Peter, Telfer guide PCM girls to runner-up finish

MONROE — Two Prairie City-Monroe seniors were at the top of their game in front of their home fans Tuesday night.

Rachel Peter and Grace Telfer both won two individual events and accounted for more than half of the Mustangs’ first-place finishes during the PCM Coed Invitational.

Those efforts helped PCM to a second-place finish even though the Mustangs were without one of their top point producers.

Sophomore Jayci Vos went home sick from school on Tuesday and that forced coach Bridget Martin to make some last-minute changes.

And even though the absence of Vos was felt in the team standings, it also allowed Martin to see where she can get the most out of her team.

“We were happy with our performances tonight,” Martin said. “The girls really stepped up and handled the lineup changes well.”

PCM finished with 132 points and that trailed Heart of Iowa Conference rival North Polk by 22.5 points in the team race. Bondurant-Farrar was third with 112 followed by Knoxville (106) Pella Christian (91), Chariton (80.5) and Pleasantville (38).

Peter won the 1,500-meter run in a season-best time of 5 minutes, 16.48 seconds and crossed first in the 3,000 with a time of 11:31.12.

The Central College recruit hasn’t been pushed much this season, but she needed evey ounce of energy she could find in the 1,500 as she was forced into a dead sprint for the final 100 meters to hold off North Polk’s Amelia Lesher, who hit the line .07 seconds after Peter.

“She made a little surge and got close with one lap to go, but I wasn’t going to just let her have it,” Peter said. “I knew from then that it was going to be a battle to the finish and I just prepared myself to be able to sprint at the end.

“I am not used to having to sprint at the end. It’s usually all about your heart at that point. I haven’t had much competition yet this year so this was good for both us.”

Telfer won both the shot put and discus to give the Mustangs 20 big points. She threw a lifetime personal record in the discus with a toss of 96-9 and was marked at 36 feet even in the shot put.

The other three wins for the Mustangs came from Rachel Stafford in the 800 and the 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams. PCM also claimed three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.

Stafford won the 800 in 2:37.03. She also was a part of both winning relays.

The 4x200 was missing Vos but still won with Mackenzie Clarke, Emily Hugen, Stafford and Ashley Van Gorp. They crossed the line in 1:53.96. The 4x400 featured Stafford, Baylee Smith, Clarke and Van Gorp and they stopped the clock at 4:30.72.

“We continue to try different things and find areas we need to improve on, but we are moving in the right direction,” Martin said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better from the girls tonight.”

The only individual runner-up tally came from Tatum Schnug in the 400 low hurdles. The 4x800 and distance medley relays also were second.

The 4x800 included Stafford, Baylee Smith, Amaya Hartson and Morgan Novak. The distance medley featured Ashley Miller, Mackenzie Messick, Schnug and Peter.

Clarke picked up third place in both the 100 and 200. The sprint medley relay team of Hugen, Miller, Messick and Van Gorp were third, too.

The Mustangs are back in action at 4:30 p.m. Thursday when they travel east to the E-B-F invitational.

Team Scores: North Polk 154.5, PCM 132, Bondurant-Farrar 112, Knoxville 106, Pella Christian 91, Chariton 80.5 and Pleasantville 38.

100-m dash: 3. Mackenzie Clarke, PCM, 13.35, 6. Emily Hugen, PCM, 13.83.14, Michaela Uhlenhopp, PCM, 19.20.

200-m dash: 3. Clarke, PCM, 28.43, 6. Hugen, PCM, 29.25, 13. Taylor Burns, PCM, 35.57, 14. Uhlenhopp, PCM, 42.55.

400-m dash: 5. Baylee Smith, PCM, 1:10.46, 9. Amaya Hartson, 1:12.96.

800-m dash: 1. Rachel Stafford, PCM, 2:37.03, 9. Morgan Novak, PCM, 3:01.75.

1,500-m run: 1. Rachel Peter, PCM, 5:16.48, 5. Hartson, PCM, 6:00.42.

3,000-m run: 1. Peter, PCM, 11:31.12.

100 hurdles: 6. Tatum Schnug, PCM, 18.81, 10. Novak, PCM, 23.09.

4x100-m relay: 8. PCM (Miler, Schnug, Burns, Messick).

4x200-m relay: 1. PCM (Clarke, Hugen, Stafford, Van Gorp), 1:53.96.

4x400-m relay: 1. PCM (Stafford, Smith, Hugen, Van Gorp), 4:30.72.

4x800-m relay: 2. PCM (Stafford, Smith , Hartson, Novak), 11:10.87.

800-m sprint medley relay: 3. PCM (Hugen, Miller, Messick, Van Gorp), 2:03.49

1,600-m distance medley relay: 2. PCM (Miller, Messick, Schnug, Peter), 4:40.14.

Shot put: 1. Grace Telfer, PCM, 36-0, 12. Sierra McCullough, PCM, 22-2.

Discus: 1. Telfer, PCM, 96-9, 10. Sidney Metzger, PCM, 62-1.