Mustang boys take second in outdoor season opener

LE GRAND — If the first outdoor meet of the season is any indication, the Prairie City-Monroe boys’ track and field team is going to be much improved in 2017.

The Mustangs claimed two relay wins and placed in the top three in 13 events in the East Marshall Boys Early Bird Relays on Tuesday.

They finished second in the eight-team field with 109 points. Madrid won the meet with 169.33 points. PCM was 17 points clear of Dike-New Hartford, which finished third with 92 points.

The rest of the field included Don Bosco (64.33), Woodward Academy (62), East Marshall (56.33), Gladbrook-Reinbeck (31) and Grand View Christian (4).

The Mustangs claimed top-three finishes in four relays.

The 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays grabbed the gold. In the 4x100, senior Luke Greiner, junior Noah Anderson and sophomores Preston Van Wyk and Brayton Van Dyke stopped the clock in 46.01 seconds. The 4x200 winning team included Greiner, Van Wyk, sophomore Jarron Trausch and Anderson finished in 1 minute, 36.29 seconds.

The sprint medley relay was added to the boys’ list of events this season. The Mustangs debuted that relay in second place. The team of Greiner, Anderson, junior Noah Henkenius and Van Wyk crossed the finish line in 1:39.5.

The final relay to place in the top three was the shuttle hurdle relay. The Mustangs’ foursome of sophomore Nick Buswell, sophomore Nick Dredge, Trausch and sophomore Cole Dustin placed third with a time of 1:08.

PCM grabbed two individual runner-ups. In the 400, Henkenius collected the silver medal with a personal-best time of 54.86 seconds. Senior Chris Ellens was second in 1,600 with a time of 4:56. Ellens also placed third in the 3,200 with a personal-best time of 10:23.

The Mustangs finished third in six other individual events.

Senior Noah Clark was third in the discus with a toss of 133 feet, 5 inches. Anderson took third in the 100 in a personal-best 11.58 seconds.Van Wyk was second in the 200 with a personal-best time of 23.87 seconds and Dustin placed third in the 110 high hurdles with a personal-best time of 16.64 seconds.

The final two third-place finishes came in field events. In the long jump, Greiner was third with a leap of 19-5 1/2, while Dustin’s best mark in the high jump was 5-4 for third.

The Mustangs doubled up in the long jump, shot put and discus. Trailing Greiner in the long jump was Van Dyke in fifth with a leap of 18-7. Senior Leevi Telfer was fifth in the discus with a throw of 115-3. Telfer and Clark went 4-6 in the shot put. Telfer hit 42-4 1/2, while Clark’s best throw was 41-9.

The Mustangs compete at 5 p.m. Friday at Roland-Story.