Track squads from Nevada, Fort Scott fare well at Paola

Herald-Tribune

PAOLA, Kan. -- Alex Bledsoe and Ashley Shumaker led the way for the Nevada High School track team at the Paola Invitational on Thursday.

Fort Scott also competed at the event.

A Nevada senior, Bledsoe took first place in the boys 1600 with a time of 4:50.

Bledsoe also finished sixth in the 800 (2:10).

Also for the NHS boys, Morgan Hold finished third in the pole vault by clearing 13 feet even.

Louisburg's Jacob Albright was first (14-6) and Jayce Phelps of Prairie View was second (14-0).

Another top finisher for Nevada was Dalton Hendren, who finished fifth in the 100 (11.5) and sixth in the 200 (23.8).

Shumaker led the way for the NHS girls team.

A junior, Shumaker won the girls high jump by clearing five feet.

Also for the Nevada girls, Brooklyn Vincent was fourth in shot put (35-5).

Nevada's 4x100 relay team of Bailey Harbit, Rees Noble, Megan Mason and Kelsey McCall took fifth, crossing the line at 53.45.

Nevada Coach Robert Watts noted earlier this week that the Paola Invite features several solid teams, so the Tigers saw a lot of tough competition.

The NHS girls finished 10th in the team standings and the boys were 11th.

Nevada's varsity runs at Raymore-Peculiar next Friday. The JV team will compete at Joplin on Tuesday.

Fort Scott results

Fort Scott High School also competed at Paola, with the boys finishing fifth in the team standings.

The Fort Scott girls were sixth.

Katren Rienbolt took first place in the girls 1600 with a time of 5:25. Paige Denton of Fort Scott was third (5:49).

Rienbolt also won the 3200, finishing in 11:58.

Fort Scott's Jillian Lattimer won the javelin with a toss of 110-02.

Mallory Shelton took fourth in the high jump by clearing 4-10 and Fort Scott's 4x800 relay team finished fourth (10:48).

For the boys squad, Dezmond Willard won both the 100 (11.01) and the 200 (22.8).

Brady Fink finished second in the 400 with a time of 52.18, placed third in the high jump (6-0) and finished fifth in the triple jump (40-7.75).

Fort Scott's Nick Nuzum was fifth in the long jump (19-7.75), while David Goff was sixth in the 300 hurdles (44.4), Cody McGhee was sixth in the javelin (147-10) and Daniel Durbin was sixth in the shot put (43-7.75).

Fort Scott heads to Independence next Friday.

Paola Invite

Girls team scores -- 1. Paola 159, 2. Lansing 76, 3. Pittsburg 65, 4. Spring Hill 61, 5. Louisburg 53, 6. Fort Scott 44, 7. Eudora 42, 8. Iola 37, 9. Lamar 25, 10. Nevada 18, tie. Belton 18, 12. Wellsville 15, 13. Heritage Christian 0, tie. Prairie View 0.

Boys team scores -- 1. Lamar 109, 2. Lansing 93, 3. Louisburg 80, 4. Paola 60, 5. Fort Scott 54, 6. Wellsville 41, 7. Pittsburg 33, 8. Eudora 29, tie. Belton 29, 10. Iola 27, 11. Nevada 24, 12. Spring Hill 17, 13. Prairie View 16, 14. Heritage Christian 0.