by Taylor Burns

On April 21, the PCM girls’ track team had not-so-great weather at their track meet in Montezuma, so they were determined to run in better weather on April 23 as they traveled to South Tama High School. The Mustangs placed in third with 103 points, being 20 behind Grinnell and 50 behind South Tama, both 3A schools.
“The girls did a nice job on tired legs,” Head Coach Bridget Martin said. “We had a tough practice on Wednesday night, yet the girls came out and gave it all they had.”
The running events started off with freshman Baylee Smith in the 3000-meter run. She finished in third place with a time of 11:58.06, which is her new personal record. Next up was the 4×800-meter relay, which consisted of senior Rachel Peter, sophomore Rachel Stafford, freshman Amaya Hartson and junior Morgan Novak; the team also scored in third place with a new season-best time of 10:55.13. Freshman Ashley Miller ran the 100-meter dash in 14.25, which is her new season best. She finished in fifth place. The next race in the line up was the distance medley. Sophomore Jayci Vos, senior Mackenzie Clarke, junior Ashley Van Gorp and Peter ran their season-best time of 4:31.91, which got them second place. Sophomore Tatum Schnug ran her season-best time of 69.23 in the 400-meter dash. She was given sixth place. Sophomore Mackenzie Messick ran the 100-meter hurdles and got her new personal record of 18.83. Novak also ran a season best and personal record in the same race with a time of 21.64. Junior Emily Hugen competed in the 200-meter dash and placed second with a new season-best time of 28.41.
“We have some big goals for the big meets in May, which means we have to continue to work hard now,” Martin said. “It is all part of the process that we talk about as a team.”
The girls will run tonight, April 30, at Pella High School at 5 p.m.