YATES CENTER – The long-distance races proved to be the most rewarding events for the Altoona-Midway Middle School track team during the Yates Center Invitational held here Tuesday.
The Jet thinclads were only able to rack up a dozen total points during the 11-team meet, and all 12 points for AMMS were claimed in the distance runs.
Eliot Ard was the lone boy to accumulate points for Altoona-Midway on Tuesday. Ard picked up six points and a bronze medal in the boys’ 8th grade 3200 meter run, finishing third with a time of 13:02.92.
Ard also notched a sixth-place finish in the 1600-meter run, covering the distance in 6:15.01. That brought the AMMS 8th grade boys total to seven for the day.
Meanwhile, the Lady Jets tallied all five of their 8th grade girls’ team total in a single event, the 1600 meter run.
Allison Lockhart crossed the finish line in 8:20.75, good enough for fourth place at the invitational, while teammate Emily Burch finished sixth with a time of 8:29.65.
The only other Top 10 finishes for the AMMS 8th grade boys were Carl Anderson, 10th in the 800 (3:32.03), Caden Sicka, 10th in the 100-meter hurdles (23.84), the Jet sprint medley team of Zack Good, Anderson, Ard, and Sicka, which finished 8th (2:15.38).
Other performances for the 8th grade boys included: Good in the long jump (13-3), 100 meters (14.65), and 200 meters (31.08); Sicka in the high jump (4-02); and Oliver Salas in the shot put (16-06) and discus (44-04).
Burch also participated in the 8th grade girls’ discus (31-07) but did not place.
In the Boys’ 7th Grade Division, the best Altoona-Midway individual performances were turned in by Jets in the field events.
In the 7th grade discus, Hunter Reaves placed 10th (58-04), just ahead of teammate Hyden Buchanan (57-07), while Alexander Lockhart threw 37-09.
Buchanan just missed the Top 10 in the shot put (20-08), while Lockhart covered 13-06.
Other performances for the 7th grade boys were: Reaves in the 800 meter run (3:41.10); Toryn Elsworth in the 100 meters (17.29); and Buchanan in the 100 meters (17.88).
Buchanan, Elsworth, Lockhart and Reaves also teamed up to compete in the 4x100 meter relay, finishing 8th (1:11.10).
Final team standings for the 2025 Yates Center Invitational were as follows:
Boys 8th Grade Division
1, Central Heights (76)
2. Jayhawk-Linn (67)
3. Humboldt (66)
4. Uniontown (51.5)
5. Marmaton Valley (51)
6. Eureka (38)
7. Flinthills (33.5)
8. Crest (26)
9. Yates Center (17)
10. Altoona-Midway (7)
11. Southern Coffey County (1)
Girls 8th Grade Division
1. Yates Center (67)
2. Flinthills (65)
3. Jayhawk-Linn (64)
4T. Humboldt (53)
4T. Crest (53)
6. Central Heights (40)
7. Marmaton Valley (38)
8. Eureka (21)
9. Uniontown (12)
10T. Altoona-Midway (5)
10T. Southern Coffey County (5)
Boys 7th Grade Division
1. Eureka (77)
2. Crest (76)
3. Yates Center *63)
4. Central Heights (47)
5. Jayhawk-Linn (42)
6. Humboldt (36)
7. Marmaton Valley (32)
8. Uniontown (28)
9. Flinthills (21)
10. Southern Coffey County (11)
Girls 7th Grade Division
1. Flinthills (87)
2. Crest (79)
3. Jayhawk-Linn (65)
4. Humboldt (53)
5. Uniontown (46)
6. Central Heights (33)
7T. Southern Coffey County (18)
7T. Eureka (18)
9. Marmaton Valley (13)
10. Yates Center (1)