GARNETT — The Iola Mustangs marched out of the Anderson County Invitational with a few medals while taking on a few bigger foes Thursday.
A first-place finish in the 800-meter run proved junior Keegan Hill can certainly expand beyond distance running, while senior thrower Bethany Miller had a breakout day as she took the top spot in the discus and third in the shot put.
“We had a good meet and good competition today,” Iola coach David Daugharthy said. “They fought hard and got strong results in field and running events.”
Miller showed her potential after a 96’-11” throw landed her first in discus. Her 31’-11” throw in shotput hours earlier seemed a prelude to a strong day, and not just for Miller. Fellow senior Faith Warden took fourth in discus and eighth in shot put, while junior Lily Lohman punched a tenth-place finish in shot.
“The positive thing about that is Bethany still has room to grow,” Daugharthy said. “Her shot looked pretty solid. There are some things she can tweak and hopefully get it out a little further.”
Iola sophomore Kevon Loving lands in the long jump pit
In other girls’ action, senior hurdler Mahailie Genoble took third in the 300 hurdles. Senior distance runner Ari Ramirez took fifth in the 1600-meter run and junior sprinter Keysha Smith took eighth in the 100-meter dash.
In boys’ action, each of the Mustang relay teams took fourth place. Hill took part in the 4×800 and the 4×400.
“Hill had a really solid meet, and Isaac Velasquez had a really good run in the 1600,” Daugharthy said. “We had a lot of athletes today with really good performances.”
Other strong finishers on the boys’ side included senior Riley Maddox, who placed first in the 110-meter high hurdle. Junior Caden Coltrane took sixth in the 400 and junior Rohan Springer took sixth in pole vault.
The Mustangs will not have long to rest. They host a meet Monday and then head to Fredonia Thursday.
“Fredonia is a really good track meet for us,” Daugharthy said. “There are a lot of different schools, but it’s also highly competitive. We usually get pretty good results down there, so I’m excited.”
Complete results as follows:
Boys
4×100: fourth, Mason Lampe, Kevon Loving, Adiel Pina, Corbin Bowers, 47.13.
4×800: fourth, Harley Blankenship, Keegan Hill, James Hunt, Kaden Vega, 9:41.09.
4×400: fourth, K. Hill, Caden Coltrane, K. Vega and K. Loving.
100-meter dash: 12th, C. Bowers, 12.57; 12th, A. Pina, 12.57; 16th K. Loving, 12.58.
