March 29, 2024

Hinegardner, Clapper lead Baxter in Bolts’ track debut

PELLA — The Baxter track and field teams gave fans a first-look at their 2018 rosters at the Pekin Indoor meet on March 9. Both programs left Central College with at least one victory.

Senior Sailor Hinegardner and junior Will Clapper look primed for big years after combining to win three events.

Hinegardner’s wins came in the 55-meter hurdles and the long jump.

She won the 55 hurdles in 9.41 seconds and won the long jump with a career-best leap of 16 feet, 2 inches. That would have placed her fifth in last year’s Class 1A state meet.

Clapper had success in the boys’ shot put. He won the event with a toss of 51-6 1/2, which would have placed fourth at last year’s 1A state meet.

The next best finishes for the Baxter girls came in the shot put and 4x800 relay.

The shuttle hurdle relay, shuttle relay and distance medley relay were all fourth.

Junior Kaylin Van Ryswyk was third in the shot put. Her best throw was 32-3 1/4.

The 4x800 relay team of freshman Kailee Conradi, senior Ashlee Johnson, sophomore Holly Jessen and junior Lauren Ratliff finished third in 11 minutes, 49.27 seconds.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of senior Mary Schabilion, junior Avery Backus, senior Jordynn Wesselink and Hinegardner placed fourth in 44.7.

The shuttle relay team of Wesselink, sophomore Rachel Kenney, Schabilion and sophomore Emily Nation was fourth in 32.62.

The final fourth-place finish came in the distance medley relay and that team of Ratliff, Johnson, junior Brenna Thomson and Jessen finished in 15:21.16.

The Bolt boys went 4-5 in the long jump and three relay teams were fifth.

Seniors Travis Lindemoen and Devin Carson placed fourth and fifth in the long jump, respectively. Lindemoen’s best jump was 18-2 1/2 and Carson was marked at 17-10 1/2.

The 4x800 relay team of juniors Josh Bruntz and Ian Thomson and sophomores Logan Berg and Cole Damman finished fifth in 9:40.

The distance medley relay team placed fifth. That foursome included Bruntz, Thomson, Berg and junior Ben Huff and they finished 12:57.

The final fifth-place relay came in the 55 shuttle relay. The foursome of Lindemoen, Carson and seniors Brady Geilenfeldt and Joe Keeling finished in 27.95.

Baxter girls compete in

annual Iowa State Classic

AMES — Sailor Hinegardner continued to show that she’ll be a major factor in 1A this season when it comes to hurdles and the long jump.

Hinegardner claimed two top-10 finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and long jump on March 12 in the 25th annual Iowa State High School Indoor Classic at the Lied Athletic Recreation Facility.

Hinegardner wound up fifth out of 88 jumpers in the long jump with a leap of 16-0, and she finished ninth in the 60 hurdles with a time of 10.04 seconds. There were 126 runners in the 60 hurdles event.

The next best finisher was Ratliff in the 1,500. She was 24th out of 108 runners with a time of 5:30.72.

Two Baxter distance runners competed in the 3,000. Brenna Thomson was 28th out of 79 runners in 11:59.94 and Jessen was 58th in 13:27.50.

Baxter senior Ashlee Johnson ran in the 800, which featured 126 runners. She finished 45th in 2:44.11.