During an extremely busy stretch last week, Houston High School’s boys and girls track and field teams competed at three meets, setting several school records in the process.
The flurry began Tuesday at the SBU Invite, continued Friday at the Waynesville Invitational and concluded Saturday at the Mountain Grove Invitational.
The huge SBU meet (at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar) featured athletes from 61 schools, ranging from Class 1 to Class 3.
Houston’s girls scored 29 points to place third overall, while the boys had 13 points and finished 22nd.
The top-5 in each event received a medal and the top-8 earned points.
“Getting any points at a meet this big is an accomplishment,” said HHS head coach Mike Tottingham.
HHS junior Mason Dodson set another school record in javelin, and school records were set in boys and girls racing in the rarely-run 2,000-meter steeplechase.
GIRLS POINTS SCORERS
- 100-meter dash: Adyson Dailing, 2nd, 13.24 (92 runners).
“Adyson was .07 seconds away from being the fastest in the field,” Tottingham said. “We always knew that she was going to be a special athlete for us, but her performances this season have far exceeded even our wildest expectations.”
- 200-meter dash: Kayla Wagner, 8th, 27.88 (76 runners).
- 800-meter run: Kristen Ely, 5th, 2:30.24 (72 runners).
- 100-meter hurdles: Adyson Dailing, 8th, 17.61 (38 runners).
- 300-meter hurdles: Adyson Dailing, 2nd, 49.17 (38 runners).
- 4X100 relay: Houston, 6th, 53.49 (30 teams).
- Triple jump: Kayla Wagner, 7th, 9.78m (38 jumpers).
- Javelin: Kynlee Weaver, 7th, 32.46m (75 throwers).
“Kayla, Adyson, Kristen and Kynlee have earned points at every meet we have attended this year,” Tottingham said, “and considering the size of the meets we’ve attended, that’s pretty cool to be able to say.”
Senior Allie Benoist placed 13th in the 2,000-meter steeplechase and set a school record at 10:11.12.
“I probably should point out that it hasn’t been run very many times,” Tottingham said, “but a school record is a school record.
BOYS POINTS SCORERS
- 2,000-meter steeplechase: Jack Sawyer, 5th, 7:48.83 (school record; 33 runners).
- Triple jump: Bryson Jordan, 5th, 12.24m (40 jumpers).
- Javelin: Mason Dodson, 4th, 47.4m (school record; 79 throwers).
WAYNESVILLE INVITATIONAL
A small group of 13 HHS athletes attended the relatively small meet (15 teams) with the majority of the schools in Class 4 and 5.
“There are not a ton of participants in each event, but almost every race is stacked with great athletes,” Tottingham said.
Dailing, Wagner, Ely and Weaver kept their points streak alive at the event, and two school records were rewritten.
Senior Bryson Jordan placed second in the triple jump, setting a new school record of 12.98 meters and sophomore Summer Seago placed 9th in the pole vault with a school record of 2.37 meters.
MOUNTAIN GROVE INVITATIONAL
Ely won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:47.59 and the girls 4X400 relay team (of Isis Crawford, Ely, Dailing and Wagner) finished first with a school record time of 4:23.13, beating the old mark that dates all the way back to 1988.
Dodson got a win in javelin with a toss of 44.32m.
This week, the HHS squads will compete Thursday in the South Central Association Conference Championships at Mountain Grove.
The Class 3 District 5 Championships meet is set for May 10 at Cuba.