by Ashley Miller

“We had a lot of great performances tonight and ended the night second to a tough West Marshall team. It was exciting to see numerous relays made significant drops in times as well as multiple individual events. It is always fun to perform well at home, and it was nice to see our seniors perform so well for the last time on their home track,” said Head Coach Bridget Martin.

Wind pushed the PCM girls track team into second place at the PCM Girls Classic on April 24. West Marshall took home first with a total of 188 team points. The Mustangs placed first in four events, second in six and third in five, finishing with 153 points.

Starting off wins for the night was the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of sophomore Megan Cowman, freshman Lexi Kuecker, sophomore Morgan Uhlenhopp and senior Jayci Vos finished with a season best time of 1:09.96. Vos would go on to win the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 66.75 seconds, beating South Tama senior and Drake Relays qualifier Allison Yuska.

Sophomore Paytan Schut won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:26.02. Senior Rachel Stafford would come in right after her with a time of 2:26.55, placing second. Stafford, Schut, Vos and freshman Kate McCarthy had a gold medal performance in the 4×400 with a season best time of 4:11.86.

Sophomore Kirstin Ives crossed the finish line in second for the 3000 with a time of 12:42.72. Junior Ashley Miller placed second in both the 100 and 200 meter dash with times of 12.77 and 27.41 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Maddie Samson was a foot and a half off of first place with a throw of 111 feet, six inches. The silver medal performance for the Mustangs was the 4×800. The team of Schut, freshmen Sayde White and Hailey Schutte and Stafford finished at 10:17.92.

The Mustangs had five third place finishes. White also took home third in the 1500 meter run with a time of 5:43.21. Cowman placed third in the 100 meter hurdles at 17.09. The 4×200 team of Miller, freshmen Hannah McCarthy, Meghan Kinnamon and Kate McCarthy finished with a time of 1:57.15. H. McCarthy, Kinnamon, K. McCarthy would join sophomore Sloan Hjortshoj for the distance medley. They crossed with a time of 4:47.15. Freshmen Sierra Foster, Kuecker, Miller and Vos made up the sprint medley team. They finished with a season best time of 1:55.76.

Both the girls and boys will be in Newton tonight, Thursday, May 4 for the Cardinal Relays. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m.

“As we continue to work through the season, we are excited to see our times dropping and our distances improving,” Martin said. “Our goal all season has been to be our best in May, and we are excited for what is to come for this team for the rest of the season.”