PCM, Baxter find early-season success at Pekin indoor meet

PELLA — Track and field teams from Prairie City-Monroe and Baxter found some success during their first indoor meet of the season on Friday night.

Both Bolts’ teams and the Mustang girls all competed at the annual Pekin Indoor Meet at Central College.

PCM scored three wins on the day, while Baxter’s Will Clapper was victorious in the shot put. Baxter’s girls took third in a pair of relays.

The Mustangs won two relays and Celeste Wagaman grabbed the gold in the high jump.

Wagaman won the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 8 inches. Multiple jumpers hit 4-8 but Wagaman won on fewer misses.

PCM won the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 42.53 seconds. The team was made up of Lexi Kuecker, Kate McClellan, Chelsea Bird and Belle Hudnut.

The Mustangs won the final event of the day, claiming first in the 4x400 relay. That foursome included Payton Schut, Margo Chipps, Sierra Foster and Kate McCarthy and they finished in 4:32.08.

All four runners went around the indoor track twice in less than 70 seconds. Chipps turned in a 65.45-second split.

Chipps had the next best finish, placing second in the 55 low hurdles. She was clocked at 9.93 seconds. Morgan Uhlenhopp took fifth in the event, finishing in 10.65.

Uhlenhopp was part of two other top-four relay teams.

The 4x200 relay, which included Schut, Foster, Uhlenhopp and Regan Freland, finished third in 1 minute, 57.49 seconds. The shuttle relay team of Schut, Freland, Uhlenhopp and Emma Houser were fourth in 31.86 seconds.

Kuecker also finished fourth individually in the long jump, claiming a top mark of 13-7 1/2.

The Mustangs’ distance medley relay team also placed sixth. The relay, which went 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600, included Taryn Steenhoek, Chelsea Bird, Delaney Baird and Klaire Jungling, and they finished in 16:50.02.

For Baxter’s boys, Clapper won the shot put with throw of 51-6 1/4.

The Bolts also were second in the 4x800 relay and sixth in the 4x400 relay.

The 4x800 relay team included Logan Berg, Ian Thomson, Cole Damman and Rory Heer and the foursome finished in 9:23.10.

The 4x400 relay featured Heer, Damman, Berg and Ben Huff, and they finished in 4:03.3.

Baxter’s girls were third in the 4x800 and shuttle relays.

Lauren Ratliff, Holly Jessen, Kailee Conradi and Brenna Thomson ran in the 4x800, and the foursome finished in 11:43.

The shuttle relay included Rachel Kenney, Maddie Pierce, Maggie Schabilion and Andrea Brown. That group crossed the finish line in 31.61 seconds.

Amber Weltha and Kaylin Van Ryswyk both competed in the shot put, and the Bolt duo placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Weltha placed fourth with a toss of 30-5 and Van Ryswyk was fifth in 30-2 3/4.

The 4x200 relay team of Kenney, Pierce, Schabilion and Emily Nation placed fifth in 2:00.85.

PCM’s girls next compete in the ISU Indoor at 3 p.m. on March 18.

Both Baxter teams will compete in the Colfax-Mingo Indoor Invitational at 4:30 p.m. on March 21.