BELLE PLAINE — With only one indoor meet under their belts and a lot of the girls practicing since mid-February, Lynnville-Sully’s girls were ready to get out and stretch themselves in the 2017 outdoor track opener Tuesday.
The Hawk girls finished fourth in the Belle Plaine Girls Invitational with 76 points. Sigourney won the team title of the eight-team field with 99 points. BGM was send with 87 and Montezuma took third with 79.5 points.
North Mahaska placed fifth with 75.5 points followed by host Belle Plaine with 73 points. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont was seventh with 59 and Alburnett took eighth with 39 points.
“It was exciting to finally compete in our first outdoor meet of the season. The girls have been anticipating this first full competition,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Darin Arkema said. “Other than Sigourney in first, the team scores were pretty tight with only 6.5 points separating third to sixth place. I anticipate it being that way against our conference teams all year.”
Makayla Rozendaal stretched out well in the two distance races for the Hawks. She was second in the 3,000 meters in 12 minutes, 41.32 seconds and was fourth in the 1,500 in 6:00.04. Haley Breeden placed sixth in the 3,000 in 14:14.76 and Christine Nikkel ran fifth in the 1,500 in 6:12.59.
Mallory Loftus had a good stretch in the high jump, taking second with a clearance of the bar at 4 feet, 8 inches. Jelissa Rozendaal finished third in the shot put with a throw of 30-3 1/2.
On the track, Lynnville-Sully took third in five events. Kaleah Ehresman was third in the 100-meter dash in 14.32 seconds. Mariah Vos led a 3-4 finish in the 400 hurdles in 1:13.53 followed by Abby Gruver in fourth at 1:20.00.
The 4x100 relay team of Ehresman, Makenzey Rozendaal, Camryn Russell and Brenna Lanser was third in 54.95 seconds. Lydia Akergren combined with Makenzy Rozendaal, Loftus and Lanser for third in the 4x200 relay in 2:00.30.
Lynnville-Sully’s 4x800 relay foursome of Kennedy Roland, Nikkel, Emily Van Gorp and Shaleah Van Wyk recorded a third-place time of 12:20.39. The Hawks’ 4x400 relay team of Hailey Scandridge, Ashton Thomson, Gruver and Vos took fourth in 4:42.81.
Roland finished fifth in the 800 meters in 2:53.11 and Van Gorp was sixth in 2:54.57. Russell placed sixth in the 100-meter high hurdles in 18.12 seconds. She anchored the Hawks 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay team of Vos, Gruver and Loftus to a fourth-place finish in 1:15.91.
Lynnville-Sully’s 1,600 distance medley relay team of Akregren, Kaylee Maasdam, Brittney Hansen and Breeden finished sixth in 5;22.54.
Arkema said it might not have been as warm as some would have liked, the winds were calm and conditions were pretty good for late March in Iowa. He said the Hawk girls know being properly warmed up for each event they were in was key to having good performances.
“They did a good job of taking care of responsibilities and being ready to compete and competed with great effort,” Arkema said. “The girls won’t back down from competition, and I know they’ll rise up to the challenges throughout the season.”
Lynnville-Sully’s girls have a week to work on things before their next meet. They will be at home for the Lynnville-Sully Co-Ed Invitational at 4:30 p.m. next Tuesday in Sully.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com