FORT SCOTT — The Fort Scott Junior Varsity Invitational provided the Iola track and field team a chance to showcase some of their underclassmen and they responded with eight first-place finishers, four for the Fillies and four for the Mustangs.
Elysia Kunkler led the Fillies with first-place marks in both events she entered, the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump.
The freshman’s main focus going into the meet was switching from four-stepping the hurdles to three-stepping them, because as Iola coach Dana Daugharthy puts it, “good hurdlers three-step.”
That theory certainly worked out for Kunkler as she took first with a 15.45.
That mark — which is a personal record by nearly a second — breaks the school record of 15.6 set by Kendra Taiclet in 2012.
“What is amazing about Elysia is that she had never run a complete race where she three-stepped between the hurdles,” Daugharthy said. “She is a natural competitor who has incredible focus. This time will only improve from here.”
The freshman wouldn’t have competed in the junior varsity meet if the Fredonia Relays last Friday hadn’t been cancelled, but Daugharthy used the meet as a chance to try out her three-step technique in an actual meet to test the results.
“The ironic thing is that she broke the school record at a junior varsity meet,” Daugharthy said. “I wanted to take her to a non-threatening meet to try out three-stepping.”
Kunkler also won the long jump with a personal-best 15’10.5” and Daugharthy pointed out that “she was nowhere close to hitting the board.” That means her distance is highly likely to improve.
Madison Carlin was able win the high jump with a 4’8”.
Elka Billings won the 800-meter run with a personal-best 2:41.84.
“I have been so impressed with how this young athlete has progressed this season,” Daugharthy said of the freshman. “She works so hard in practice that I have no doubt that she will get under 2:40 by the league meet.”
Carlin and Billings joined forces with Ella Taylor and Kylee Maloney to pick up two third-place relay finishes. They ran a 4:51.56 in the 4×400 and an 11:59.01 in the 4×800.
Erin Klubek, Carlin, Taylor and Maloney added a sixth place finish in the 4×100 relay with a 59.22.
Klubek finished fifth in the triple jump with a personal-best 26’6.25”.
The Fillies finished fourth as a team.
MUSTANGS
The Mustangs placed third as a team and were led by their field competitors.
Kanyon Beasley won the javelin with a season-best 131’10” and Tyler Garner was able to improve on his personal best by five feet and win the triple jump with a 38’7.25”.
“I knew he was capable of getting out there quite a bit further, but some of it was just learning how to triple jump,” Daugharthy said. “He is very explosive, and I think with some work on his form, he can improve from here, which will make him competitive in most varsity meets.”
Garner also took third in the long jump with a 18’3”.
The Mustangs were also able to win a pair of relays with Cale Barnhart, Nathan Sprague, Tavon Bass and Jonathan Rodewald running the 4×400 with a 3:37.8 and Barnhart, Sprague, Bryce Andres and Cole Regehr running a 9:20.1 in the 4×800.
“If we continue to shave off some time, our 4×800 team will be ready for a late-season run,” Daugharthy said.
Andres added a second-place medal to his count with a 12:08.66 in his first time running the event.
Andres was fourth entering the final lap, but was able to rally for second.
“For just running it once, I am pleased with his performance,” Daugharthy said.
Sprague picked up a second in the 400 meters with a 56.08.
R.J. Holding set a personal best in the discus with a 106’9” to place second.
Alex Morrison finished fourth in the discus with a personal-best 102’4” and Chrstian Floyd also had a personal-best 96’8” to place sixth.
Christian Jackson was able to take third in the pole vault with an eight-foot vault.
“If we get him turning in his flight, he will have a shot to break nine-feet,” Daugharthy said.
In addition to his relay win, Regehr took fourth in the 800-meter run with a 2:23.36.
Senior Trea Williams was fourth in the shot put with a 35’9”.
Tyler Garner and Dan Foust tied for sixth place in the 100-meter dash with a 12.16.
UP NEXT
The Iola varsity track and field teams will be back in action today when they travel to Osawatomie for a meet scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
