Relay teams pace ‘Cats at Paola

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 14, 2015

Louisburg’s Dawson Christy hangs with a pack of runners during a meet earlier this season. Christy helped the 4×400-meter relay team to a first-place finish Thursday at the Paola Invitational.

PAOLA – Despite the blustery and cold conditions, the Louisburg boys track and field team was still able to put on quite a show Thursday at the Paola Invitational.

In all, Louisburg won four events and the boys finished third in the team standings with 93 points in the eight-team meet. Two of those victories came on the relays as both the 4×100 and 4×400-meter teams each took home the gold.

Mason Wilde, Sean Dennis, Kyle Green and Ben Minster ran a time of 45.2 seconds in the 4×100 to take first despite a strong wind. Dennis ran the anchor leg and nipped the Paola runner by .1 seconds.

Wilde, Dawson Christy, Green and Wyatt Reece won the 4×400 in 3 minutes and 48.5 seconds. Christy ran the anchor leg for Louisburg and was able to nip Paola at the finish line for a second time to win by .2 seconds.

“I thought we competed very well considering the conditions,” Louisburg coach Gary Griffin said. “The relays did well. Dawson ran a great anchor leg and took a pretty good tumble at the end of the 4×400. The 4×100 has a chance to be pretty good and it is tough to run fast times in either of those races with the wind the way it was.”

Dennis captured the top spot for the second time in the 110-meter high hurdles. He ran a time of 15.44 seconds and edged Lamar’s Luke Hardman by .01 seconds for a photo finish.

Dennis also fared well in the 100-meter dash in 11.25 seconds to take third, while Wilde was fourth in 11.56 seconds. Wilde also took fourth in the 200 dash in 24.42.

Green had a strong performance in the 400 dash (54.17 seconds) to take second, while Zach Knox was sixth in the 100 dash (11.73).

“Sean stumbled a little bit in the hurdles and still won, he is looking very strong,” Griffin said. “He had a great day in the sprints as did Mason. They work really hard in practice and it is paying off in the meets. Kyle ran a great 400 and his time was good in the conditions and he finished strong. He will keep getting better and better as the year goes along.”

Also on the track, the 4×800 relay team of Reece, Christy, Ben Hupp and Michael Minster finished fourth in 9:30.

In the field events, senior Connor McMullen won the discus for the first time this season. McMullen recorded a throw of 168 feet, 10 inches to win by nearly 30 feet.

Junior Jarod Woodward had a strong toss in the shot put with a mark of 45-6 to finish third and McMullen was fourth with a 43-7.

Parker Cates rounded out the Wildcat medalists as he was second in the pole vault after he cleared 10-6 for the first time this season.

“Woody getting third in the shot was good and he has been consistent so far,” Griffin said. “It was a good meet for Parker to make a height, and again, not great conditions. Overall I think we competed well. We are getting in better shape as well. We need to keep trying to find some depth in our jumps and throws.”