Apr. 15—MONROE — Matt Richardson won a pair of distance events, Max Handorf joined him in the top four of both and the Baxter boys track and field team finished fifth at the Joel Grier Coed Invitational on Tuesday.
The Bolts posted six top-three finishes and scored 70 points in fifth. The rest of the top five featured host PCM (136), Knoxville (116), Bondurant-Farrar (99) and North Polk (87). Chariton (59), the PCM JV (11) and Twin Cedars (6) capped the eight-team field.
Richardson won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, Carter Smith collected a win in the discus and the Bolts’ distance medley relay team also won.
Richardson won the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 39.84 seconds, while Handorf was fourth in 4;44.25.
“It’s a great start to the season so far,” Richardson said. “Hopefully a lot more to come.”
Carter Smith
The duo went 1-2 in the 3,200. Richardson won with a career-best time of 9:53.56 and Handorf was second in a career-best 9:56.05.
Richardson and Handorf are both ranked in the top six for times in Class 1A in both events.
Besides competing against each other, the field also featured Knoxville’s Isaac Rankin, who spent a big chunk of cross country season ranked in Class 3A.
Both Handorf and Richardson knew Rankin would take the lead for the first few laps.
“Max and I started off slow like usual, and I just figured I’d gain ground throughout the race,” Richardson said. “Isaac was leading the first two laps. Max and I want back and forth after that and knew my kick would be a strength today.”
Handorf also knew his teammate’s final kick is a strength. He did his best to avoid that situation.
“I was hoping (Rankin) would lead the first three or four laps,” Handorf said. “My goal was to push the pace on lap five and six and try to gap Matt so he can’t out-kick me like he usually does. We both had personal bests though. I think it was a great race for both of us.”
Logan Rainsbarger
They both helped Baxter win the distance medley relay. The foursome of Logan Rainsbarger, Eli Dee, Richardson and Handorf won the race in 3:53.35.
Dee also placed sixth in the high jump with a career-best leap of 5 feet, 6 inches.
There were timing issues all night and a few events won’t be able to be posted to Bound due to not being auto timed.
Rainsbarger would have placed in the 110 high hurdles, but there was an error with the second heat of the event.
Other events affected by the timing miscues were the sprint medley relay, the second heat of the 4×100, the 4×400 and the 200 dash.
Smith won the discus with a toss of 134-3 1/2. He also was third in the shot put with a career-best heave of 43-10.
“My Dad and I have been working after practice on getting more speed,” Smith said. “The whip is the biggest part. It’s going well so far. I was falling back in the ring. That’s why I didn’t get too far today.”
Cody Travis Hayden Burdess
Short-handed Bolts compete at Van Meter
VAN METER — Baxter took a small contingent to Van Meter on Thursday and Richardson came away with the team’s only win.
Richardson (9:51.07) and Handorf (10:06.31) finished 1-2 in the 3,200 and also went 2-4 in the 1,600. Richardson edged Handorf with times of 4:30.52 and 4:31.51, respectively.
“I made a lot of improvements over the winter,” Handorf said. “My focus was on injury prevention because my season was cut short last year because of an injury. I feel a lot better this year.”
Smith, who has a top-15 distance in 1A in the discus, placed second in the event with a toss of 137-10 and Rainsbarger finished third in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.31.
MONROE — Matt Richardson won a pair of distance events, Max Handorf joined him in the top four of both and the Baxter boys track and field team finished fifth at the Joel Grier Coed Invitational on Tuesday.
The Bolts posted six top-three finishes and scored 70 points in fifth. The rest of the top five featured host PCM (136), Knoxville (116), Bondurant-Farrar (99) and North Polk (87). Chariton (59), the PCM JV (11) and Twin Cedars (6) capped the eight-team field.
Richardson won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, Carter Smith collected a win in the discus and the Bolts’ distance medley relay team also won.
Richardson won the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 39.84 seconds, while Handorf was fourth in 4;44.25.
“It’s a great start to the season so far,” Richardson said. “Hopefully a lot more to come.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/RMYMMM2CYFBKLDXG6IM6YHYLTY.jpg)
The duo went 1-2 in the 3,200. Richardson won with a career-best time of 9:53.56 and Handorf was second in a career-best 9:56.05.
Richardson and Handorf are both ranked in the top six for times in Class 1A in both events.
Besides competing against each other, the field also featured Knoxville’s Isaac Rankin, who spent a big chunk of cross country season ranked in Class 3A.
Both Handorf and Richardson knew Rankin would take the lead for the first few laps.
“Max and I started off slow like usual, and I just figured I’d gain ground throughout the race,” Richardson said. “Isaac was leading the first two laps. Max and I want back and forth after that and knew my kick would be a strength today.”
Handorf also knew his teammate’s final kick is a strength. He did his best to avoid that situation.
“I was hoping (Rankin) would lead the first three or four laps,” Handorf said. “My goal was to push the pace on lap five and six and try to gap Matt so he can’t out-kick me like he usually does. We both had personal bests though. I think it was a great race for both of us.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/F2KCQNC3SRA33NYU3BX36W22LE.jpg)
They both helped Baxter win the distance medley relay. The foursome of Logan Rainsbarger, Eli Dee, Richardson and Handorf won the race in 3:53.35.
Dee also placed sixth in the high jump with a career-best leap of 5 feet, 6 inches.
There were timing issues all night and a few events won’t be able to be posted to Bound due to not being auto timed.
Rainsbarger would have placed in the 110 high hurdles, but there was an error with the second heat of the event.
Other events affected by the timing miscues were the sprint medley relay, the second heat of the 4×100, the 4×400 and the 200 dash.
Smith won the discus with a toss of 134-3 1/2. He also was third in the shot put with a career-best heave of 43-10.
“My Dad and I have been working after practice on getting more speed,” Smith said. “The whip is the biggest part. It’s going well so far. I was falling back in the ring. That’s why I didn’t get too far today.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/4A5B3PWJCJGSDLWMHD4BL7BDDQ.jpg)
Short-handed Bolts compete at Van Meter
VAN METER — Baxter took a small contingent to Van Meter on Thursday and Richardson came away with the team’s only win.
Richardson (9:51.07) and Handorf (10:06.31) finished 1-2 in the 3,200 and also went 2-4 in the 1,600. Richardson edged Handorf with times of 4:30.52 and 4:31.51, respectively.
“I made a lot of improvements over the winter,” Handorf said. “My focus was on injury prevention because my season was cut short last year because of an injury. I feel a lot better this year.”
Smith, who has a top-15 distance in 1A in the discus, placed second in the event with a toss of 137-10 and Rainsbarger finished third in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.31.
