by Gunnar Davis

Leading up to the Heart of Iowa Conference track meet on May 2 at Gilbert, both the PCM Mustangs girls’ and boys’ track teams had confidence and momentum. The girls consistently finished around the top in all of their meets so far this year, and the boys were just coming off a win at their home meet. But the teams had two very different nights, as the girls placed third with 107 points, and the boys finished eighth with 58 points.
The girls had a plethora of top-three finishes, and they had three finishes worthy of gold medals. Junior Jayci Vos continued her excellent year in the 400 lows, earning first place with her time of 1 minute, 7.1 seconds. The 4×200 team of Vos, seniors Emily Hugen and Ashley Van Gorp and sophomore Ashley Miller also placed first in 1:51.75. Rounding out the gold medals was the 4×400 team, consisting of Vos, juniors Tatum Schnug and Rachel Stafford and freshman Maddie Samson. They ran the race in a time of 4:16.48.
Vos also placed second in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.68, and Van Gorp placed second in the long jump, with a leap of 16 feet, 2.5 inches. Stafford finished third in both the 400 and 800 in times of 1:03.62 and 2:28.51, respectively. PCM also finished third in the 4×100 with a time of 53.35. The Mustangs ran Schnug, Miller and freshmen Avery Stock and Delaney Clarke. Rounding out the top-three finishes for the ladies was the sprint medley team of Miller, Stock, Hugen and Van Gorp. They ran a 1:58.60.
“I thought the conference meet went well, lots of girls were breaking their PRs,” Van Gorp said. “It was a fun night as a team and I felt our team was bonded more than ever. Everyone was cheering each other on to make our team even stronger.”
The boys finished eighth with 58 points, but it was tight in the standings, as they were 11 points away from fifth place. Their top finishes were all third-place finishes in individual events.
Junior Chris Ellens earned bronze in both the 3200- and 1600-meter races, running a 10:33.65 and a 4:55.32, respectively. Senior Austin Sneller ran a 16.15 in the 110 high hurdles, and Noah Clark threw a 132-01 on a windy day in the discus.
“I thought the meet went well,” Ellens said. “We may not have placed high as a team, but we were competitive, and that alone is a big bound from last year. Now what we have to do is try our hardest at districts and make it to State.”
Both Mustangs teams will be back in action tonight, May 12, at the district meet in Van Meter, with field events starting at 4 p.m.
“We are looking for more PRs this week, and our further goal is to bring lots and lots of girls to state,” Van Gorp said. “We have some events that have potential to go that haven’t went to state recently. We’re hoping to change that and bring those events and girls.”