Aug 26, 2024

Ellinwood's Joiner ready for high school competition after Junior Olympics

Posted Aug 26, 2024 11:35 AM
The Kansas Flyers 4x8 team, from left: Ashley Lehman (Hesston), Eleanor Joiner (Ellinwood), Laney Hooper (Valley Center), and Madison Howland (Smith Center).
The Kansas Flyers 4x8 team, from left: Ashley Lehman (Hesston), Eleanor Joiner (Ellinwood), Laney Hooper (Valley Center), and Madison Howland (Smith Center).

By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post

Hesston junior Ashley Lehman won three state track titles last May in the sprints and a silver medal in the pole vault. Smith Center sophomore Madison Howland won titles in the mile and two-mile and finished second in the 800m run. And Ellinwood's Eleanor Joiner was just an eighth grader last May. Yet that trio joined Valley Center's Laney Hooper for a third-place finish in the 4x800m relay at the 2024 USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships at Texas A&M University in July. The girls represent the Kansas Flyers Track Team.

"It's a club track team for USATF," Joiner said. "I was at a track meet one day. I got home and there was a postcard on the ottoman. I asked mom and dad and they said this coach wanted to recruit me."

Coach Robert Smith is from Delphos, a small community just northwest of Minneapolis. During the club track season, the Joiners travel the 90 minutes from Ellinwood to Minneapolis to train with some of the state's best.

The 4x8 team finished third at the Junior National Olympics at Texas A&M in July.
The 4x8 team finished third at the Junior National Olympics at Texas A&M in July.

"The girls go up there and run their intervals and get a longer run in," said Eleanor's father, Derek. "About four other days a week they do an easy mileage day and a harder mileage day. It's a commitment for sure making that drive down I-70."

As a sophomore last year, Hesston's Lehman won Class 3A state titles in the 100, 200, and 400m dashes. She ran top-seven times among all Kansas athletes last spring in those events, posted the fastest 800m time among 3A runners, and helped set a school record in the 4x400m relay. As a freshman last year, Smith Center's Howland won Class 2A titles in the 1600m and 3200m runs, posted the 11th-fastest 3200m time among all girls in Kansas last spring, and also won a cross country title in the fall. She won the 3000m national title at the Junior Olympics.

Yet Joiner was able to hold her own on the team at nationals. Her 70-second lap to open the third leg of the 4x800m relay was the fourth-fastest of the eight laps, which is no small feat with Lehman closing out the final two laps in 2:10. The team finished in 9:30.38 to miss the silver by two seconds.

READ MORE: Ellinwood eighth grader experiences 'TrackTown USA'

"She's trying to gain that strength for the second lap," Derek said. "She's still 14 years old. She ran in the 15-16 division because her birthday is in December. If you turn 15 in this year still, you run with the 15 and 16-year-olds."

Eleanor's trip to Texas A&M was hardly her first big meet. In 2023, the Junior Olympic meet was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Her 4x800 team placed 16th in the 13-14-year-old division. Joiner has also raced at Arkansas State University and at Staley High School in Kansas City, Mo.

Joiner had success as a runner in the middle school ranks and will run for the Ellinwood High School cross country team this fall. She will dual-sport as a member of the volleyball team. Her first varsity meet will include Smith Center and Howland. Joiner's goal: keep her in sight.

"I'm very excited," she said. "It's looking like we'll have a good chance to make it to state this year so I'm getting pretty amped."