Baxter girls finish third at conference track and field meet

MAXWELL — Camryn Russell won her second straight conference championship in the 100-meter hurdles, but the Baxter girls track and field team went from sixth to third in the team standings in one season because of a win in the shuttle hurdle relay and a few more top-five finishes.

The Bolts scored 74 points in third after scoring 60 last year. The top two teams in the Iowa Star Conference remained the same as BCLUW scored 136 points at the top and Collins-Maxwell (114.5) was the runner-up.

“We had girls competing hard whether it was for first or second or running for eighth and a team point,” Baxter head girls track and field coach Josh Russell said. “Anytime you can come into a big meet and score points it’s an accomplishment because each event gets deeper and relays tend to get faster with some teams consolidating runners. We did a little bit of that and were still able to score with our open event athletes while not watering down our relays — that was our key to scoring where we did.”

Don Bosco (59), Janesville (54), Tripoli (53), Dunkerton (50), Riceville (45), Colo-NESCO (37.5) and Clarksville (37) completed the top 10 of the 15-team field.

Russell improved her winning time in the 100 hurdles this season. She posted a time of 16.66 seconds and also moved up from fifth to third in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 7 1/4 inches.

She also anchored the shuttle hurdle relay team to a win and a season-best time. The foursome of Grace Anderergg, Rossi Swihart, Kendall Brummel and Russell won the race in 1 minute, 12.3 seconds.

The 4x800 relay team of Caydence Sulzle, Gwen Tichy, Morgan Ratliff and Regan Russell were third in a season-best time of 11:19.44.

“We had two relays run season-best times and they both happened to break school records so that got the kids excited and feeling like they can compete in this environment,” Coach Russell said. “Our shuttle girls felt fast and wanted to prove they have what it takes to compete for a conference title and a state bid.”

The final third-place finish came from Avery Wonders as she grabbed the bronze medal in the high jump with a leap of 4-8. Wonders also was fifth in the 200 in 29.01 seconds.

Makayla True posted career-best times in both the 1,500 (5:34.87) and the 3,000 (12:06.2) to place sixth and fourth, respectively.

Ratliff posted a time of 2:44.67 to finish fifth in the 800 and Jo Harder (81-8) was sixth in the discus.

“Camryn continues to show the way with solid performances, but there is still room for improvement in all of her events,” Coach Russell said. “Avery had a solid night, placing in three open events and a relay — good bounce back from some tougher meets mentally.

“The middle distance and distance crew ran gutty all night in multiple races and posted at least three PRs and they outperformed their seeds in most cases.”

Bolts nearly score 100 points, finish third at Dream Builders Invitational

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT — Camryn Russell grabbed another win in the 100 hurdles and the Bolts won the shuttle hurdle relay and those two wins led the Bolts to a third-place finish at the Dream Builders Coed Invitational on April 29.

Baxter scored 99 points in third after totaling three runner-up finishes and a pair of thirds.

BCLUW won the meet title with 165.5 points and Collins-Maxwell (156) also was in front of Baxter. The rest of the eight-team field featured South Tama County (75), Colo-NESCO (58.5), GMG (53), host Meskwaki Settlement School (50) and North Tama (27).

Camryn Russell (16.34) and Swihart (19.52) scored double points in the 100 hurdles as Russell was first and Swihart took sixth.

Brummel and Camryn Russell went 4-5 in the 400 hurdles and Callie Cross and Denver Sulzle doubled up in the shot put.

Brummel’s time in the 400 hurdles was clocked in a career-best 1:14.89 and Russell was fifth in 1:17.38. Cross placed fifth in the shot put with a toss of 28-3 and Denver Sulzle was sixth with a career-best toss of 27-4.

Camryn Russell (13.98) also placed second in the 100, Tichy (career-best 5:57.58) finished third in the 1,500 and True was third in the 3,000 (12:29.82) and fifth in the 800 (career-best 2:50.1). Harder reached 85-3 on her best throw in the discus to place fourth.

The Bolts’ winning shuttle hurdle relay team consisted of Anderegg, Brummel, Swihart and Wonders and they posted a time of 1:18.87.

Anderegg, Camden Moffit, Wonders and Brummel teamed up to place second in the distance medley relay and they finished in a season-best time of 4:51.95.

The 4x800 relay team of Regan Russell, Tichy, Caydence Sulzle and Johnelle Gliem finished second in 11:22.53.