WICHITA — An unforeseen schedule change meant for some divided forces for Iola High’s track and field team.
While several IHS athletes were at Thursday’s Paola Invitational (reported in Saturday’s Register), Wichita State University hosted a “Pre-State Challenge” a week earlier than normal to avoid being held near Easter weekend.
Iola head coach Dana Daugharthy was eager to send his front-line athletes to Wichita because of the opportunity to compete against larger schools.
“We wanted for them to experience Cessna Stadium,” Daugharthy explained.
That led to split squads in Paola and Wichita, amid tough competition and tougher weather conditions, with a steady barrage of winds out of the north at 30 mph and more.
“The people that we took this year really took this meet seriously and were not intimidated by the tough competition,” he said.
Iola’s Brett Willis shined brightest, taking home first place in the 100-meter dash in 11.31 seconds and third in the 200 meters at 23.47 seconds.
“Brett really looked solid running the 100,” Daugharthy said. “He came out of the blocks hard and looked great accelerating. He also looked amazing running the curve in the 200. We just need to work on his energy reserves a little bit. We have a plan for him, and I am confident that he will be running faster at the end of the season in both of these events.”
Kaster Trabuc set a personal record in the 1600 meters at 5 minutes, 13.67 seconds, in his first race at that distance this year.
“Kaster has been able to maintain the success that he had during cross country and carry it over to the track season” despite running in miserable weather. “He has decided that he is going to stick with the 1600 in future meets, so I am excited to see this time drop.”
Japheth Rutoh set personal records in both the triple jump and in the high jump, while Gage Skahan set a personal record in the triple jump.
Tacking on personal-best marks were Justin McCullough in the shot put, while Evan Casner had a season-best 19.98 mark in the 110-meter hurdles, despite battling a nagging injury.
“It will be important for us to do what we can to eliminate any doubt in his mind so he can return to being the hurdler that he truly is,” Daugharthy said. “The good news is that Evan is extremely dedicated and really wants to succeed.”
Iola’s 4×100-meter relay team of Casner, Willis, Rutoh and Skahan ran a season-best time of 48.38 seconds.
THE personal-best marks weren’t reserved for just the guys.
Both of Iola’s girls improved on their persona-bests, with Ally Ellis in both the 200 and in the javelin, while Sage Barney did the same in the pole vault, beating her old mark by more than a foot.
“Ally has impressed me this season,” Daugharthy said. “She has clear goals of what she wants to accomplish, and she is dedicated to trying to reach them. And Sage had a great meet, with a pole vault of 8’.25.”
