Mustang runners cap season at state meet

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Sports

October 29, 2012 - 12:00 AM

WAMEGO — It wasn’t their best meet of the season, but Iola High’s cross country team gained what coach Marv Smith considers a world of valuable experience for 2013 and beyond.
The Mustangs went up against the toughest cross country runners in the state, on a brutally hilly course and took home a 12th place team finish in the Class 4A state meet.
“We were a little disappointed with our team finish, but realistically there were only a couple of those teams that we had a chance to beat,” Smith said. “If we had the same races we had at the regional, it would have only moved us up one or two places.”
Tyler Powelson, who emerged as Iola’s number one runner as the season progressed, took home 33rd overall with a time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds over the 5K route.
For some perspective on just how competitive Saturday’s race was, Smith noted Powelson would have medaled four times in the past six years with that time. (Medals go to the top 20 runners).
Fourteen runners had times under 17 minutes; two were under the 16-minute mark.
Powelson was followed by Trent Latta in 54th at 18:16 and Jeremy Spears at 18:25, good for 58th.
“Powelson was the only one who had something near his best race,” Smith said.
Latta started out quickly — perhaps too quickly, Smith said — before fading over the last few hills.
Spears struggled at the start, nearly getting tripped up with another runner at the half-mile mark.
“We simply do not have the hilly terrain around Iola to get ready for this type of course,” Smith said. “I really don’t think the cold temperatures bothered us that much. It was not windy, and running a 5K is better when it is cool — but not 41 degrees.”
Michael Wilson took 76th at 19:33, followed by Blaine Klubek, 78th at 19:39. Jacob Cooper and Zach St. Clair posted identical times of 19:57.7, which tied them for 82nd.
The meet featured 104 runners.
 
ASIDE from Powelson and Latta, none of the other Mustangs had competed on Wamego’s course, which zig-zags through the Wamego Country Club golf course.
The newcomers had never been on a course as challenging as Wamego’s, Smith said.
“The first four long hills are steep and in the first mile and a half,” he said. “Optimally, you would like to run as fast as you can, but with relaxation. Wamego’s hills don’t allow for that.”
The future remains bright for the Iola harriers.
All seven runners who made the trip to Wamego, as well as their three alternates, are underclassmen. Twenty-three seniors ahead of Powelson’s time will not be around in 2013.
“The guys picked the right day to run their best,” Smith said, referring to the squad’s regional meet one week earlier in Garnett. “Otherwise, there would have been no state meet for us.”

JOSH HANNA, a junior from Winfield, is the 4A boys individual champion, with a blistering mark of 15:46. Host Wamego is the boys team champion in 4A, with 69 points, and average time of 16:56.

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