by Logan Gilman

The Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference track meet was held on May 11, at Saydel High School. The PCM girls went in with high hopes of a top finish after their conference title just a season ago, while the boys were looking to improve on their ninth place finish from last year. The girls didn’t win this year but did well, finishing in fourth place with 85 points. The boys also left Saydel feeling good about themselves, after they finished in seventh place out of 10 teams with 40.5 points.
The boys had no first- or second-place finishes at the meet, but they did have two third-place finishers. Senior Ricky Reeve landed in third in the high jump, coming down with a bound of 18-08. Junior Logan Gilman finished third in the discus with a throw of 130-06. Senior Skyler Koder scored points in all three of his events on the night. The senior latched onto a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5-10. Koder finished in sixth place in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.49. The 110-meter shuttle hurdle team finished in fourth place with a time of 1:02.83. The team consisted of Reeve, Koder, senior Luke Pendroy and junior Austin Sneller. The distance medley team also ran well, finishing in fifth place with a time of 4:03.50. This team was filled out by sophomore Luke Greiner, Reeve, junior Tyler Dredge and senior Maverick McAtee.
Pendroy said, “The team really improved a lot from where we were in the beginning of the year. We set some personal records and really worked hard. It was nice to get seventh at conference and improve from our ninth-place finish from last year.”
The girls had a plethora of top finishes. The night started off well for the Lady ‘Stangs, as senior Rachel Peter finished in first place in the 3000 with a time of 11.16.90. Peter also finished sixth in the 400-meter dash, clocking in at 1:06.38. The distance medley team crossed the finish line in first place with a time of 4:35.58. The team consisted of senior Mackenzie Clarke, junior Emily Hugen, freshman Baylee Smith and sophomore Rachel Stafford. The 4×400 team finished in second place with a time of 4:13.71, and the team was made up of junior Ashley Van Gorp, sophomore Jayci Vos, Stafford and Peter. The fatal four-way of Vos, Hugen, Van Gorp and Clarke had a big night, as they finished second in the 4×200 and fifth in the 4×100. They ran times of 1:52:02 and 53:20, respectively. Van Gorp also did well as an individual, finishing in third place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.77. Stafford ran well in the open 800-meter run, finishing in third place with a 2:35.28 time. In the mile, the Mustangs had two girls place, with Peter and Smith coming in at third and fifth with times of 5:03.65 and 5:39.02, respectively. Vos also finished second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:08.59. Senior Grace Telfer did well in both shot and discus. Telfer placed fourth in discus, launching it at 103-05. Telfer finished fifth in the shot put with a heave of 35-07.
Head Girls’ Track Coach Bridget Martin said, “The Heart of Iowa is a tremendous track and field conference, and of the ten teams included, we have the smallest team…Although we had hoped for a little bit higher place, placing fourth place out of 10 teams in a tough conference like that, with the size of our team, our girls should be pretty proud of themselves.”