CMB girls finish third, PCM fourth at Heart of Iowa Conference track meet

BAXTER — Sailor Hinegardner hadn’t competed in three weeks because of a hamstring injury.

With only a few weeks left before the state track meet, Hinegardner returned to action Tuesday and led the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls’ track and field team to a third-place finish at the Heart of Iowa Conference meet.

Hinegardner claimed CMB’s only gold and silver medal on the night, but the Raiders were third in six events. Hinegardner won the 100-meter hurdles and took second in the long jump.

“I just kept telling myself that it was just a setback, and I knew I would come back strong,” Hinegardner said after her return from injury. “It’s a mental thing right now.”

CMB scored 107 points in third place. Class 3A Gilbert won the meet with 152.5 points, and 3A North Polk scored 114.5 in second.

Prairie City-Monroe got three wins from senior Jayci Vos and finished fourth with 96 points. Nevada (64), Greene County (60), Roland-Story (53), South Hamilton (52) and Saydel (41) completed the nine-team field.

Hinegardner was a close race with Saydel’s Jayda Tolentino in the 100 hurdles. Hinegardner’s winning time was clocked at 16.58 seconds, edging Tolentino by .03 seconds.

In the long jump, Hinegardner was second and senior Megan Ritter finished third. They came into the meet with the fourth and sixth best jumps in the conference. Hinegardner’s best jump Tuesday was 15 feet, 7 inches. Ritter was marked at 15-5.

“I think I had more adrenaline than in most meets because I haven’t competed in a while,” Hinegardner said. “You never know what’s going to happen in long jump. It only takes one jump to bump you out of your position.”

While the Raiders were not on top of a lot of events, they maintained a top-three finish in the standings by piling up third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes.

“We are very pleased with these results,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “Gilbert is a great 3A school, and we knew they were going to be hard to beat. We thought it was going to be a three-team race for second. Our girls showed a lot of guts tonight and really competed hard. I am very happy with what we did, and the effort of all of our girls.”

Vos won her third 400 hurdles title. She won it in back-to-back years after finishing with a time of 1 minute, 9.24 seconds. Vos heads down the key stretch of the season with the third best time in 2A.

“Conference is kind of a big deal but this is the time of year when you have to think about the end of the season,” said Vos, who won the 400 hurdles as a freshman, junior and senior. “This meet helps me start to get mentally prepared for that last race.

“I have had that dream since my freshman year. Olympic athletes step onto the track and they expect to win. So when I get on the track at state, I will expect to win that race. That’s my where I am at mentally right now.”

Vos anchored the shuttle hurdle and 4x400 relays to wins.

The shuttle hurdle relay turned in a season-best time of 1:08.98. That foursome included sophomore Megan Cowman, freshman Lexi Kuecker, sophomore Morgan Uhlenhopp and Vos.

“That event just kind of came out of nowhere,” Vos said. “I am not a 100 hurdler, as you can probably tell, but we just put something together and it just started to click.”

The 4x400 relay included senior Rachel Stafford, sophomore Paytan Schut, freshman Sierra Foster and Vos, and that foursome finished in a season-best time of 4:11.63.

Vos ran the fifth 800 of her life when she anchored the distance medley for the second straight meet. That strategy is to both improve her stamina for the 400 hurdles and see if she can be one of the four legs to run in the 4x800 relay at the state qualifier next week.

“My times in practice have been fast so we are trying to figure some things out for some other events,” Vos said. “We really want the 4x800 to get to state so that might be an option.”

Ritter was one of six third-place finishes for the Raiders.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of sophomore Gracie Cheville, juniors Mary Schabilion and Brianda Bane and Hinegardner finished in 1:12.01. The rest of the bronze-medal performances came in individual events.

Sophomore Kaylin Van Ryswyk came into the night ranked outside of the top five but finished third in the shot put with a toss of 33-5.

Sophomore Lauren Ratliff was third in the 1,500 with a time of 5:18.41, sophomore Brenna Thomson placed third in the 3,000 with a time of 11:41.42 and Bane finished third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:12.85.

“Our distance girls doubled up in the 3,000 and 800,” Meinerts said. “Lauren Ratliff seta new CMB school record in the 800 and finished fourth. That was a fun race to watch with a lot of good competitors.”

The Mustangs were top-three in five other events.

Junior Ashley Miller placed second in the 100 with a time of 13.41. The 4x800 relay also was second. That team included Schut, freshman Sayde White, sophomore Sloan Hjortshoj and Stafford, and they finished in a season-best time of 10:13.20.

Stafford was third in the 800 with a season-best time of 2:26.53. Sophomore Maddie Samson finished third in the discus with a toss of 105-7 1/2.

The final third-place finish came in the distance medley. That foursome of Miller, Uhlenhopp, freshman Kate McCarthy and Vos finished in 4:29.84.

“The girls went out and competed in a very tough track and field conference,” PCM coach Bridget Martin said. “Our goal was to take care of the little things tonight, and for the most part, we got that done.

“As we prepare for the final meets of the season, our goal is to continue to see improvements and finish this season strong.”

Both CMB and PCM compete at the Cardinal Relays co-ed meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Newton.