by Ashley Miller
“There seems to be a similar story for our team,” Head Coach Bridget Martin said. “We continue to perform against larger schools and continue to place in the top two. Placing second tonight as the only 2A school in our class tonight, I would say we performed very well.”
The PCM girls track team entered a completely 3A and 4A field on April 27 for the Tulip Time Relays and finished second in team standings with 139 points. Pella placed first with 168 points, and Oskaloosa took home third with 107. The Mustangs placed in the top three in 13 of 19 events.
Starting off the wins in the field events was sophomore Maddie Samson in the discus. She threw a lifetime personal best distance of 113 feet, six inches. As of press-time she ranks 16th in Class 2A. Freshman Lexi Kuecker placed first in the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, two inches. Sophomore Megan Cowman ran a personal record of 17.28 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles, placing first.
Two relays took home first. The 4×400 team of senior Jayci Vos, sophomore Paytan Schut, freshman Kate McCarthy and senior Rachel Stafford crossed the finish line at 4:14.71. Pella finished nine seconds behind them in second. Freshman Sayde White, sophomores Sloan Hjortshoj and Kirstin Ives and Stafford made up the 4×800 team; they finished at 10:25.22.
Stafford also had a silver medal performance in the 800 meter run. She crossed the finish line at 2:29.77. White finished second in the 1500 with a season best time of 5:31.33. The shuttle hurdle team of Cowman, Kuecker, sophomore Morgan Uhlenhopp and Vos finished second at 1:12. Freshman Sierra Foster, junior Ashley Miller, Vos and Schut made up the second place sprint medley team; they crossed at 1:58.57. Miller, Schut and Vos would join Uhlenhopp for the distance medley. They finished second with a time of 4:34.77. The final silver medal finish for the Mustangs was the 4×100. The team of Foster, Kuecker, freshman Meghan Kinnamon and Miller crossed the finish line at 54.64 seconds.
The two third place finishes for the Mustangs were Miller in the 100 meter dash and Foster in the 400 meter dash. Miller crossed at 13.57 seconds, and Foster finished at 1:05.38.
“As we approach the conference and state qualifying meet, we are trying to fine tune a few things and make some decisions,” Martin said. “We are trying to figure out how to maximize points as a team and are looking for girls to step up at this crucial part of the season. We had a lot of girls do some nice things tonight, and we are excited about the depth we are showing as we approach the big meets at the end of the season.”
The next meet for both the boys and girls track teams is tonight in Newton for the Cardinal Relays. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m.
