by Ashley Miller

Both the boys’ and girls’ PCM track teams set off to Newton for the Cardinal Relays on May 5, and the night was full of personal records and season bests. The Lady ‘Stangs tied for second with CMB with a total of 136 points. Newton came in first with 158. For the boys, Lynnville-Sully placed first with 111. The Mustangs were a ways behind with 82 points, which landed them fourth.
Starting off the night for the girls was senior Ashley Van Gorp in the long jump. She came in first with a leap of 15 feet, eight-and-a-half inches. Sophomore Paige Wood threw 33-00.5 in the shot put, landing third place. Rounding up the field events for the Mustangs was senior Kiara Kappelmann, who placed second in the discus with a throw of 102-4.
The girls also faired well in the open events. Senior Emily Hugen ran a third-place time of  13.73 seconds in the 100. She also joined freshman Delaney Clarke in the 200; they ran times of 28.45 and 28.88, which landed them second and third, respectively. Freshman Maddie Samson placed third in the 400. She ran a time of 1:08.25. In the 1500, freshman Kirstin Ives ran a personal record of 5:29.57, placing fourth. Junior Jayci Vos grabbed another first-place finish in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:07.47. Freshman Megan Cowman placed third and ran a PR of 17.58 in the 100 hurdles.
Once again, the Mustangs dominated the relays. The first win of the night was the 4×800. The team of freshman Paytan Schut, sophomore Baylee Smith, Ives and senior Morgan Novak ran a time of 10:42.98, a PR by 20 seconds. Vos, Van Gorp and juniors Tatum Nearmyer and Rachel Stafford made up the winning distance medley team. They crossed the finish line at a season-best time of 4:26.91. Vos and Van Gorp joined Hugen and sophomore Ashley Miller for the 4×200. They finished in first with a season-best time of 1:50.2. The sprint medley team of Clarke, freshman Avery Stock, Hugen and Stafford crossed the finish line in first with a season-best time of 1:57.38. Finishing up the night for the girls was the 4×400. Vos, Nearmyer, Van Gorp and Stafford ran a season-best time of 4:13.14, placing first.
“We started the night off great with a win in the 4×800, and they lowered their time by almost 20 seconds, which set the tone for the rest of the night,” Head Coach Lindsey Cunningham said. “We are very excited with where we are at right now and want to continue to get PRs as we go into districts week. Our team is doing a
great job working hard and supporting each other, which was very evident tonight all around the track.”
Junior Noah Clark started the boys off for the night. He won the discus with a throw of 139-3. Junior Chris Ellens also had an eventful night, as he came in second in the 3200 with a time of 10:31.61, then took home the gold in the 1600 with a personal record of 4:53.96. Senior Austin Sneller came in first in the 110 high hurdles with a PR of 15.95.
The Mustangs did well in the relays, as well. The 4×200 team of juniors Luke Griener, freshman Preston VanWyk, sophomore Noah Henkenius and senior Tyler Dredge came in first with a season-best time of 1:36.33. Griener, Dredge and VanWyk joined sophomore Noah Anderson for the 4×100; the team crossed the line in first with a season-best time of 45.17. The shuttle hurdle relay team of freshmen Cole Dustin, Nick Buswell and Jarron Trausch and Sneller placed third. They ran a season-best time of 1:05.52. VanWyk, Anderson and Ellens were joined by freshman Wes Cummings for the distance medley. The team ran a season-best time of 3:54.76, which landed them third.
The Mustangs will travel to Van Meter tonight, Thursday, May 12, for districts. Both teams will compete to send some events to State.