March 28, 2024

Hawks, Raiders dominate at PCM Classic

MONROE — With high school competition at the Drake Relays beginning Thursday night, a few area boys track teams decided to put on some Drake Stadium-esque performances a few miles east.

Lynnville-Sully scored 159 points to soundly win the Class B side, while Collins-Maxwell-Baxter recorded 150 to take the Class A side of the PCM Boys Track Mustang Classic in Monroe. The host Mustangs placed third in Class A, while Colfax-Mingo finished seventh.

Lynnville-Sully

For the past few weeks in practice, the Hawks emphasized doing the little things. However, there was nothing little about their night Thursday. The Hawks won 10 events outright and had top placers in nearly every event besides those, defeated second-place Montezuma by 50 points.

“We’ve jumped, we’ve thrown, we’ve ran and we’ve put it all together tonight. I’m really proud of the guys,” L-S coach Mike Parkinson said. “All of the guys we expected to step up and perform big did that, and the guys we needed to pick up some other points did exactly what we needed them to do.”

It was nearly an L-S sweep in the relay events, as the Hawks won the 4x100-meter relay (44.34 second), 4x200 (1:35.21), 4x400 (3:43.99), shuttle hurdle (1:01.47) and distance medley (3:59.70). Their only non-victory was a second-place finish in the 4x800 with a time of 9:37.55.

In individual track events, Meliek Meyer warmed up for his Friday Drake appearance with a victory in the 100 (11.06) Bailee Samson edged out the field for a victory in the 200 with a time of 22.22. On top of winning the discus with a throw of 138 feet, 8 inches, Nathan Russell also topped teammate Darin Hofer in the 110 hurdles by just .02 seconds. The duo defeated the rest of the field by about two seconds.

Also in the field, Brady Van Wyk earned a victory in the high jump by clearing 5-10 and took third in the shot put with a throw of 40-06. Cale Van Wyk finished second in the long jump with a distance of 21-11. The Hawks have now won at PCM two years in a row.

“I don’t remember the scores from last year, but I think the guys got it in them that they want to come back to a meet and leave a legacy for Lynnville-Sully,” Parkinson said. “It’s been a fun year so far, and I’m excited for the next few weeks of this thing.”

CMB

CMB coach Neil Seales wanted to see more of a fight in his squad, and it’s safe to say his squad delivered. The Raiders won six events and placed in all but one to cruise to a 40.50-point margin of victory over second-place West Marshall.

“We had a meet Monday night where I feel like we didn’t compete with a lot of heart, but I really think we did tonight,” CMB coach Neil Seales said. “It was just a really good team effort. We had good balance and doubled-up in some individual events, so overall it was solid.”

A large part of CMB’s success was due to Drake Relays-bound sophomore Bryce Kemp, who won the Class A 100 (11.38), 110 hurdles (15.52) and long jump (19-9), and placed second in the 200 (23.12). Fellow Drake qualifier Zach Samson made the trip back from Des Moines just in time to win the shot put (54 even) and discus (140-08) for the Raiders.

Senior Aaron Ward nearly swept the individual distance events, winning the 3,200 with a time of 10:42.81 and being edged out down the front straightaway to take second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:51.01. CMB’s Mark Deutsch took third and fifth in those events, respectively, and Austin Moorman took third in the 800 (2:10.37).

In the field events, Patrick Girard finished third in the shot put (46-5), Clayton Weltha was third in the discus (124-1) and Hunter Gunderson and Zach Huffaker went 3-4 in the long jump at 5-8 and 5-6, respectively.

PCM

In just their fourth outdoor meet of the season, the Mustangs finished somewhat pleased with 86.50 points and a close third-place finish just three points behind second.

“Maybe if we had switched some things around we could get those last three points to get second, but at this point of the year we’re just happy to get a full meet in with decent weather,” PCM coach Greg Bonnett joked. “But overall, I was happy.”

Individually, senior Hunter Reed was victorious in the 400 hurdles (56.85) and took second in the 110 hurdles by just .29 seconds behind Kemp. Fellow senior Ethan Kain also scored a victory in his final home meet, winning the high jump with a leap of 5-10.

The Mustangs also had a multitude of fourth-place finishes, including Maverick McAtee in the 1600 (5:01.01), Blake McWilliams in the shot put (42-3), Troy Vittetoe in the 200 (23.66). In the relay events, PCM took second in the 4x800 and shuttle hurdle, and placed third in the 4x400 and distance medley.

Colfax-Mingo

The Tigerhawks rested top point scorers Connor Hainer and Jaden Van Dyke for Drake on Thursday, but the remaining cast still filled up the score sheet.

Senior Chad McLain missed a school record in the shot put by just an inch, improved his season best by 2.5 feet and took second in the event with a throw of 49-2, while also taking fifth in the discus (118-03).

Relays were the team’s main source of points, led by the 4x400 team of Jake Alexander, Byron Johnson, Jake Lietz and McLain taking fourth with a time of 3:44.49. The distance medley team of Jared Myers, McLain, Byron Johnson and Tim Blood finished fifth with a time of 4:04.71, and the shuttle hurdle relay team of Trent Pease, Myers, Eli Hudson and Michael Brown was sixth in 1:10.27.

Jake Lietz rounded out the Tigerhawks’ top finishers with with a time of 2:19.51 in the 800 to finish fifth.