by Ashley Miller

Over the course of spring break, the PCM girls’ and boys’ track teams participated in indoor meets. The Lady Stangs’ indoor season is only comprised of these two meets, but promising times were clocked and a successful season was previewed at each. The same went for the boys, who only competed in one meet over the course of break.

The first meet was in Pella at Central College’s indoor track for the Pekin Indoor Invitational on March 9. Despite missing a large portion of both teams because of spring break, the boys’ finished the night with three wins and three second-place finishes.

Senior Noah Anderson, juniors Payton Strovers, Cole Dustin, Wes Cummings, Jarron Trausch and Preston Van Wyk, and freshmen Connor Bennett and Jacob Van Winkle made up the California Mile team. They finished in first with a time of 3 minutes, 22.89 seconds. Strovers, Cummings, Van Wyk and Anderson were also a part of the winning 4×200 team, which clocked in at 1:37.65. The final win for the boys was in the 55-meter shuttle relay. The team of Strovers, Dustin, Van Wyk and Anderson finished in 26.89 seconds.

Strovers and Dustin also grabbed silver medals in two open events. Dustin finished the 55-meter hurdles at 8.72, and Strovers landed at 20 feet, one-half inch in the long jump.

The 4×400 was the final event to medal. The second-place team of Cummings, Van Winkle, Anderson and Van Wyk finished in 3:52.08.

The girls had four top-three finishes.

“We were very impressed with the desire to succeed and work ethic that was put forth. It is always great to get that first meet jitters out of the way and get a starting point for the season. We are excited to see where the season will go from here,” head coach Bridget Martin said.

There was only one first place finish that night; the distance medley team (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) of sophomore Kate McCarthy, senior Baylee Smith and juniors Paytan Schut and Kirstin Ives finished first with a time of 14:54.00. Schut and K. McCarthy joined sophomores Sierra Foster and Hannah McCarthy for the 4×400. The race was close, H. McCarthy finished neck-in-neck with the first place team crossing with a time of 4:28.50.

There were two third place finishes for the Mustangs. Freshman Celeste Wagaman in the high jump with already with a personal record of 4’10”. The 4×200 team of freshman Margo Chipps, senior Ashley Miller, sophomore Meghan Kinnamon and H. McCarthy finished with a time of 2:01.20.

Later on that following Monday, March 12, the girls’ team picked up and traveled to Ames for the Iowa State High School Girls Classic at Iowa State’s LIED Center. This meet is the largest indoor high school meet in the country with over 40 teams in attendance.

The Mustangs had four events place in the top 30. The 4×400 team placed the highest with a third place finish out of 44 non-invitational teams and an 11th place finish out of 58 teams overall. The team of Schut, K. McCarthy, Miller and Foster finished at 4:24.16. Schut, sophomore Sayde White, Ives and Smith placed 18th out of 52 teams in the 4×800 with a time of 11:07.83. The sprint medley team of H. McCarthy, Miller, Foster and Chipps finished 23rd out of 76 teams with a time of 2:03.72.

Junior Megan Cowman and Chipps went 21st and 30th in the 60 meter hurdles, respectively. Cowman finished at 10.39 seconds and Chipps crossed at 10.63.

The Mustangs began their outdoor season Tuesday, March 27 at Albia, but their next meet will be held at home for the PCM Co-Ed Invitational on Tuesday, April 3. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m.