Steady winds, occasional rain and dropping temperatures couldn’t stop the Lawrence High track team from competing Wednesday.

Even the lack of an opponent couldn’t stop the Lions.

A dual meet against Leavenworth at LHS turned solo when the Pioneers abruptly left after the 400-meter dash. Pioneers coach Willis Willmuth said he didn’t want to risk injuring athletes on the wet track.

Lawrence coach Scott Stidham said he wished Leavenworth had stuck around, but saw no reason why his team shouldn’t finish.

“We would have liked for them to stay, but we understand why they left,” Stidham said. “But our kids still got to run. We had real timers there and a real starter, so they got real times.”

Distance runner Matt Riley got real times: He ran all three distance events within about an hour. About 45 minutes after Riley placed second in the 1,600 in a time of 4:54, he ran the 800.

In part because of Leavenworth’s early departure, Riley only got a few minutes rest after the 800 and before the 3,200. The only event in between was the 200, which only had two runners and took little more than 30 seconds to complete.

Stidham was impressed with Riley’s toughness.

Lawrence High's Liz Beisner clears the bar in the high jump. Beisner won the event after a jump of 5 feet Wednesday at LHS.

“To tell you even more about it, I told our distance coach, I said, ‘Coach, talk to Riley and see if he wants to do this two-mile. He got, I don’t know, two minutes rest?'” Stidham said. “The next thing I know is, he’s lined up and ready to go.”

Riley seemed to struggle in the opening two laps of the eight-lap race, but paced himself to a first-place finish in 11:15.

“I kind of used the first two laps of my two-mile to recover,” Riley said. “It was fun in a weird way.”

Megan Johnson ran the 800, which combined both boys and girls races. Johnson easily was the top girls finisher and wasn’t too far behind some of the boys.

Johnson said her time of 2:40 wasn’t what she had expected, but was pleased with the effort considering the conditions and stunted competition.

“It really isn’t a good meet to go after good times,” Johnson said. “This really isn’t anything compared to what we have coming up.”

Lawrence's Scott Penny prepares to put the shot. Penny won the event after a heave of 48 feet, 9 inches.

Stidham said he was encouraged by his athletes’ willingness to finish the meet and compete in several events.

“One of the most exciting things I was pleased with was we had four 4×800 and four 4×400 teams. And to get 16 kids willing to run those tough races, I think, tells a lot about our team and where we are,” Stidham said.

“We keep getting better and improving. There are three big meets we’re working for: league, and, more important than that, regional and state.”

The Lions will travel April 8 to Topeka High.