Fort Scott's Kori Page Rienbolt takes the baton from Catherine Sercer on the final leg of the girls' 4x400-meter relay at the Fort Scott Relays Friday night. Fort Scott finished in second place in 4:30.55. (Scott Nuzum/Herald-Tribune)

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Clouds, cold, and a few raindrops couldn't put a damper on things at the Fort Scott Relays Friday night at Frary Field. Just about each of the eight boys' and girls' teams had individuals perform well and the meet itself went off without any delays due to rain or lightning.

Paola and Pittsburg took the top two spots in both boys' and girls' competition. Paola's boys scored 153 2/3 points to take first while Pittsburg scored 149. Fort Scott was third out of the eight teams competing with 82 points. Nevada was fifth with 38 1/3 points.

Paola girls tallied 129 points while Pittsburg had 116. Fort Scott was fourth with 65 1/3 points and Nevada was fifth with 55.

Fort Scott and Nevada's boys each won one event. Fort Scott's Grant Hartman took javelin with a mark of 178 feet, 11 inches. Nevada's Tyler Werner won pole vault at 11 feet, 6 inches.

Fort Scott's girls took three events while Nevada won a relay. Fort Scott's Kori Page Rienbolt was the winner of the 400 meters in 1:04.74 and Catherine Sercer won the 1,600 meters in 5:52.51 and the 3,200 in 12:51.06.

Nevada's girls 4x1 relay team of Mariah Mock, Katelyn Brier, Taylor Means and Kristen Kitsmiller took the 4x100-meter relay in 52.36 seconds, beating Paola by about 3/10ths of a second.

Nevada's Mariah Mock takes the handoff from Taylor Means as Nevada runs the finals of the 4x100-meter relay at the Fort Scott Relays Friday evening. Nevada won the relay in 52.36 seconds (Scott Nuzum/Herald-Tribune)

Both Fort Scott head coaches felt they had good results and that this meet can be the start of building up for Southeast Kansas League and Kansas regional competition in May.

"Overall, the boys worked really hard," Fort Scott head boys' coach Don Epps said. "We made a lot of improvements. It was a cold night, a windy night but I felt overall, we made a lot of strides. The kids competed hard and had fun. It's always nice being at home and we had a nice crowd, considering the weather. We're trying to set our goals now for league and regionals. With this meet, we can do that."

Fort Scott's head coaches had more to do than just coach. As hosts of the meet, they also had to make sure things ran smoothly.

"It's always hard to watch your own meet because you're busy doing other things," Bogina said. "But I think the kids did a good job of getting prepared and competing hard. This was a very quality meet this year. We were really excited to see some good performances from all the teams. We'll use this meet to try to get better for the league meet that's coming up here at the first of May."

Nevada's teams are not only building for the end of the season, they're also looking to develop for the future as both the boys' and girls' teams are relatively young.

"We've got a number of underclassmen who are stepping up and performing at the varsity level for the first time," Nevada head coach Robert Watts said. "Even tonight, we had some up for the first time.

"We've got kids stepping up and doing what you ask them to do," Watts added. "Our 4x4 boys just took 17 seconds off their best time of the year. The kids are tying hard in the field events."

Some other top results for Fort Scott's boys included a second-place finish by the 4x100-meter relay team of Lucas Halsey, Mitchell Stoughton, Chris Archie and Brandon Boyd in 45.36. Boyd also took second in the high jump at six feet even and in long jump at 20-10 1/4. Clint Lawrence took second in discus at 133-6.

Boyd earned a fourth medal when he took third in the 200 meters in 23.72 seconds. Stoughton was third in the 400 in 55.32. Chris Archie finished third in long jump at 20' 5 1/2". And Judy was third in javelin at 146' 6".

Fourth-place marks include those of Jake Clements in high jump of 5' 10" and Lawrence in shot put at 46' 6",

Nevada's boys saw Trevor Hinkle finish third in the 800 in 2:10.58 and the 1,600 in 4:54.46. Casey Long was third in triple jump at 38' 6". Dan Lovinger finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.96. Nevada's 4x400 relay with Parker Richardson, Brandon Munsterman, Casey Long and Trevor Hinkel was fourth in 3:43.92.

Other top finishers for Nevada's girls included Mock in the 100 in 13.15 and the 200 in 27.46. Molly Feree and Stephanie Mosbrucker both cleared the bar at 4' 10" in high jump with Feree awarded second on the tie-breaker.

Means finished fourth in the 200 meters in 28.31 and Heidi Wilson was fourth in shot out with a mark of 34-9 1/2.

More high results for Fort Scott's girls included the 4x400-meter relay team of Brittany Bingesser, Jolee Sharp, Sercer and Rienbolt finishing second in 4:30.55, Tiffnie Bradley placing third in discus with a throw of 101-7 and Annie Gladbach's third-place mark in javelin at 108-8. Jolee Sharp tied for fourth in high jump at 4-6. Kelsey Parsons was fourth in pole vault at 7-6.

Fort Scott's Tiffnie Bradley launches the discus during comeptition at the Fort Scott Relays Friday afternoon. Bradley took third place with her mark of 101 feet, 7 inches. (Scott Nuzum/Herald-Tribune)

Both Fort Scott and Nevada will compete at the Girard Relays -- usually a large gathering of Kansas and Missouri schools -- Friday at Girard's Frank Jameson Field.

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Note to readers: Due to space contraints, not all results could be included. The full list of all placers in all events will be published on the Web site at a later time and in Tuesday's Fort Scott Tribune.