March 29, 2024

PCM boys win, girls finish second at Pella Christian

PELLA — The PCM track and field teams both found plenty of success in the Pella Christian Coed Invitational on April 10.

Each squad won five events, and they combined for nine second-place finishes on the night as the boys won the team title and the girls were second to Class 3A Pella.

The PCM boys scored 129 points in its win, besting runner-up and 3A Pella by 6.5 points. Lynnville-Sully was second with 115 points, Pella Christian finished third with 102 and Centerville rounded out the top five with 84.

The boys field featured eight teams as Pleasantville (73), ADM of Adel (71) and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (36.5) completed the lineup.

In the girls’ team race, 3A Pella ran away with the title, scoring 192 points. PCM was next with 138, outscoring third-place Pella Christian (97) by 41 points.

Lynnville-Sully (85.5) and Centerville (73) completed the top five, while Pleasantville (64.5), Wayne (57) and Saydel (18) were the other competing teams.

“It was fun to go out and compete tonight with some tough competition,” PCM girls coach Bridget Martin said. “We saw a lot of effort and heart in our girls this evening.”

PCM showed off its sprinting prowess in the 100- and 200-meter dash.

Junior Preston Van Wyk won the boys’ 100 in 11.56 seconds, while senior Noah Anderson was the 200 winner in 22.55.

Anderson currently holds the fastest 200 time in 2A at 22.31.

Senior Ashley Miller won the girls’ 100 in 13.69 seconds, and sophomore Sierra Foster was the 200 winner in 27.70. The Mustang girls also won the 400 as junior Paytan Schut won the race in 1 minute, 4.32 seconds.

Junior Megan Cowman won the 100 hurdles in 17.19, and the final girls’ win came in the 4x200 relay as Foster, freshman Margo Chipps, sophomore Regan Freland and Miller won with a time of 1:51.30.

“We have been impressed with our fight through the finish line,” Martin said. “We talk a lot about taking care of the little things like handoffs, proper warm-up and finishing the race. I think some of those little things are continuing to pay off.”

In the boys’ 4x200 relay, the Mustangs won with a personal-best time of 1:32.11, which currently ranks third in 2A. The foursome included juniors Payton Strovers and Wes Cummings, Van Wyk and Anderson and they set a new meet record in the event.

The other two wins for the PCM boys came in the 4x100 relay and the long jump. Strovers won the long jump with a personal-best leap of 20 feet, 6 inches, which puts him into a tie for 10th in 2A.

The 4x100 relay team included Strovers, Van Wyk, junior Brayton Van Dyke and Anderson, and they finished with a time of 44.10. That time ranks second in 2A.

The Mustang squads combined for nine runner-up finishes, five of which came in relays.

The PCM girls took second in the 4x400 and 4x800 relays.

The 4x400 relay of Schut, Miller, sophomore Kate McCarthy and Foster finished in 4:21.75. The 4x800 team of junior Sayde White, McCarthy, senior Baylee Smith and Schut crossed the finish line in 11:02.51.

The Mustangs’ other two runner-up finishes came in the 400 and the high jump. McCarthy was the runner-up in the 400 with a time of 1:06.26. Freshman Celeste Wagaman was second in the high jump with a leap of 4-8.

The PCM boys were second in the sprint medley, distance medley and 4x400 relays.

In the sprint medley, Van Wyk, Van Dyke, Anderson and Cummings were clocked at 1:40.38.

The distance medley relay team of junior Jarron Trausch and freshmen Connor Bennett, Jacob Van Winkle and Beau Webb stopped the clock in 4:05.30 and the 4x400 relay team of Cummings, sophomore Noah Hirayama, senior Blake Lee and Bennett finished in 3:46.02.

Sophomore Nigel Sperfslage was second in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:01.70 and Webb finished second in the 1,600 with a time of 5:03.23.

The final top-three finish for the boys came in the 4x800. The team of Webb, junior Brycen Rogers, Sperfslage and Lee finished in 9:10.23.

The PCM girls were third in four events — the 100 hurdles, 4x100, distance medley and shuttle hurdle relay.

In the 100 hurdles, sophomore Lexi Kuecker gave PCM a 1-3 finish as she placed third with a time of 18.11.

The 4x100 foursome of Foster, Kuecker, Chipps and Miller were third in 52.74. The distance medley relay team of freshman Emma Houser, Wagaman, sophomore Hannah McCarthy and sophomore Klaire Jungling placed third with a time of 5:01.54. The shuttle hurdle relay team of Chipps, Kuecker, freshman Maybelle Smith and Cowman was third in 1:12.58.

“We will continue to focus on the process of improvement as the season progresses,” Martin said. “The team continues to show their depth by scoring points across the board from sprints to distance and in the field events. We are excited about the different options we have as we move through the season.”

The PCM girls were scheduled to compete at Gilbert on April 16, but that meet was canceled. The PCM boys were slated to compete at BGM on April 17.

The Mustang girls are in Tama for a meet hosted by South Tama County on April 19, while the boys head to Jewell for a meet hosted by South Hamilton.

PCM girls finish third at Lady Charger Invitational

GUTHRIE CENTER — The PCM girls won seven events at the Lady Charger Invitational on April 12.

Unfortunately, it took eight wins to claim the team title.

The Mustangs added two runner-up finishes and four bronze medals to their night and scored 147 points, finishing third overall.

Panorama was six points better as the team champion, finishing with 153 points. Host ACGC was second with 152 points. The fourth-place team, Nodaway Valley, was 84 points back of PCM.

“We continue to be extremely excited about the depth this team continues to show us,” Martin said. “We have had multiple girls continue to step up and show us what they are capable of. When looking at what girls can help us in what events, it’s a good problem to have when you see multiple possibilities.”

The Mustangs won four relays and three individual events.

Miller was part of four wins. She finished first in the 100 with a time of 13.46 seconds.

She anchored both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays to wins. She was the second runner for the victorious 4x400 relay.

The 4x100 relay included Foster, Kuecker, Chipps and Miller, and the foursome finished in 52.75 seconds.

Foster, Chipps and Miller ran on the 4x200 relay team with Freland. That foursome won with a season-best time of 1:50.67, which currently ranks third in 2A.

The winning 4x400 relay team included Schut, Miller, Kate McCarthy and Foster. The team finished with a personal-best time of 4:16.36. That time ranks second in 2A.

“Tonight was a total team effort,” Martin said. “The support we saw from teammates giving to each other across the board tonight was great to see. We finished third but we scored 147 points, which in most cases that many points wins a meet.”

The shuttle hurdle relay team also won the gold medal. The foursome of Chipps, Maybelle Smith, Kuecker and Cowman finished with a season-best time of 1:12.16. That time sits ninth in 2A.

Foster won the 200 in a personal-best time of 27.45 seconds. Chipps was the winner in the 400 hurdles with a personal-best time of 1:10.49, which currently ranks seventh in 2A.

The two runner-up finishes were in relays.

The 4x800 relay grabbed the silver medal with a season-best time of 10:47.04. That foursome included Schut, McCarthy, Jungling and White.

The distance medley relay team of Houser, Freland, Hannah McCarthy and Baylee Smith finished second with a time of 4:49.81.

“The most excited part of results tonight is we still have so much room to grow,” Martin said. “There are things here and there that need to be fine tuned and tweaked. That is a good problem to have when you are having success and seeing times continuing to drop and distances continuing to improve.”

Smith was third in the 3,000 with a time of 12:22.66, Cowman was third in the 100 hurdles in 17.4 seconds and Wagaman collected the bronze in the high jump with a leap of 4-8.

The sprint medley relay team finished third. The unit of freshman Kassidy Block, Houser, Freland and Hannah McCarthy crossed the finish line in 2:02.75.