elysia Kunkler finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a 16.8, second in the 100-meter dash with a 13.3 and fifth in the long jump with a 15’9.5”.
The Mustangs’ and Fillies’ varsity will next be in action on Friday in Chanute. The junior varsity will be in Humboldt today.
