PCM girls take third at North Polk

ALLEMAN — Four girls’ track and field programs eclipsed the 100-point barrier in Tuesday’s meet at North Polk. And those four schools were separated by 21.5 points.

Prairie City-Monroe coach Bridget Martin admitted a few things didn’t go the Mustangs’ way, but they still locked up 11 top-three finishes and the 117 points they scored helped them claim a third-place finish.

Indianola (127.5) edged host North Polk (126) by 1.5 points to win the team title. The Mustangs scored 11 more points than Gilbert (106). South Hamilton placed fifth with 70 points, and Saydel (69.5), Perry (56) and Carroll (46) rounded out the eight-team field.

“We had some things go our way, but we also didn’t have a few things go our way,” Martin said. “We feel like we had the potential to do even better.”

Highlighting the night for PCM was Baylee Smith, who won her first-ever individual varsity race. She crossed the line first in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 12 minutes, 10.30 seconds.

Ashley Van Gorp was part of two PCM wins. She won the open 200 with a season-best time of 27.15 seconds. She also ran the 400 leg of the distance medley relay and helped that foursome, which also included Mackenzie Clarke, Emily Hugen and Rachel Peter, win first in a new season-best time of 4:25.58.

Peter won the final individual title. She broke the tape in the 1,500 with a time of 5:06.32.

The team also finished second five times.

Two of those silver medals were claimed by Jayci Vos. She was runner-up in both the 100 and the 400 hurdles. She finished her 100 in a season-best time of 13.46 seconds and ended her 400 hurdles race in 1:08.33.

Rachel Stafford claimed two medals, too. She was second in the 800 with a time of 2:30.93 and ended up third in the 400 in 63.44.

“We had multiple girls out-lean other runners at the finish line to get those extra points,” Martin said. “Our girls continue to work together as a team and reach our goal of placing in the top three. We are getting to the crucial time of the season. Now we need to shine.”

Grace Telfer also claimed a bronze medal. She was third in the shot put with a toss of 36 feet, 1.25 inches.

The 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams were second.

Ashley Miller, Vos, Hugen and Clarke finished the 4x100 in 54.82 seconds. The 4x400 relay foursome included Stafford, Peter, Vos and Van Gorp and they crossed in 4:12.79.

Tatum Schnug, Mackenzie Messick, Taylor Burns and Josie Hare were part of the winning JV 4x100. They finished in 57.77 seconds.

PCM competes in the Cardinal Relays at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.