CHANUTE — So this is what it’s like to run under ideal weather conditions.
On Monday, Iola High’s junior varsity track team competed in Chanute, and represented IHS well, head coach Dana Daugharthy said.
“Today was the first day I felt like we had great weather to compete in track and field,” he said. “Weather can do so much to help athletes perform well physically, because they don’t have to battle the elements. It also can impact their moods as well. Several athletes told me prior to competing that they just felt good.”
Monday’s performances, featuring a number of personal records, provides ample evidence, Daugharthy concluded.
As evidence, Iola’s Rio Lohman took second in the 300-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 56.70 seconds and fifth in the 100-meter hurdles.
“Rio has really impressed us because she is so coachable and works so hard in practice,” Daugharthy said. “Her best race this season is going to be those 300 hurdles. She is getting more comfortable running them, so I expect her to be dropping that time.”
Keira Fawson took fourth in the 1600 meters and sixth in the triple jump.
“She did not run the time she wanted to in the 1600, but she really jumped well,” Daugharthy said, noting her leap of 24 feet, 10.5 inches wes a personal feat. “She really had a pretty good meet. She has a lot of potential in all her events.”
Alyssa Williams took fourth in the 400 meters with a personal-best time of 1 minute, 15.5 seconds.
“Alyssa is a grinder,” Daugharthy said. “She has run the 400, 800 and 4×400 for two meets in a row. That is a difficult combination, especially for this Chanute meet where they ran the events off so quickly. It seemed like right when she finished one event that it was time for her next event. While it may not have been fun today, it is going to pay off later in the season. It is great to see her perform so well in the 400 today, though.”
Anna Beckwith took fifth in the long jump and set a personal mark in the 100 meters.
“She has a lot of speed and great explosive abilities,” Daugharthy said. “She did not PR in the long jump, but there are some things that we can work on that will get her out there.”
Iola’s 4×100 and 4×400 girls relay teams both took fifth, while several individual girls set personal records: Alex Sirota in both the 100 and 200; Shelby Daniels in the 100; Ashton Aikins-Ansley in the 200; Rebekah Coltrane in the long jump; Maya Shaughnessy in the discuss; and Hailey Stogsdill and Brooklyn Ellis, both in the shot put.
On the boys side, Drake Mathew took third in the 400 with a time of 1:01.06, in his first meet since undergoing surgery on his hand.
“For his first meet and after only having a few limited practice sessions a few weeks ago, I am very pleased with how he ran,” Daugharthy said, noting he expected Mathew to eclipse the 1-minute mark at some point soon.
Travis Wanker ran a season-best time of 5:46.91 in the 1600 meters, good for sixth.
