by Ashley Miller

With the cold weather from Monday out of the way, the PCM boys’ track team was ready to compete on Tuesday, April 11, at the Pella Christian Invitational. The team finished with three first place, two second place and five third place finishes as well as many season bests and personal records. They ended the night in second with 134.33 points. Less than five points separated the Mustangs from first place Lynnville-Sully, who finished with 138.

Senior Chris Ellens ran a personal best of 10:09.38, finishing in first place. Five seconds separated him and second place Grant Dunsbergen of Pella Christian. Sophomore Preston Van Wyk was part of the two other wins for the Mustangs. He crossed the finish line at 11.95 seconds in the 100 meter dash. Senior Luke Greiner, Van Wyk, sophomore Brayton Van Dyke and junior Noah Anderson made up the winning 4×100 team. They finished with a time of 46.17.

“It felt great [to PR] there were a lot of great runners there and I had a blast competing against them,” Ellens said. “My goal for the season is to keep focusing on State and districts, thats the goal.”

Sophomore Cole Dustin ran a personal best time in the 110 high hurdles of 15.2 seconds. As of press time, he is first in conference. With a season best throw of 144 feet, eleven inches, senior Noah Clark took home the second place title in the discus. Two PCM runners placed in the top three in the 200 meter dash. Anderson and junior Noah Henkenius finished second and third with times of 23.94 and 24.58, respectively.

Greiner, Henkenius, Van Wyk and Anderson made up the 4×200 team. In the last handoff of the race Van Wyk stepped on the back of Anderson’s shoe, taking it off. Anderson would finish the race with one shoe on and cross only three hundredths of a second behind third place Pleasantville with a time of 1:37.25.

That same team would take third place in the sprint medley with a time of 1:41.17. Ellens had a PR in the 1600 meter run, crossing at 4:44.20 behind two Pella runners. Greiner had a season best jump in the long jump, landing third place at 19 feet, 5.75 inches. The final third place finish for the Mustangs was senior Leevi Telfer in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 4.5 inches.