March 29, 2024

Mustang girls win HOIAC track championship

ALLEMAN — With a portion of the Heart of Iowa Conference track meet moved to Huxley, the conference teams did compete Monday despite all the rain on Sunday and Monday. Now, teams shift focus to the state qualifying meets Thursday.

Prairie City-Monroe’s Mustang girls captured the HOIAC team championship.

“We are very excited about taking home a conference championship in a very tough track conference. This has been a goal of ours all season, and it feels really good to accomplish it. It was a total team effort,” said PCM head coach Bridget Martin.

“Every point scored mattered and gave us momentum to continue succeeding through the meet. We haven’t won a girls’ track conference title at PCM since 2003, when I was a senior here. It is long overdue. We couldn’t be prouder of all the girls on the team; they truly deserve this. All their hard work is paying off.”

The Mustangs collected six HOIAC event championships. Ashley Van Gorp is the conference champion in the long jump, with a leap of 15 feet, 11 1/2 inches. Jayci Vos won the HOIAC title in the 400-meter hurdles in 1 minute, 9.33 seconds.

PCM’s 4x100-meter relay team of Vos, Kenzie Clark, Emily Hugen and Lexi Kain won in 51.70 seconds. The Mustang foursome of Vos, Hugen, Van Gorp and Clarke took the 4x200-meter relay title in 1:51.33. Vos teamed up with Katie Vande Wall, Van Gorp and Rachel Stafford to win the 4x400-meter relay race in 4:19.56.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s Abbie Haupert is the 2014 HOIAC discus champion, winning the event with a throw of 111’ 7”. PCM’s Abbi Gilson was second in the event at 107’4”.

The discus and shot put events were moved from host North Polk to Ballard High School in Huxley because of facility conditions from the rain.

“We knew going into the meet, if we performed well we would be fighting for that fourth/fifth-place spot as a team, and that is what we got,” said Jerry Meinerts, CMB head coach. “We did some really good things tonight.  Abbie is doing a great job right now in the discus, and she did great tonight, winning the discus by four feet. I look for her to carry this momentum right into the regional meet on Thursday.”

In the shot put, Gilson had a personal-best throw of 36’2” for third place for PCM. CMB’s Payge Jurgens with a toss of 35’3”, and PCM’s Grace Telfer was seventh at 34’8 1/2”. The Raiders’ Mikayla Eslinger finished fifth in the discus at 100’3” while Colfax-Mingo’s Anna Baldwin was eighth at 89’3”.

“We finished 10th as a team, but still had some solid performances,” Colfax-Mingo head coach Zach Tomas said. “I really believe we are due for a great meet at our state qualifying meet on Thursday in Van Meter.”

The Tigerhawk girls earned medals in four events at the conference meet. Iva Moore sixth in the 3,000 meters (12:30.23), Dakota Hostetter third in the 1,500 meters (5:25.36), McKinzie Tjaden fifth in the 200-m dash (28.75 seconds), and Rylee Thompson sixth in the long jump (14’5 3/4”).

CMB’s Bridget Hurley claimed second in the 400-meter dash in 1:05.39. PCM’s Stafford and Rachel Freland, ran seventh and eighth, respectively, in 1:06.47 and 1:09.96. Colfax-Mingo’s Bailey Pease edged her teammate Taylor Shepley out of the final scoring place, taking eighth in 1:11.62 with Shepley running the race in 1:12.07.

Maddy Poage of CMB finished second in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5 feet. In the long jump, CMB’s Spencer was third at 15’2 1/4” followed by PCM’s Rachel Freland in fifth at 14’11 1/2”, and CMB’s Megan Ritter placed eighth at 13’10 1/2”.

“Maddy looked real good in the high jump, just missing out on first place due to an earlier miss at 4’10”,” Meinerts said. “Bridget ran a good 400 tonight in some tough weather conditions. Toni had a good jump in the long jump.”

On the track, Clarke of PCM was second in the 100-meter dash in 13.13 seconds. CMB’s Mackenzie Schmitz placed fourth in the 100-meter dash in 13.45 seconds with teammate Toni Spencer coming across next in 13.54 seconds.

PCM’s Kain claimed the runner-up spot in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.31 seconds with teammate Rachel Gulling placing seventh in 17.70. Kain was third in the 200-meter dash in 27.94 seconds. Tatum Schnug was fifth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:14.51 for PCM.

For the Mustangs, Stafford ran second in the 800-meter race in 2:36.35 and Vande Wall was fourth in 2:37.76. Peter was fifth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:36.29 and fourth in the 3,000-meter race in 12:14.26. CMB’s Chasity Moody ran seventh in the 3,000 meters in 13:51.

Peter combined with Hugen, Kayla Jennings and Vande Wall for second in the distance medley relay race, 4:40.32, for PCM. The Mustangs’ sprint medley relay team of Clark, Hugen, Kain and Van Gorp was second in 1:58.23. PCM’s shuttle hurdle relay team finished fourth in 1:13.53.

CMB’s Poage, Spencer, Hurley and Schmitz combined for a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay race in 53.19 seconds. The same foursome placed seventh in the sprint medley relay race in 2:08.04.

The Tigerhawk distance medley relay team of Kennedi Hostetter, Brianna Cooper, Tjaden and D. Hostetter was fifth in 4:49.06. Their 4x100-meter relay team of K. Hostetter, Eva Donnermayer, Amy Russell and Aranda Woods was seventh in 57.87 seconds, the 4x400-meter relay team of Erin Earles, D. Hostetter, Pease and Tjaden was seventh in 4:45.72, the 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay foursome of Dakota Brodka, Sara Lahart, Moore and Anna Blom was seventh in 1:26.64 and the 4x200-meter relay team of K. Hostetter, Cooper, Earles and Woods was eighth in 2:02.87.

The CMB 4x200-meter relay team of Poage, Ritter, Bekah Pearson and Haupert placed seventh in 2:01.19. The Raiders’ 4x800-meter relay team of Maxwell, Heather Jessen, Patience Engle and Stephanie Twohey was eighth in 11:54.55.

Thursday, PCM is at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in a Class 2A state qualifying meet while CMB and Colfax-Mingo go to Van Meter for a Class 2A state qualifying meet. The Iowa high school state track meet is May 22 to 24 at Drake University.