2014 Full Royal Valley Track & Field Results -- click here

It was chilly Tuesday on the track and in the field but many area athletes hit the track and took to the field to compete in competition, including a few teams that competed at the Royal Valley Panthers home invite. The Panthers hosted three other area teams which included Sabetha, Jackson Heights and Santa Fe Trail, along with six other schools.

At the end of the big day it was the two Big Seven schools claim team first place finishes as Sabetha girls fly to first with 129 points, 23 points better than second place and Royal Valley boys took first in dominating fashion scoring 157, 91 points better than second place.

After Sabetha, it was the host Royal Valley girls taking home second place, followed by Hayden in third and Rock Creek and St. Mary's rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. The rest of the team finishes were: 6th - Council Grove, 7th - Rossville, 8th - Osage City, 9th - Jackson Heights and 10th - Santa Fe Trail.

For the boys it the top five after Royal Valley shook out with Osage City grabbing second place by two points over Rock Creek who finished third and St. Mary's and Sabetha tied for fourth place. The rest of the team finishes were: 6th - Rossville, 7th - Hayden, 8th - Jackson Heights, 9th - Santa Fe Trail and 10th - Council Grove.

Individually on the day the host Royal Valley Panthers were led by nine first place performances by the girls and boys combined. On the girls side Elizabeth Blevins put together a day to remember winning three events as she raced her way to times of 12.83 and 26.58 to win the 100 and 200 meter dashes, while leaping her way to a win in the triple jump, too behind a leap of 33'06.25. Skyler Link also earned multiple first place finishes for the Panthers as he leapt past the competition to win the long jump and triple jump with leaps of 21'03.25 and 41'10.5, respectively.

The only other lady Panther to gain a first place showing was Kaylyn Rupnicki who won the shot put with a toss of 91'02, while on the boys side three more first place performances were captured by the Panthers. Royal Valley 4x400 meter relay team of Austin Hodison, Patrick Broxterman, Matthew Bailey and Link took home gold with a time of 3:41.75. While on the field Wemiko Lewis and Gary Stauffer each tossed their way to wins in the discus (141'06) and javelin (45'03), respectively.

Sabetha Bluejays were led by five first place showings on the day with four coming for the girls side of competition. Lady Bluejays group of Megan Renyer, Kelli Stallabumer, Lindsey Aberle and Meagan Garrett raced their way to a win in the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 53.09, while Renyer then teamed with Miranda Huettner, Alexis McAfee and Jena Winkler to win the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:36.63. In the field competition, Garrett added to her gold in the relay with a win in the high jump (5'02), while Heidi Heiniger won the javelin throw (134'04). The lone first place for the Bluejays in the boy’s competition came by Jacob Leuthold who won the shot put behind a toss of 45'03.

Jackson Heights and Santa Fe Trail each had one first place showing on the day at the Royal Valley Invitational. For the Cobras, Seth Holliday struck for first in the 800 meter run posting a time of 2:07.09, while Derek Zaldivar notched first in the 200 meter dash (23.40) for Santa Fe Trail.