For the first meet of the season, the gloomy and cold weather the PCM girls’ track team ran in was to be expected. The girls still turned out seven first place finishes as well as two second and three third places finishes to finish the night. Despite the meet not being officially scored, the Mustangs finished the night in first with 106 points.
“Although we can’t control the weather, we feel like we did a great job controlling things like our attitude and effort tonight,” head coach Bridget Martin said. “As the conditions weren’t ideal to compete in tonight, they were similar to the conditions we have been training in all season. The girls showed us tonight they are mentally tough. We are very happy with the times and distances we recorded this evening. We know as our training progresses with the season, we will see the times and distances continue to improve, but we are happy with where we are at this point in the season.”
Four relays crossed the finish line first. The shuttle hurdle relay team of junior Megan Cowman, sophomore Lexi Kuecker, junior Morgan Uhlenhopp and freshman Margo Chipps finished with a time of 1:13.90. Chipps would join sophomores Sierra Foster and Hannah McCarthy and senior Ashley Miller for the first place 4×200 team. They finished at 1:52.44, which was faster than any 4×200 time recorded last season. Foster and Miller along with sophomore Kate McCarthy and junior Paytan Schut made up the winning 4×400 team that finished at 4:27.24. The 4×800 team of senior Baylee Smith, sophomore Klaire Jungling, K. McCarhy and Schut crossed in first place with a time of 11:18.38.
The three open event wins for the Mustangs were Schut in the 400 meter dash and Miller in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Schut crossed at 65.96 seconds, and Miller finished at 13.21 and 27.7, respectively. The Mustangs went 1-2 in both of these races. Uhlenhopp finished in second in the 400 meter dash with a time of 68.93, and Foster finished second in the 200 meter dash at 28.08.
The sprint medley team of Kuecker, freshman Kassidy Block, sophomore Regan Freland and H. McCarhy was the final relay to finish in the top-three. They crossed at 2:01.04. Freland also finished third in the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 10 inches. Chips finished third in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:14.99.
“We had some outstanding performances for March,” Martin said. “We are very excited about how well-rounded of a team we are shaping up to be.”
The girls’ next meet is tonight, April 5 in Eddyville. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m.
