July 16, 2025

PCM girls dominate hurdles, distance events at HOIC meet

Mustangs finish third in conference track and field meet

By Troy Hyde

PCM junior Belle Hudnut helped the Mustangs' shuttle hurdle team to a win at the Heart of Iowa Conference meet in Monroe on Thursday. (Troy Hyde/Newton News file photo)

MONROE — Margo Chipps and Chelsea Bird dominated the hurdle events, Paige Steenhoek and Tiffani Koonce were big point scorers in a pair of distance events and PCM’s girls track and field team placed third in the Heart of Iowa Conference coed meet on Thursday.

The Mustangs, who hosted the event, scored 99 points and claimed eight top-three finishes. Roland-Story won the team title with 130 points and Nevada was the runner-up with 122.

The rest of the seven-team field included South Hamilton (83), Greene County (80), West Marshall (56) and Saydel (15).

PCM sophomore Paige Steenhoek won the 3,000-meter run and took third in the 1,500 at the conference meet in Monroe on Thursday. (Troy Hyde/Newton News file photo)

Chipps scored 23.5 of the Mustangs’ 99 points and Bird accounted for 15.5. Chipps won the 100- and 400-meter hurdles and anchored the shuttle hurdle relay to a victory.

Chipps won the 100 hurdles in 16.8 seconds and Bird finished second in 17.4. She was first in the 400 hurdles in 1 minute, 10.82 seconds and Delaney Baird finished fourth in 1:14.66.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Belle Hudnut, Bird, Kate McClellan and Chipps grabbed the gold medal with a time of 1:10.51.

Steenhoek and Koonce both scored 16 points.

They started their night with a 1-2 finish in the 3,000 as Steenhoek won it in 12:18.69 and Koonce was second in 12:38.79. In the 1,500, Koonce finished second with a season-best time of 5:38.53 and Steenhoek was third in 5:43.68.

PCM freshman Tiffani Koonce, left, finished second in both the 1,500- and 3,000-meter runs at the HOIC meet in Monroe on Thursday. (Troy Hyde/Newton News file photo)

The Mustangs were top six in a handful of individual events.

Bird (14.2) and Ryan Bennett (14.21) were 4-5 in the 100, Bennett (29.87) finished sixth in the 200 and Sophia Steenhoek was sixth in the 400 with a season-best time of 1:08.68.

The other top-six individual finishes came from Celeste Wagaman in the high jump and Riley DeVore in the 800. Wagaman was fifth in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 8 inches and DeVore finished sixth in the 800 in 2:48.19.

PCM was fourth in the 4x100 and distance medley relays. In the 4x100, Chipps, Baird, Bennett and Bird finished in 53.7 and the distance medley relay team of Hayleigh Spray, Reece Palm, Elle Davis and Jillian Fairbanks finished in 5:04.95.