Chester and Sparta had good showings at the boys state track and field meet held this past weekend in Charleston, Illinois.
Both teams tied for 16th place with 15 points.
Chester got all of their points behind great performances from two athletes, senior John Baughman and sophomore Kyle Landon.
Landon took second in the high jump with a leap of 6’6. Baughman finished third inthe pole vault with a height of 14’9.
Sparta coach Mark North led his team to 16th place for the last time in his storied career, as every state qualifier from Sparta came home with a state medal.
“It was really a satisfying end to the season,” said Sparta coach Mark North. “We qualified nine athletes and each one came home with a medal. I don't think we have ever managed to have every qualifier medal.”
Sparta junior Jon Hill ran a personal best to take fourth place in the 1600 meter run.
“Jon was the biggest surprise of the meet, he opened the 3200 relay with a personal record of 1:57.9 and finished the meet with a huge personal best in the 1600 run of 4:24.98, that’s a full five seconds faster than he ever ran and to take fourth place was huge,” added North.
Senior Wade Reeves took fifth despite not running his best time.
“Wade was really disappointed with his time in the 3200 run,” said North. “He has run about 8 seconds faster. The pace at the start was so slow he just could not get into his rhythm.”
The Bulldogs got the rest of their points with two eighth place finishes in the 800 and 320 meter relays.
The 3200 meter relay team of Hill, Trevor Morgan, Michael Weber and Wesley Bradshaw ran a time of 8:07.98.
“The 3200 relay ran really well, they had a 5 second personal record, so we  cannot complain about our 8th place finish, the other teams really ran fast,” said North. “The good news is that with the exception of St. Joe Ogden, every other team was heavy with seniors and our kids are all juniors.”
The 800 meter relay team of London Oliver, Sharvell Austin, C.J. Windes and Seth Buch finished with a time of 1:31.07.
“The 800 relay was right around their fastest time of the year but a bad handoff probably cost us at least one place,” concluded North.