Wildcat boys track takes fourth at Paola Invite

Louisburg senior Chris Williams sprints to the finish line in the 400-meter dash Thursday during the Paola Invitational. Williams won the event with a time of 52.02 seconds.

PAOLA – The Louisburg boys track and field team competed in its second meet in four days Thursday when the Wildcats traveled to the Paola Invitational.

Louisburg was missing several athletes due to a class trip, so the Wildcats were a little short-handed. It didn’t seem to bother them much as they racked up points in several different events as they went on to finish fourth in the team standings.

The Wildcats recorded 69 points on the night and was just one point behind third place Lamar (Mo.). Spring Hill won the meet with 187 points and Paola was second with 164 in the 11-team meet.

“With two of our senior sprinters absent from the meet, I was proud of the other athletes that stepped up,” Louisburg boys coach Andy Wright said. “I thought our throwers and relays did a nice job earning some points against tough competition.”

Senior Chris Williams got the Wildcats’ lone gold medal on the night as he won the 400-meter dash in 52.02 seconds. Just minutes earlier, Williams filled in on the 4×100-meter relay team with Justin Collins, Ben Wiedenmann and Charlie Koontz to take second in 44.57 seconds.

The 4×400-meter relay of Williams, Wiedenmann, Collins and Dylan Armstrong also took runner-up in 3 minutes and 35 seconds.

“Chris ran a solid race,” Wright said. “His times are not where he would like them to be, but as long as he keeps working hard I have no doubt that we will see those times just keep improving.

“We are fortunate to have 5-6 sprinters that can step in on the 4×100 if needed. With the little practice that we were able to get in, we actually ran faster at Paola with the two new runners. In the 4×400 relay, Dylan stepped in and ran a nice solid leg. I was pleased with effort from both relays.”

The Wildcats were also able to earn medals in the field events as they had several place in the top 3.

In the discus, junior Carter Anglin was second with a throw of 125 feet, 6.5 inches and senior Kiefer Tucker was right behind him in third with an attempt of 124-10.5. Tucker also scored points in the shot put with a mark of 42-2 to finish sixth.

Junior Michael Waldron set a new personal record in the javelin with a toss of 160-10 to come in third, while teammate Jay Scollin also recorded a new personal record at 146-2 to take sixth.

Sophomore pole vaulter Luke Faulkner tied his personal record as he cleared 12-6 to finish third overall. Junior Trent Martin also scored points as he cleared 11-6 and finished sixth.

“Carter and Kiefer have been working really hard in practice, so it’s nice to see that work paying off for them,” Wright said. “Luke is going to keep progressing in the pole vault and I have no doubt we will continue to see him go higher. Michael and Jay take a lot of pride in javelin, and they are going to keep improving every week.”

On the track, Collins (11.87) and Wiedenmann (12.04) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to score points in the 100-meter dash. Wiedenmann also took seventh in the 200 dash in 24.32.

In the distance races, freshman Ryan Rodgers had a strong performance in the 1,600-meter run as he finished sixth in 5:04.

Louisburg returns to the track Thursday when it travels to the Anderson County Invitational. Events are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Other results are:

200 dash: Justin Collins, 10^th, 24.32

400 dash: Dylan Armstrong, 9^th, 55.54; Weston Guetterman, 18^th, 59.39

800 run: Ryan Rodgers, 13^th, 2:22; Sawyer Richardson, 18^th, 2:29

1,600 run: Richardson, 13^th, 5:27; Gareth Baus, 16^th, 6:13

Long jump: Indy Strumillo, 11^th, 17-6.25; Armstrong, 15^th, 16-5.5; Guetterman, 18^th, 14-2.5

Shot put: Brayden White, 10^th, 39-4; Jonathan DePriest, 20^th, 34-3

Discus: DePriest, 18^th, 92-1.5

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