Fort Scott boys take fourth at SEK Relays; girls finish sixth

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School's track teams took part in the Southeast Kansas League relays at Veterans Memorial Stadium Thursday. The boys finished fourth in the team standings while the girls were sixth.

Pittsburg won the boys' team title while Chanute took the girls', both doing so for the second consecutive season. Pittsburg is the boys' champ for the third time in the last four seasons. Until last season, Chanute hadn't won the girls' title since 1976.

Pittsburg's boys scored 184 points -- the second-highest total ever recorded -- to walk away with the title. Iola was a distant second with 93 points. Chanute was third with 81 and Fort Scott finished with 54 points, one ahead of Coffeyville.

The Tigers had two event winners. Griffin Knopp won high jump in a tie-breaker over Jordan Bicknell of Pittsburg and Garrett Sharp of Chanute after all three cleared 6', 4". Bicknell was placed second and Sharp third.

Also, Jerad White won shot put with an effort of 46', 3". He beat Ethan Speicher of Independence by more than a foot.

Aaron Judy took second in javelin at 161' 1". Cody Catterson of Chanute was the winner at 173' 11".

Fort Scott's 4x100-meter relay team came away with one of the few track medals the Tigers earned, running a time of 44.82 seconds to take third. Pittsburg won the race in 44.14 with Coffeyville second in 44.75.

Garret Baugher finished in a tie for third in long jump with Marcus Striplin of Pittsburg as both cleared 41' 3". Keith Bateman of Iola won the event at 42' 4" with Keenan Soles of Pittsburg second in 42' 4".

Knopp earned two more medals in hurdles races. He took fourth in the 300's in 44.40 and sixth in the 110's in 16.83.

Mitchell Stoughton finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in 11.85 seconds. Jake Clements was fifth in high jump, clearing 5' 10" while Baugher was sixth at 5' 8".

The final Tiger medal was collected by Brandon Boyd, who cleared 19' 1" in long jump.

Chanute's girls won a close race for the league title, scoring 120 points to Iola's 116. Pittsburg with third with 82 points followed by Coffeyville with 59, Independence 53 and Fort Scott with 44.

The Tigers had no individual winners but three athletes finished second in their events. Kori Page Rienbolt was second in long jump, clearing 15' 4". Edin VanAnne of Chanute won the event at 16' 6". Rienbolt also won medals for finishing fourth in the 400 meters in 1:05.23 and fifth in the 200 in 28.21.

Cassie Ogran was second in shot put with an effort of 35' 9". Amber Kloster of Pittsburg won the event with a mark of 41' 2".

Annie Gladbach finished second in javelin with a mark of 118' 3 1/2" while Megan McDermed was sixth at 105' 10 3/4". Kloster also won this even with her throw of 128' 6 3/4".

Tiffnie Bradley was third in discus with a mark of 105' 0 1/2". Ali Alyward of Chanute won that event at 113' 6".

Mallory Shelton won two medals. She was fourth in triple jump with a leap of 30' 9 3/4" and fifth in high jump, clearing 4' 6".

The final two medals were sixth-place results in relays. Caitlin Shorter, Sophia Martin, Brittany Bingesser and Marliss Allen ran the 4x100 in 55.20. Allen, Shelton, Bingesser and Rienbolt ran the 4x400 in 4:34.81.

Fort Scott's track teams will be at the Santa Fe Trail Class 4A Regional Meet next Friday. Santa Fe Trail High School is about 4 miles west of Overbook, Kan., which itself is 13 miles north then 15 miles west of Ottawa on U.S. 56.