By Grant Barrett, Ad Astra Radio
GYPSUM, Kan. – The McPherson High Track team sent about half of their team to compete in the Smoky Valley Invitational, which was hosted Southeast of Saline on Friday. The girls had a number of athletes finishing near the top, claiming second, while the boys finished fourth as they competed against 12 other schools.
The girls trailed Buhler by 11 points with first place finishes coming from the girls 4×100 and 4×800 relay teams. Jayla McLeod took first in the 200m dash with a time of 26.80, and another first place finish came from Addison Chapman, who took first in the long jump with a leap of 17-3.75. Freshman Andi Buschbom finished within a foot of Chapman for second, and Alexa Casebeer was third. Chapman also finished second in the 100m dash.
Other top performances from the girls came from; Aislyn Soukup and Arihanna Koehn, who took second and third in the 100 hurdles. Chloe Clevenger took third in the 800m run, and Mallory Holmes finished second in the triple jump.
For the boys, Joseph Nutt brought home first in the Discus, while Javyn Alexander claimed second in both the 100m dash, and long jump. Asa Keough took third in the 300m hurdles, and Sam Becker finished third in javelin.
“We once again had a great performance tonight by our kids.” said Head Coach Jace Pavlovich following the meet, he noted, “I’m excited about where we are at this point in the season, but we need to continue to build off of the success that we have had thus far.” Pavlovich recognized that splitting the team may not lead to as high of a finish as a team, but mentioned the goal is to be the strongest at the end of the season, specifically focusing on league and regionals.
Girls Team Results:
Buhler 111
McPherson 100
Smoky Valley 71
Chapman 57
Scott City 46
Abilene 44
Southeast-Saline 35
Pratt 24
Ellsworth 24
Hillsboro 18
Concordia 16
Leon-Bluestem 10
Hutchinson Trinity
Boys Team Results:
Southeast-Salina 107
Chapman 75
Buhler 74.5
McPherson 68
Pratt 49.5
Scott City 46
Abilene 45
Smoky Valley 35
Hillsboro 12.5
Ellsworth 11.5
Concordia 3
Leon-Bluestem 0
Hutchinson Trinity 0
McPherson Individual Results can be found HERE
