FORT SCOTT — In the “Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy yearned for home. TAYLOR HAD another strong day on the course, even when racing against the defending Class 4A and 2A state champions in her 4K race.
Marv Smith, Iola High cross country coach, is equally fond of Fort Scott.
The IHS runners made themselves quite at home Thursday, taking home first place as a team on both the varsity and junior varsity boys competitions.
Additionally, Abigail Taylor and Megan Klubek, the only Fillies runners, both brought home top-five finishes in their respective races, Klubek taking first in the girls junior varsity.
“There’s no place like Fort Scott,” Smith joked, as an homage to Dorothy’s famous quote. “We had really good races all day.”
The Mustang varsity runners were four of the top 10 runners, led by Kohl Endicott and Jeremy Spears.
Endicott nipped his teammate at the line, even though both finished with identical times, to take fourth place in the 5K run. Both finished in 19 minutes, 22 seconds.
Freshman Braden Plumlee was two seconds behind, at 19:24, to take sixth. Michael Wilson nabbed 10th overall with a time of 19:53.
“Endicott had a good race from start to finish,” Smith said. “Spears actually ran in front of him during the entire race until Kohl caught him right at the line.
“Our goal was to take a shot at the team title by running two groups and hanging together. The first four were highly successful, even though Wilson is more of a sprinter. I really didn’t expect Plumlee to still be that close, even though we challenged him and Michael to keep up through the two-mile mark.”
Blaine Klubek also had a strong start, but struggled down the stretch to finish 22nd, with a time of 21:11. Travis Hermstein was 23rd at 21:15, and Bryan Mueller 25th at 21:38.
With those marks in tow, Iola finished well head of runner-up Labette County. Iola’s 31 points were 20 below Labette County’s mark.
Smith was impressed, because Labette County is expected to be one of the favorites in the Southeast Kansas League. Frontenac was third with 89 points, and Prairie View fourth at 99.
A vital component to the Mustangs’ team win was the running of Hermstein and Mueller, both of whom beat the fifth-best runner from Labette County.
“That allowed us to win the team title with a comfortable margin,” he said.
Taylor wound up fifth, with a time of 17:11, a full 80 seconds better than her time on the same course a year ago.
“The cooler temps helped a lot,” Smith said.
On the JV side, Klubek’s time of 18:31 would have netted her a 14th place medal in the varsity race.
“Megan’s race set the tone for the day,” Smith said. “The JV boys watched her run so they could check out the course. After watching her win, they had a lot of confidence.”
The JV boys nabbed four of the top nine places to win the team title with 27 points, 20 points better than Labette County.
Jacob Cooper led the way, finishing the 4K in 16:47. Colby Works was seventh at 16:56, Isaiah Fawson was eighth at 16:59, and Kendall Jay was ninth at 17:03.
“Isaiah Fawson took the lead by the end of the first mile, and still held on pretty well when Cooper and Works went around him. Our freshmen had a banner day in every race.”
Other JV results for Iola: 19. Yohon Sinclair, 17:54; 23. Ryan Eyster, 18:17; 25. Thomas Elder, 18:19; 26. Tyler Holloway, 18:44; 38. Darius Greenawalt, 20:39; 39. Dareece Bell, 20:50; 42. Isaiah Gawlas, 21:01; 44. Ankit Gandhi, 21:35.
Iola’s runners will be in Parsons next Thursday for a race at Big Hill.
Iola JV and varsity runners take titles
