March 28, 2024

Mustangs’ 4x400 team takes fifth, three others finish top 10

Mustangs' 4x400 relay takes fifth

Image 1 of 2

DES MOINES — The Prairie City-Monroe girls’ track and field team used an inspirational speech from a former Mustang to propel it to a pair of medals Saturday at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships.

But no one expected Kendra Versendaal’s speech to lead to a state championship. Especially senior Rachel Peter.

But when Peter was making her final two laps around the blue oval Saturday, the speech is all she was thinking about.

“She won the title 18 years ago and didn’t think she could win either,” Peter said. “She told us anyone can win it. They are just people, too. We have all worked really hard. So I just went for it, and the hard work paid off.”

The hard work transformed into an individual state title and a new school record.

Peter knocked 11 seconds off her previous personal-best time as she finished her championship run in 4 minutes, 48.29 seconds Saturday.

Peter is the school’s third female individual state champion and the first since Emily Schippers won the 400 hurdles in 2004.

“It’s crazy where people can go. I barely qualified for state my freshman year. It’s going to take me awhile to realize that I am state champion,” Peter said. “I just wanted to medal. That’s all I wanted.”

She did that and so much more.

And her teammates fed off the victory in the 4x400 relay later that day.

The Mustangs didn’t come in with a ton of expectations in the event but snuck into the finals with the eighth and final qualifying spot on Friday.

The foursome of junior Ashley Van Gorp, sophomore Jayci Vos, Peter and sophomore Rachel Stafford qualified with a 4:07.64, edging Underwood’s 4:07.93.

Then on Saturday, the group moved up three spots to finish with a fifth-place medal.

PCM coach Bridget Martin moved Peter to the anchor leg in the finals and the group ran its fastest time of the year in 4:05.04, which was .72 seconds off the current school record.

“I think the motivation behind us running so well was because we all still had plenty of adrenaline from Rachel’s championship run,” said Stafford, who was moved to the third leg in the finals. “(Versendaal’s) speech also motivated us all. We just all thought that we could do it.”

Peter had only run on the 4x400 relay four times prior to Saturday’s final. It turned out to be the right move for Martin.

“I love these girls. We wanted to PR and we knew that we worked hard for it and we really wanted to do well,” Van Gorp said. “Watching Rachel win that race, we just thought that anything can happen.”

Van Gorp, Vos and Stafford were all busy over the weekend, too.

The 4x200 relay team of Vos, junior Emily Hugen, Van Gorp and senior Mackenzie Clarke ended up one spot off a medal in ninth. The foursome stopped the clock in 1:47.44, coming in .32 seconds behind Heart of Iowa Conference rival Roland-Story for the eighth and final medal spot.

Vos endured another ninth-place finish Friday in the 400 hurdles.

Vos won the first heat in 1:07.07 and was still the leader after two heats, but every runner in heat three was faster and that pushed her to ninth.

“I just tried to run my hardest. I wanted to win my heat,” said the sophomore who was fifth last year in the event. “There’s always next year.”

The Mustangs also ran in the 4x100, sprint medley and distance medley relays.

PCM was 10th in the 4x100 preliminaries on Friday as it finished in 51.56. That group included Vos, Hugen, Van Gorp and Clarke.

The distance medley team of Clarke, Hugen, Van Gorp and Stafford was 19th in 4:23.28. And that was .49 seconds off an 11-year-old school record.

“Even though we got 19th, it was still fun,” Hugen said. “It’s awesome to hear your name called when you come down the front stretch.”

The sprint medley relay garnered a 21st-place finish in 1:55.71. That foursome was sophomore Tatum Schnug, Hugen, Clarke and Stafford.

“I got hurt in the 4x400 at districts last year so I only go to run in one of the three events I helped us qualify in at state,” Stafford said. “I was just really thirsty to get back here and do it again. No matter how you do it, it’s an amazing experience.”

Peter, who was 11th in the 3,000 on Thursday, paced herself on the first two laps of the 1,500. She stayed around the fifth position through one lap and dropped all the way back to eighth with two laps to go.

With about 600 meters remaining, Peter made her move, grabbed the lead with exactly one lap to go and the four-time state qualifier never looked back.

“I didn’t want to get out too fast like I did in the 3,000 so I held back a little bit,” Peter said. “But with two laps to go I just went for it.”

Versendaal was the first PCM girls’ individual state champion. She won the race in 1997 and her previous school record was 4:54.60.