March 29, 2024

PCM girls take district track meet, look toward state

Pella Christian sends four state qualifiers

EDDYVILLE — In an encore performance from its conference win last week, the Prairie City-Monroe girls track team took the top spot at Thursday’s class 2A district state qualifying meet.

PCM left Eddyville with five individuals and five teams automatically qualifying for next week’s state meet in Des Moines. The Mustangs were named district champions in six events and runner-up in four.

Head coach Bridget Martin said the team is still waiting to hear about other Mustangs who potentially could qualify for the state meet, but as of Thursday night, over half of the PCM girls will be competing at Drake Stadium next week.

“We set some goals at the beginning of the season, and one of those goals was to win districts. We are very proud of the fact that we reached that goal tonight,” Martin said. “Our girls are proving to be mentally tough, and we are very proud of their efforts tonight. We continue to be impressed with our team’s unity and support for each other. It has had a lot to do with our success this season.”

Mustang Lexi Kain took first in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.89 seconds. Jayci Vos finished first in the 400-meter hurdles in 67.41 seconds. Rachel Peter took first in both the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter runs, with times of 5:18.90 and 11:18.90, respectively.

In the 4x200-meter relay, the team of Vos, Kenzie Clarke, Ashley Van Gorp and Kain placed first in 1:49.37. The team of Vos, Katie Vande Wall, Ashley Van Gorp and Rachel Stafford took first in the 4x400-meter relay in 4:18.30.

Vande Wall was the runner-up in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 64.90 seconds. The sprint medley team of Clarke, Emily Hugen, Van Gorp and Stafford took second in 4:29.14. In the shuttle hurdle relay, the team of Rachel Gulling, Abbi Gilson, Kayla Jennings and Tatum Schnug placed second in 1:12.19.

The PCM girls also performed well in the field at Eddyville, with three third place finishers. Van Gorp took third in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet 6 inches. Gilson placed third in the discus, recording a throw of 104’ 3”. Mustang Grace Telfer had of third place throw of 36’ .5” in the shot put.

Collectively, PCM earned 143 team points at the district meet.

The Pella Christian girls earned four automatic spots at the state meet after Thursday’s qualifier. The Eagles took first in the 400-meter dash, with Christa Veenstra finishing in 1:02.93. The Eagles also placed first in the sprint medley relay, with the team of Kathryn Van Tuyl, Sarah Meyer, Leah Breon and Veenstra in at 1:56.10.

In the 4x200-meter relay, the PC team of Morgan Anderson, Breon, Veenstra and Meyer placed second in 1:53.09. The Eagles’ 4x100-meter relay team of Van Tuyl, Meyer, Taylor Bolt and Breon took second in 53.60 seconds.

Full class 2A district results for PCM and PC boys and girls will be in Monday’s edition of the Newton Daily News.

The Mustangs and Eagles will have a short break before the state track and field tournament next week. The state meet runs from May 22-24 at Drake University in Des Moines.

2014 class 2A District meet Eddyville

Girls

400-meter dash — place. name, school, time, place name, school, time

4x200-meter relay — place, school, (team), time

100-m dash — 5. Rachel Gulling, PCM, 13.59, 6. Kathryn Van Tuyl, PC, 14.37, 7. Taylor Bolt, PC, 13.89

200-m dash — 6. Emily Hugen, PCM, 28.86, 8. Taylor Bolt, PC, 29.89

400-m dash — 6. Kayla Jennings, PCM, 71.10, 7. Sydney Faber, PC, 1:11.38

800-m run — 5. Alyssa Starkey, PC, 2:43.12, 7. Rachel Peter, PCM, 2:45.82

100-m hurdles — 8. Rachel Gulling, PCM, 17.57

400-m huddles — 4. Tatum Schnug, PCM, 75.70

4x400-m relay — 6. PC, (Morgan Anderson, Alyssa Starkey, Sydney Faber, McKinley Zula), 4:44.20

4x800-m relay — 4. PC, (McKinley Zula, Alyssa Starkey, Cara Theune, Marina Shannon), 11:25.47, 7. PCM, (Kiara Kapplemann, Courtney Van Houweling, Morgan Novak, Kaylee Townsend), 12:02.85.

Distance medley — 5. PC, (Sarah Meyer, Leah Breon, Morgan Anderson, Marina Shannon), 4:47.40

Shot put — 4. Abbi Gilson, PCM, 36’ 0’, 7. Miranda Nikkel, PC, 31’ 4 1/2”

Long Jump — 4. Rachel Freland, PCM, 15’ 2”

Discus — 6. Grace Telfer, PCM, 88’ 2”

High Jump — 6. Kathryn Van Tuyl, PC, 4’ 6”, 8. Laura Nicholson, PC, 4’ 4”.