Ava Lady Bears Set Personal Bests In Team Competition This Spring

Ava hosted their own track meet on April 16.  After a frantic all day preparation of the red dog track, the Ava Bears and Lady Bears hosted 10 other schools including West Plains, Mtn. Grove, Willow Springs, Mansfield, Bakersfield, Cabool, Houston, Licking, Gainesville and Hartville.

Winning the meet on the girls’ side with 136 points was Willow Springs, under the direction of new coach, Vince McCroskey.  The Ava Lady Bears came in a close second  with 122 points.  On the boys’ side Ava Bears took the overall win with 197 points with Willow Springs taking 2nd with 169.

Results for the home town Lady Bears included: the 4×800 team of Kendra McCleary, McKenna Hunsaker, Ashley Rieken, Christina Short took 2nd place.  Callie Eubanks placed 5th in the open 100.

The 4×200 team of Hannah Johnson, Amanda Greene, Courtney Mings and Callie Eubanks placed 2nd, also.

In the 1600-meter run, Maddie Guill placed 6th and Emily Patton placed 7th.  In the 4×100 Amanda Greene, Tailer Stofer, Courtney Mings and Callie Eubanks placed 3rd.

In the open 400 freshmen Tailer Stofer placed 2nd with a time of 1:11. In the 300 hurdles junior Amanda Greene placed 3rd.  Junior Christina Shortt was 3rd in the 3200-meter run with teammate, junior Ashley Rieken, placing 7th.

The 4×400 team took 1st place in the final race of the day with a time of 4:44, with senior Payton Lakey, sophomore Courtney Mings, junior Amanda Greene and junior Hannah Johnson running their best time of the season thus far.

In the shot put freshmen Maranda Yost placed 4th and then tied for 8th place with teammate senior Morgan Emerich in the discus. Lakey placed first in the high jump with 5’0”.  Hannah Johnson placed 2nd.

In the long jump, Callie Eubanks took home the gold with a jump of 13’5”; Payton took third. Megan Cooper placed 6th.

In the triple jump Lakey placed 2nd and Courtney Mings took 4th place.

At Mountain Grove on April 19 the Ava 4×800 team placed 3rd. Amanda Greene placed 8th in the 100 hurdles and 4th in the 300 hurdles.

The 4×200 team placed 4th.  Christina Shortt placed 5th in the open 800 and took 2nd in the 3200 with a new personal best of 13:48. Also in the 3200, Ashley Rieken took 7th.

The 4×400 team was challenged by Willow Springs and Cabool in a friendly bet for that relay and set a new personal record for their relay of 4:38.

Maranda Yost placed 2nd in the discus and 4th in the shot put with two personal bests of 87’ and 26’7” respectively. Megan Cooper placed 2nd in the long jump. Hannah Johnson placed 3rd in the high jump. Payton Lakey took gold in the high jump winning it with 5’0”. She also placed in the triple and long with 3rd and 4th places.

The Lady Bears finished 4th overall behind Liberty,West Plains, and Willow Springs.

At Willow Springs on April 23, placing for the Ava Lady Bears:

The 4×800 team of Kendra McCleary, Maddie Guill, Ashley Rieken, and Christina Shortt placed 3rd.

Also placing 3rd was the 4×200 team of Hannah Johnson, Amanda Greene, Tailer Stofer, and Callie Eubanks.

In 5th place was the 4×100 team of Amanda Greene, Tailer Stofer, Maranda Yost and Callie Eubanks.

The 4×400 team of Payton Lakey, Tailer Stofer, Amanda Greeene and Hannah Johnson placed 3rd.

In individual events, Maddie Guill and Emily Patton placed 7th and 8th in the mile. Hannah Johnson placed 6th in the 400, and she also placed 3rd in the high jump. Amanda Greene took 5th in the 300 hurdles. Christina Shortt and Ashley Rieken placed 2nd and 5th in the 2-mile run.  Maranda Yost placed 5th in the shot put and 3rd  in the discus.  Callie Eubanks took second in the long jump.  Payton Lakey placed 2nd in the high jump, 5th in the triple jump and 4th in the long jump.

On April 24 at the 90th annual Missouri State University Aldo Sebben Relays (the largest track meet in the state),  the sprint medley (200, 200, 400, 800) team of Payton Lakey, Hannah Johnson, Callie Eubanks and Christina Shortt placed 6th, winning their heat by 200 meters.