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LAWRENCE, Kan. – After a slow, deliberate start to the boys 3,200-meter run Friday at the Kansas Relays, it appeared the race was Tyler Yunk’s when he broke away from the field after the first mile. The Belvidere North (IL) senior had run a 9:03 at the Arcadia Invitational, and he appeared to be in control of the race. But Truman junior Cole Rockhold had different ideas. Rockhold started to close the gap on the penultimate lap, and he blew past Yunk at the bell and continued to build a lead for himself. “I wasn’t really sure how it would start, but I figured it would go slow with no one wanting to take the lead with the wind and all,” Rockhold said. “I noticed Tyler take it out, which was a gutsy move on his part. I saw that and wanted to go up and get him. With three laps to go I made my move. “Once I started gaining on him I knew I could catch him.” Rockhold’s lap-long kick resulted in a four-second gap over second place and a winning time of 9:16.10. Yunk held on for second place in 9:20.01. Glendale senior Chris Mooneyham also sat back and waited, but he said he probably waited too long to make his move, which resulted in a third-place finish in 9:21.77. “The plan was to sit up with the front pack, but every time we’d get up to the straight people would come outside and sprint,” Mooneyham said. “I just sat until the last couple laps and started to move up. I guess I made a wrong move; I moved late and had to kick pretty hard to get third. “At the state meet there’s going to be competition like this too. Usually when you get in a big meet people like to sit and kick, so I like to try different stuff at different meets and see what works.” Blue Springs’ Simon Belete was at the front of the pack when Yunk decided to take off. He maintained contact for a lap but slipped back to eighth (9:27) on the final circuit.
“It started out with a really slow pace and it was frustrating, so I tried to take the lead,” Belete said. “I wasn’t able to hold onto it and execute like I was hoping to. It was not what I was hoping for today. “We kind of pictured this as a little bit of a simulation of what state’s going to be like with the competition. That’s why we were going for places and not times. We know there’s going to be a break after the first mile where the top guys separate and we just want to be above that. We were there, but we just didn’t finish like we wanted to.” Blue Springs teammate Stephen Mugeche earned a PR with his sixth-place time of 9:23.63 despite an early stumble in the race.
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