ALAH Jr. High Track and Field Host 23rd Annual ALAH Invite; 8th Boys Win!! Set Records!!

ALAH JH Invite 8th Grade Champions!!  The ALAH eighth grade track and field team repeated as champions of the annual ALAH JH invite on Saturday, April 19. This group of athletes won the seventh grade championship last year. Pictured here with their plaque are: in front: Dustin Snyder, Carson Lane, Jase Kingery, Anthony Graham and in back Head Coach Don McCarthy, Colton Snyder, Donovan Vanausdoll, Griffin Hilton, Beau Green, and Assistant Coach Mike Haste.

By Sally McCarthy

Despite the rainy forecast and weather, the 23rd Annual ALAH Invite went on as planned on Saturday, April 19. Eleven schools were entered in the meet in the four divisions-seventh and eighth grade boys and girls.

For our Knights’ teams the eighth grade boys took top honors winning their division by a score of 121 over Villa Grove’s 86.5. This is a repeat championship for this group as they won the meet last year as seventh graders.

There were two new meet records set on the day, both by the ALAH eighth grade boys. Beau Green set the first one in the 1600 meters running a time of 4:55.13 breaking the old mark of 5:00.95 set by Johnson of Neoga in 2017. The other record was set by the Knights 4 X 4 relay, in the last event of the day. Jase Kingery, Donovan Vanausdoll, Carson Lane, and Green made up the relay that ran 3:57.13 breaking the old record set by Stewardson-Strasburg in 2006 of 4:00.76. In addition to Green’s first place in the 1600 he also took first in his other specialty, the 800 with a time of 2:14.19.

Vanausdoll continued his win streak in the throws with a first in the shot put at 43’ 1.75” and first in the discus with a 146’ 2” throw.

The eighth grade boys scored in twelve of the thirteen events in the meet and both Knights’ athletes entered scored in five of those events.

The seventh grade boys won the 4 X 2 relay with Eli Burket, Kael Ward, Brodie Carter, and Abel Lat running a time of 1:58.17. They scored in nine of the thirteen events and recorded six PRs on the day. As a team they finished in fourth in the team standings with 58 points.

Stewardson Strasburg won the seventh grade boys’ division with Okaw Valley coming in second. Sullivan won third.

The eighth grade girls were seventh in the team standings with 36 points. Sullivan won and Cerro Gordo Bement came in second place.

The eighth grade Knights girls scored in six of the eight events; they were entered in with Gwen Herring placing in two events. She took third in the 800 meters at 3:01.23 and fifth in the 1600 in 6:38.22.

Zoey Mendoza also scored in two individual events, fourth in the 200 with a PR time of 29.94 and third in the high jump at 4’ 2”. Those two girls plus Macee Boddy who took third in the 400 in a PR of 1:09.01 and Payton Tinkle combined to run a time of 5:07.14 which was good for fourth place.

The seventh grade girls just scored one place and that was a fifth place finish in the 1600 meters by Brianda Calvillo with a PR time of 6:41.92. All the girls competing in the seventh grade are sixth graders and going up against older and tougher competition can only help them gain experience that will help them in the future. A special shout out to sixth grader Sophia Williams who stepped up to fill a spot in the eighth grade 800 and 1600.

A meet like the invite must have lots of helpers and here in our ALAH school district we have numerous people who do a great job of putting on an event like this. A special thank to all who helped in any way on Saturday!! And an extra thanks to the people who provided the tents to help keep the athletes a little drier during the rainy times!

The ALAH jr. high track and field teams have their last home meet on Thursday, April 24 which is a dual meet with Tuscola East Prairie. On Saturday, April 26, they will travel to neighboring Arcola for their annual JH Invite. Starting time at Arcola is 10 a.m.

Other seventh grade boys’ results from April 19

100M: Eli Burket, 14.74; Bowyer McGrath, 15.54;

200M: Abel Lat, 4th, 28.67; Eli Burket, 31.8;

400M: Kael Ward, 6th, 1:06.85, PR; Micah Burket, 1:10.55

800M: Camden Casteel, 5th, 2”45.15, PR; Cody Miller, 2:50.17

1600M: Camden Casteel, 4th, 6”01.05, PR; Cody Miller, 5th, 6:01.78, PR

110M Hurdles: Abel Lat, 3rd, 19.55; Nate Blaudow, 22.56, PR

4 X1 Relay: Micah Burket, Noah Albright, Griffin Ponder, Bowyer McGrath, 1”02.69

4 X 4 Relay: Micah Burket, Brody Carter, Camden Casteel, Kael Ward, 3rd, 4:49.01

Shot Put: Gabe Brown, 24’ 7”; Micah Burket, 20’ 5”

Discus: Gabe Brown, 65’ 2”, PR; Donovan Graham, 35’ 4”

High Jump: Nate Blaudow, 4th, 4’ 4”; Brodie Carter 4’ 2”

Long Jump: Kael Ward, 12’10”, 6th; Bowyer McGrath, 11’ 2.75”

Other eighth grade boys’ results from April 19:

100M: Griffin Hilton, 13.46; Anthony Graham, 13.79

200M: Griffin Hilton, 6th, 27.47; Anthony Graham, 28.34

400M: Jase Kingery, 2nd, 59.11, PR; Carson Lane, 5th, 1:04.17

800M: Colton Snyder, 3rd, 2:27.17

1600M: Colton Snyder, 3rd. 5:13.52

110M Hurdles: Jase Kingery, 2nd, 16.90; Donovan Vanausdoll, 21.25

Shot Put: Dustin Snyder, 3rd, 25’ 8.5”, PR

4 X1 Relay: Dustin Snyder, Greyson Yoder, Brian Hadley, Denton Marner, 5th, 59.62

4 X 2 Relay: Jase Kingery, Griffin Hilton, Anthony Graham, Carson Lane, 2nd, 1:49.96

Shot Put: Dustin Snyder, 65’ 4”, PR

Discus: Dustin Snyder, 25’ 10”, PR

High Jump: Beau Green, 2nd, 5’ 3.75”; Nolan Bartley, 4th, 4’ 7.75”

Long Jump: Carson Lane, 3rd, 15’ 11.75”; Griffin Hilton, 5th, 15’ 7.75;

Other 7th grade girls’ results from April 7:

100M: Natalie Peralta, 16.26, PR; Chloe Lawson, 16.58, PR

200M: Natalie Peralta, 3rd, 33.6

800M: Brianda Calvillo, 3:15.47; Kylan Hall, 3:17.03;

1600M: Brianda Calvillo, 5th, 6:41.92, PR; Kylan Hall, 6:49.3

4 X 4 Relay: Kylan Hall, Natalie Peralta, Sofia Williams, Chloe Lawson, 5:43.9

Shot Put: Ivy Binion, 13’ 9”; Iris Binion, 13’ 0”, PR

Long Jump: Chloe Lawson, 11’ 5.75”

Other 8th grade girls’ results from April 7:

100M: Macee Boddy, 14.74; Payton Tinkle, 16.16

200M: Payton Tinkle, 34.14

800M: Sofia Willliams, 3:25.42

1600M: Sofia 7:08.45

4 X 4 Relay: Macee Boddy, Payton Tinkle, Gwen Herring, Zoey Mendoza, 2nd, 2:10.1