PCM girls place second in HOIC track meet

JEFFERSON — The PCM girls’ track and field team won three events, finished second in two others and piled up plenty of third- and fourth-place tallies at the Heart of Iowa Conference meet on May 1.

It all added up to a second-place finish for the Class 2A Mustangs as they scored 104 points after 16 events. The meet was stopped after the 400-meter hurdles due to lightning.

Class 3A North Polk won the girls’ conference title with 129 points. Class 3A Gilbert was third with 91, and the remaining top five included Greene County (85) and Roland-Story (61).

“Although we weren’t able to get the whole meet in, we were in second place when the meet was called off,” PCM coach Bridget Martin said. “The Heart of Iowa is a tough track and field conference, so to be in the top two in that meet is a huge accomplishment.”

The PCM boys continued to compete without top sprinter Noah Anderson. Junior Payton Strovers also missed the meet because of an illness, and junior Preston Van Wyk was in just two events as he works his way back from a leg injury.

The Mustangs finished in eighth place with 41 points. Class 3A Gilbert won the team title with 135, 3A Nevada was second with 118 and 3A North Polk finished third with 114.5.

No other HOIC boys’ team scored more than 67.5 points.

PCM claimed three wins on the night. Freshman Margo Chipps won her first HOIC title in the 400-meter hurdles, and the Mustangs claimed wins in the sprint medley and 4x200 relays.

Chipps won the 400 hurdles with a personal-best time of 1 minute, 8.39 seconds. Chipps also led off the sprint medley relay and was joined by sophomores Lexi Kuecker and Sierra Foster and junior Payton Schut, and they finished in 1 minute, 55.19 seconds.

The 4x200 relay team included Foster, Kuecker, junior Morgan Uhlenhopp and senior Ashley Miller. That foursome won the gold with a time of 1:50.37.

Schut claimed the silver medal in the 400 dash. She finished that race in a personal-best 1:02.13.

The 4x800 relay team also was second. That foursome included junior Sayde White, sophomores Kate McCarthy and Klaire Jungling and senior Baylee Smith, and they finished in 10:54.93.

Miller was third in both the 100 and 200. She had times of 13.80 and 26.91 seconds, respectively.

Junior Megan Cowman was third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.05 and Kuecker grabbed the bronze medal in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 15 feet, 7 inches.

The distance medley relay placed third.

That team included freshman Emma Houser, Kuecker, sophomore Hannah McCarthy and Smith, and the finished the race in a season-best time of 4:42.04.

Four Mustangs were fourth individually and another finished in fifth.

Chipps was fourth in the 100 hurdles in a season-best 17.21 seconds, Smith was fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:42.08, Foster was fourth in the 200 with a time of 27.57 and freshman Celeste Wagaman was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 4-10.

Kate McCarthy finished fifth in the 400. She was clocked in 1:05.71.

Van Wyk had the best finish for the PCM boys. He was second in the 100 with a time of 11.85 seconds.

Senior Blake Lee was fourth in 54.28, and junior Isaac Telfer finished fourth in the shot put with a toss of 44-2 1/2.

Three relays were fourth for the PCM boys.

The Mustangs were fourth in the 4x200, distance medley and the shuttle hurdle relay.

The 4x200 relay team was fourth and the foursome included juniors Wes Cummings, Brayton Van Dyke and

Jarron Trausch and Van Wyk. They finished in 1:35.46.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of juniors Nick Buswell, Nick Dredge, Trausch and Nigel Sperfslage finished fourth in 1:05.94.

The distance medley relay was fourth with a time of 3:55.39.

That team featured freshmen Jacob Van Winkle and Connor Bennett, senior Noah Hirayama and freshman Beau Webb.