The Iola Middle School cross country team competed Thursday at Central Heights.
No team medals were awarded but seven Ponies medaled individually.
For the seventh-graders, Jayden Kaufman finished 15th with a time of 17:48 as the only Pony girl.
On the boys side two Ponies medaled. Kaster Trabuc led the way finishing second with a time of 13:14. Right behind was Eli Adams who finished third with a time of 15:56.
Payton Houk (15:56) finished 18th, Brock Sander (16:36) finished 22nd, Jesse Taylor (17:42) finished 28th and Luke Wicoff (18:02) finished 30th.
“This was our first 2-mile race since Anderson County and times were markedly improved except for Luke and Jesse, likely the result of over-running on the first mile,” head coach Marv Smith said. “Knowing how fast to go out in the beginning is difficult to judge. Kaster and Eli used a runner from West Franklin as their pace partner and just stayed close from start to finish. They ran boys and girls in the same race and it made it difficult to know how we were doing as a team. As it turned out, we were the only school with a team score.”
On the eighth grade side, three girls and two boys walked away with medals.
Ursula Billings led the way for the Iola girls finishing fifth with a time of 15:03 while Josie Plumlee (15:22) and Natalie Fees (15:33) finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
Emily Long (17:29) finished 14th and Jorja Murka (18:09) finished 16th.
Brett Morrison led the way for the boys finishing fifth with a time of 13:29 and Drake Delatorre finished sixth with a time of 13:50. Colin Long (15:09) finished 16th.
“Ursula’s time was identical to the second what she ran at Anderson County,” Smith said. “Josie was 36 seconds slower as she battles an arch problem and Emily was over one minute improved, but Jorja was a minute slower. Jorja is having some muscles problems in both legs. Natalie was just Natalie, near her first time. Brett and Drake had slightly better times while Colin was about 20 seconds slower. Every course is different and it is hard to compare races.”
The middle school will compete in their final regular season race on Thursday at Eureka.
IMS runners compete at Central Heights
