Belcher, Quinn lead Louisburg girls

Freshman Mikayla Quinn heads down the straightaway in the 400-meter dash during a meet earlier in the season. Quinn won the 400 dash Thursday in Paola with a time of 1 minute and 6 seconds.

PAOLA – They may be just freshmen, but Bailey Belcher and Mikayla Quinn are already making a name for themselves on the varsity level.

Belcher continues to impress for the Lady Cats track and field team as she placed in two events Thursday at the Paola Invitational. Belcher’s best event was the 100-meter dash as she won with a time of 12.88 seconds and later finished fifth in the long jump with a mark of 14 feet and 6.5 inches.

Quinn took top marks in the 400-meter dash. She ran a time of 1:06 to win the first event of her high school career and junior Mackenzie Kallevig was fifth in 1:09.

In the team standings, Louisburg finished fourth with 67.33 points. Paola won the meet going away with 275 points and Lamar (Mo.) was runner-up with 78 points.

“I think it’s great for Bailey and Mikayla to be having some success this early in the year,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “Weather conditions were very tough and that shows the heart these two girls have when competing which is rare for a freshman. They are both very motivated and we will see both of them improve throughout the year and I expect great things for them the rest of the year.”

Both girls also helped their respective relay teams place. Quinn joined with Megan Lemke, Kallevig and Ashley Ruder to finish second in the 4×400-meter relay in 4 minutes and 38 seconds, just edging out Spring Hill by .6 seconds.

Belcher, Ruder, Lemke and Hannah Becker finished third in the 4×100-meter relay in 54.6 seconds. Lemke was also sixth in the 200 dash in 30.1 seconds.

The Lady Cats also found success in the 4×800 relay as Lauren Becker, Liz Hildreth, Madelynn Yalowitz and Isabelle Holtzen ran a time of 11:45 to take second.

“The relay teams are improving, and with Kaitlyn Gaza coming back soon, the sprints should improve even more,” Darrington said. “(Coach) John (Reece) has been working hard with the girls on the 4X800 and hope by the end of the year we can qualify all three relays for the state meet.”

Junior McKinley Mathews made her first appearance of the season in the pole vault and cleared 8-6 to finish third. Holtzen, a freshman, finished fifth overall when she cleared 7-0.

Freshman Sophie McMullen competed in her first varsity meet of the season and placed in two events as well. McMullen was fourth in the discus (91-11) and sixth in the javelin (95-2) to round out the Lady Cats point scorers.

Louisburg returns to action Thursday when it travels to Garnett for the Anderson County Invitational. Field events are set to begin at 3 p.m.