PCM girls edge CMB for third in HOIC meet

GILBERT — Like it has done all season, the Prairie City-Monroe girls track team relied on its relays to lead the way Tuesday night at the Heart of Iowa Conference co-ed meet.

Trailing Collins-Maxwell/Baxter by six points heading into the final two relays, the Mustangs pulled closer with a third-place finish in the 4x100 and then cruised past the Raiders with a victory in the final event on a windy night at Gilbert High School.

PCM also won the 4x200 relay and junior Jayci Vos won the 400-meter hurdles as the Mustangs finished third in the HOIC with 107 points. CMB, which got a win from Toni Spencer in the long jump, was fourth with 101.

“Obviously we would have liked to have come out with a higher team finish,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “We are disappointed about that, but we performed about where we have been performing all year. We needed to run a perfect meet just to finish second, and that didn’t happen tonight.

“Gilbert and North Polk are very competitive Class 3A schools, and we just didn’t have the horses to run with them tonight.”

Gilbert ran away with the conference title, scoring 150.5 points. North Polk was the runner-up with 124.5. Greene County (77), Roland-Story (60.5), Nevada (56), South Hamilton (33.5) and Saydel (28) rounded out the nine-team field.

PCM’s 4x200 relay team finished second based on time, but Nevada was disqualified for an exchange zone violation. That gave Vos, senior Emily Hugen, sophomore Ashley Miller and senior Ashley Van Gorp the gold medal. They finished in 1 minute, 51.75 seconds.

“It feels good to have the hard work pay off,” Hugen said. “The hand-offs were good. (Van Gorp) just goes. She is super fast. Before I can say ‘go Ashley’ she is already gone.”

Vos was a part of the 4x400 relay, too. She led off the relay and was joined by freshman Maddie Samson and juniors Tatum Nearmyer and Rachel Stafford. The winning time was 4:16.48.

Vos’ third win came in the 400 hurdles. She collected the gold medal with a time of 1:07.10. She also took second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.68 seconds.

Spencer’s winning mark in the long jump was a career best 16 feet, 4 1/4 inches. It was the third time this season she eclipsed the 16-foot mark. She was joined in the top three by PCM’s Van Gorp (silver) and sophomore teammate Sailor Hinegardner (bronze).

“It feels awesome. That was my third time getting into the 16s,” Spencer said. “I was super excited to win because (Van Gorp) jumped well too. It’s awesome to see (CMB) go 1-3.”

Van Gorp’s silver-medal jump covered a career-best 16-2 1/2. Hinegardner claimed the bronze with a 15-11 3/4.

“The long jump was probably the only event that liked the wind tonight,” Meinerts said.

Spencer had CMB’s only win and only runner-up finish. She placed second in the 100 with a time of 13.26. Stafford grabbed a pair of individual bronze medals for PCM. She was third in the 400 with a time of 1:03.62 and third in the 800 in 2:28.51.

The Mustangs’ 4x100 and sprint medley relays were third.

The 4x100 included Miller, freshman Delaney Clarke, Nearmyer and freshman Avery Stock. They finished in 53.35. Miller and Stock joined Hugen and Van Gorp in the sprint medley and that bronze-medal time was 1:58.60.

The Mustangs’ distance medley team placed fourth. Clarke, Hugen, Nearmyer and freshman Payton Schut finished in 4:45.54.

The Raiders had three other third-place finishes.

Senior Payge Jurgens took the bronze in the shot put with a toss of 36-11, while the shuttle hurdle relay team was third with a time of 1:14.53. That foursome included sophomore Mary Schabilion, freshman Gracie Cheville, junior Sydney Ziesman and Hinegardner.

The final bronze medal came in the 4x200 relay. The team of junior Megan Ritter, junior Mikayla Eslinger, freshman Josie Wierson and sophomore Brianda Bane finished in 1:57.70.

Hinegardner was fourth in the 100 hurdles (17.28), junior Heather Jessen finished fourth in the 3,000 (11:54.50) and senior Bridget Hurley came in fourth in the 400 (1:04.37).

The 4x800 relay team was fourth in 11:01.78. That team included sophomore Ashlee Johnson, freshman Shasta Moody, senior Chasity Moody and freshman Lauren Ratliff.

PCM and CMB compete at the Newton Cardinal Relays at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.