RICHMOND — Ashley Campbell and Abigail Taylor made their marks on a historic day for the Iola High track and field team Thursday. TAYLOR, MEANWHILE, set a pair of league records in distance runs. CAMPBELL AND Taylor drew most of the attention, but it was the rest of Iola’s underclassmen who helped the Fillies place second as a team. SENIOR Breanna Stout had a bittersweet day in a pair of field events.
Campbell, a sophomore, was a four-time gold medalist at Iola’s inaugural Pioneer League Track Meet, jumping higher and running faster than scores of competitors who gathered at Central Heights High School.
Campbell cleared 5 feet in the high jump, then proceeded to run the 400-meter dash in 62.1 seconds — two full seconds in front of her nearest competitor.
That’s when things got interesting.
Campbell blew away her heat in the 100-meter dash, running in 13.4 seconds. She then waited for the second heat — the “fast” one — only to see Prairie View’s Emily Feldman finish one-tenth of a second behind, at 13.5.
In the 200-meter dash, Campbell found herself up against Anderson County’s Alexandra Garbarino, who nipped Campbell at the line at a track meet in Burlington in their last head-to-head matchup.
As expected, the runners headed down the stretch, stride for stride. This time, it was Campbell who won the gold, winning by a virtual eyelash.
The finish was so close that Anderson County’s coaches protested the result, claiming Garbarino had won.
The protest was denied, giving Campbell her fourth gold. Not only did she win with a league record time of time of 26.1 seconds, she also beat Iola’s old school mark of 26.2 seconds, set by Jen Roe in 1999.
The IHS freshman probably would have had a third, Iola Coach Marv Smith said, had it not been for her hectic schedule.
Taylor won the 1600-meter run in 5 minutes, 44.0 seconds, shaving two seconds off the old league record. She followed that with a win in the 800-meter run in 2:34.6, bettering the old league mark of 2:34.9.
Most notably, Taylor was running primarily by herself, Smith noted. She beat her nearest competitor by 14 seconds.
Taylor ended her day in the 3200-meter run. She finished in second at 12:52.0
“Abigail had very little recovery time from the 800, or she would have broken this record as well,” Smith said. “When she’s more rested, she runs 15 seconds faster than the record.”
“My heroes — or ‘heroettes’ — were Mikaela Platt, Olivia Bannister, Cassie Delich, Trilby Bannister and Shannon Vogel, who teamed with Emery Driskel on our rebuilt relays,” Smith said. All but Vogel are either freshmen or sophomores
Smith “blew up” his relay teams to allow Campbell and Taylor to focus on their gold medal pursuits.
The rebuilt teams still managed fourth- or fifth-place finishes.
Freshman Jessica Oakley also shined in the discus. Her throw of 88’1” earned her a silver medal. Driskel, a sophomore, took the silver in the 100-meter hurdles and the bronze in the 300-meter hurdles.
Freshman Valaree Burtnett earned points in the high jump and pole vault. Her high jump tied for third, but she was relegated to fifth because of the number of misses at lower heights.
She won the javelin with a throw of 98 feet, 10 inches while throwing from a literal mud pit.
The competition was interrupted by an hour-long rain and lightning delay.
By the time Stout threw, the release point was 90 percent mud, making it nearly impossible to plant and throw effectively.
Following the javelin, Stout made it to the pole vault pit, where she failed to clear a height. Her final attempt was interrupted seconds before she was ready to race down the runway when a meet official tried to summon her to the start of the 4×100 relay.
The official relented, but Stout’s hurried attempt went awry, and she failed to clear the bar.
The weather also seemed to hamper junior Darci Collins in the shot put, which also was interrupted by the storm.
Collins’ throw of 31’6” was good for second place.
“What a great effort from all of our frosh girls,” Smith said. “They were in on 51 points and allowed our relays to run without Campbell.”
Iola took second with 128 points, behind Anderson County’s 157.
Long jump
6. Olivia Bannister, 13’9”
Pole vault
7. Valaree Burtnett, 6’6”
High jump
1. Ashley Campbell, 5’
5. Burtnett, 4’6”
6. Breanna Stout, 4’4”
Shot put
2. Darci Collins, 31’5 3/4”
7. Jessica Oakley, 26’8 3/4”
Discus
2. Oakley, 88’1 1/2”
6. Collins, 80’9”
9. Alexis Hobbs, 62’10”
Javelin
1. Stout, 98’10”
6. Hobbs, 75’8”
10. Megan Smith, 62’4”
4×800-meter relay
4. Iola (Shannon Vogel, O. Bannister, Mikaela Platt, Trilby Bannister), 11:42.4
100-meter hurdles
2. Emery Driskel, 17.5
5. Cassie Delich, 18.3
100-meter dash
1. Campbell, 13.4
13. Klair Vogel, 15.0
1600-meter run
1. Abigail Taylor, 5:44.0 — MR
4×100-meter relay
5. Iola (Driskel, Stout, Delich, Platt), 54.9
400-meter dash
1. Campbell, 1:02.1
10. T. Bannister, 1:18.8
300-meter hurdles
3. Driskel, 52.4
6. Delich, 55.7
800-meter run
1. Taylor, 2:34.6
6. S. Vogel, 3:02.0
200-meter dash
1. Ashley Campbell, 26.1
3200-meter run
2. Taylor, 12:52.0
4×400-meter relay
4. Iola (Driskel, Delich, Platt, O. Bannister), 4:37.8
Iola’s golden girls shine at league
