Varsity track competes at Lansing, Riley County

Kris Long, Print Editor-in-Chief

Varsity track took its jumpers, throwers and sprinters from the boys and girls squads to Lansing on Friday, where boys finished first and the girls finished second. Meanwhile, Varsity distance headed to Riley County, along with J.V., where boys also took first and girls placed third.

“I don’t think there’s very many teams in the state that can split up into two Varsity meets on the same day and win them both on the boys side and then place pretty high on the girls,” head coach Kory Kool said. “That’s pretty impressive, and it just speaks volumes about their depth in all the events, to be able to take our B team and still be pretty competitive at Riley.”

At Lansing, the team had three first-place medals. The boys earned first in the 4×100, run by sophomore Charles Morgan, senior Brayden Shomaker, senior Zach Hirshey and sophomore Tanner Dowling, and 4×400, run by senior Emmanuel Mortensen, Hirshey, freshman Crayton Rauch and Dowling. On the girls side, junior Aubree Hoffman took first in javelin. 

“[The] PR for me [is] what I’m really happy with,” Hoffman said. “My PR was 104 and for this meet I threw 112.02, so it was a lot of improvement.”

Other medalists in throws included senior Tuelia Ilalio taking second shot put, sophomore Kayden Lopez also taking second in Javelin and junior Abigail Gruber placing third in Discus. 

Jumps didn’t have any first-place athletes, but sophomores Faith Kratochvil and Aaron Newcomer both got second in High Jump, while junior Collins Elumogo also placed second in triple jump. Jumps also had three bronze medals: sophomore Vincent Malone in High Jump, freshman Hanna Pellant in Long Jump and senior Talique Houston in Triple Jump. 

Aside from the first-place boys relays, sprints had five individuals and two relays — girls 4×100 and 4×400, who both took third — place. Pellant took second in the 100 and 200 meter, while sophomore Gili Johnson and Dowling both placed second in the 400 meters. Morgan also took third in the 300 meter hurdles. 

“I think that the whole track team did a really good job of supporting each other,” Hoffman said, “and competing not only with the other people but with themselves, always trying to get better.”

At Riley County, the Varsity distance runners had two gold medalists. Freshman Rebekah Pickering won the 3,200 running a 12:35. Senior Ben Moiser placed first in both the 800m and 3,200, running a 2:04.39 and a 10:12.44 respectively. 

“I think I was happier with those rules results than I was last week,” Mosier said. “I was feeling a little bit better about the meet in general.”

In second place, distance had freshman Jalissa Jobity in the 1,600 and the boys 4×800 team. Freshman Malea Jobity in the 1,600m, senior Halle Gaul in the 800m and the girls 4×800 all took third. 

“It was decent competition,” Mosier said. “It’s not… as good as a lot of the bigger meets but some of the schools, especially Wamego, have quite a few good distance runners.”

MHS competes next at their Home Invite on Friday.