by Ashley Miller

Wind almost blew them off the track, but that didn’t stop the PCM girls’ track team from placing third at their meet at Eddyville on April 9.
“A third-place place finish behind two schools bigger than us is pretty good,” Head Coach Bridget Martin said. “We are still battling a few injuries and sicknesses, so we didn’t have our full team again tonight, yet we went out and competed in a meet that had some great teams and finished in the top half.”
Starting off the evening were the throwing events, and in came senior Grace Telfer in shot put with a throw of 35-03, landing her first place. Telfer also got a new personal record in discus, throwing a whopping 97-04, also winning first.
Senior Rachel Peter also had an outstanding night, running a 11:39.86 in the 3000, finishing almost two minutes before second place. Peter also placed third in the 800 with a time of 2:38.42, and junior Morgan Novak came in fifth with a time of 3:06.81. In the 4×200, senior Mackenzie Clarke, juniors Emily Hugen and Ashley Van Gorp and sophomore Jayci Vos finished first with a time of 1:53.62, impressive due to weather conditions. Clarke, Hugen, Van Gorp and Peter also placed first in the distance medley with a time of 4:37.35. Freshman Baylee Smith finished third in the 1500. Smith had not run this race since the seventh grade and ran it under six minutes with a time of 5:44.07.
“I’m pretty happy with my time for my first 1500, and I hope I can just keep improving throughout the season,” Smith said.
The girls made a list of team goals earlier in the season, one of them being finishing in the top three in every meet this season. They have achieved this goal so far.
“We are very proud of how mentally tough our girls were this evening. The weather was less than ideal, but we didn’t hear a bunch of complaining. We have some tough girls,” Martin said.
The girls’ next meet is on April 16 at Guthrie Center. The girls will be preparing for the Drake Relays over the next few weeks.