Panthers barely bucked at home by Fillies

Inching closer and closer to full health, the Creston girls track and field squad was narrowly defeated in team points by Shenandoah at the Lady Panther Relays Monday.

The scene was set with overcast skies Monday afternoon. Soon enough, the wind swept over the entire sports complex, leaving plenty of the competitors red in the face, running in place and hovering together for warmth.

It wasn't a good day to forget your warm gear.

The Fillies showcased metal toughness in outlasting the Panthers at the end of the night 116 to 111.5 team points.

Where Shenandoah really outpaced Creston was the longer distance individual open events, where the Fillies picked up points from two runners in each the 800, 1,500 and 3,000.

Shenandoah took the top two spots in the 800 meter run where Creston freshman Emma Hanson grabbed third place in a time of 2:44.61.

Hanson also ran a leg on the winning 4x800 team that features three freshmen, Hanson, Brittany Linch and MaKenna Hudson.

“She (Hanson) ran a good leadoff leg ... She ran aggressively. That’s what we’ve worked on," Creston coach Clay Arnold said.

Brielle Baker is the fourth leg of that 4x800 group. She earned first in the 1,500 with a gritty effort in the wind, finishing in 5:38.90. The Fillies swiped second and third in that race.

Creston didn't enter a runner in the 3,000, while Shenandoah picked up 14 more team points with the top two finishers. Claire Campbell picked up 18 points herself for the Fillies with top two finishes in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000.

Arnold knows that Shenandoah's victory came down to the individual events, but was quick to credit the Fillies girls and their coach, Jon Skillern.

“He put an excellent lineup together tonight to beat us," Arnold said.

Whereas the Fillies stepped up, the Panthers had some issues maintaining their strengths in the frigid conditions.

“It comes down to mental toughness," Arnold said. "You’ve got many variables out there, it just happened to be a cold variable.”

The Panthers did still perform strongly in all of the relays, winning the aforementioned 4x800, the 4x100 with Rachel Shepherd, Kiersten Latham, Kesia Stewart and Cayla Maitlen, the 4x200 with the same runners as the 4x100 but with Allivea Skarda inserted for Stewart, the 4x400, and the sprint medley, which they won by four-plus seconds.

Leaving no doubt in anyone's mind about their capabilities, the Panther field athletes continued their strong run as of late.

Hannah and Abbi Hood and Faith Wilson all posted season bests in the discus.

Hannah took the top spot with a throw of 109 feet and 5 inches, besting Shenandoah's Logan Hughes by more than a foot. Wilson grabbed third with a throw of 94 feet and 6 inches.

Hood threw the shot put 41 feet and 9.5 inches to be tops in that event too, with Wilson garnering fifth with a throw of 31 feet and 1 inch. Arnold was just as happy with the youngest Hood, for her season best discus throw and performance in the shot.

Creston scored a winner in the high jump with Breanna Wallace with a leap of 5 feet and an inch. Arnold noted that Wallace just narrowly missed clearing two inches higher in her first-place showing.

Wallace also ran in the 200 meter dash and provided a strong leg in the 4x400 race that Creston (Saige Rice, Wallace, Jesse Vicker and MaKenna Hudson), won in 4:37.89.

“They ran tough. They’ve got a lot of good girls over there."

Putting together a cumulative steady effort will be key for the Panthers going forward.

“We weren’t consistent," Arnold said. "We’d do something good here then we’d do something less than average here.”

Along with providing critical efforts in the relays, Saige Rice impressed Arnold with her first varsity attempts in the high jump, where she cleared 4 feet, 6 inches to get Creston some team points.

"I'm so insanely proud of her," Arnold noted.

Hudson took third in the long jump with a season-best leap of 14 feet and 8.5 inches.

With the Panthers still trying to regain health, girls are working their way back into shape slowly but surely. Wallace is one of those girls. Vicker, a returning state-qualifier as a sophomore, competed for the first time this season and was on the Panthers' top-place 4x400 team.

Still yet, the Panthers await the return of of junior Stephanie Hemsworth to the fold.

“We’ve got a ton of girls that have lost a lot of training," Arnold said. "It’s going to be impossible to get them caught up to where they could have been.”

Creston honored seniors Hannah Hood and Shepherd alongside their families around the end of the evening.

Instead, the focus is pushing them as far as they can go.

The next step in that process is mixing up the lineups a bit at Lewis Central today, (Tuesday).

The Panthers won't be as concerned with trying to win a team title so much as mix up some spots, put some relay girls in some individual events, and seek to find more arrangements that could prove beneficial down the line.

UP NEXT — Creston will aim for improvement at Lewis Central today, (Tuesday).

Strong area performances

While Creston took second in the big school portion of the meet, Mount Ayr won yet another outdoor team title by scoring 128 points, easily thwarting second place Nodaway Valley, 87 points, and third place Martensdale-St. Marys, 82 points.

"They ran really well a good team effort on a cold evening they did a nice job of banding together and overcoming, very mental," Mount Ayr coach Deb Larsen said. "Being together as a team and running for each other makes it fun."

The Raiderettes competed closely with Nodaway Valley in several sprints and relays.
 Bailey Anderson was a part of several lead -of-the-pack finishes, one in the 100 meter dash, which she ran in 13.40 seconds for first, the 400 meter dash in which she took second and she was the anchor leg of the 4x100 team with Megan Warin, Alyssa Johnson and Caylie Hickman.

Sara Winemiller and Hannah Jackson competed well for the Raiderettes in the field events, placing first and second in the shot put and fourth and fifth in the discus respectively.

MacKenzie Shields continued her high-hopping ways with a win in the high jump, bouncing 5 feet high.

UP NEXT — Mount Ayr will look to continue its winning ways Thursday at Central Decatur.

Wolverines show well at CHS

Nodaway Valley's girls picked up third place among the smaller classes at Monday's meet.

Rachel Scheel and Sadie Marnin were the top two finishers in the 200 meter dash while Reagan Weinheimer took third in the 400 meter dash and first in the 1,500 meters in 5.46.49.

"My sprinters, I was pretty happy with them," Nodaway Valley coach Brett Welsch said. "Need to work on handoffs yet, there was a couple shaky ones I noticed. Overall considering tonight I’m pretty happy; waiting for a warmer day to see exactly where we’re at."

The 4x200 unit, which includes Marnin, Paige McElfish, Joslyn Christensen and Riley Lonsdale, took first in 2:02.42. The Wolverine sprint medley featured the same group minus Lonsdale and plus Scheel. They took first in 2:03.21.

UP NEXT — Nodaway Valley will compete today, (Tuesday) at Earlham.

Maroonettes just getting started

Maddie Lohmann won the small-class 3,000 and took second overall with her time of 12:06.07.

The Maroonettes put together several relays, with the 4x800 team finishing third out of five teams.

"Did a lot of good stuff lot to build on," Diagonal coach Matt Warren said. "It's a little different running on streets. Got a taste of it, just hopefully we want to peak towards the end of the year . Good place to be right now. We'll mix and match what events we’re going to do, still trying to figure it out ... I'm proud of them."

UP NEXT — Diagonal will be in competition at Central Decatur on Thursday.

Bulldogs try to warm up

Kaela Eslinger and Cortney Gross led the Orient-Macksburg track and field squad Monday, with the former coming up just short of points in both the discus and shot while grouped with the bigger schools at the event.

Gross finished seventh in the 100 and 200 meter dashes.

UP NEXT — Orient-Macksburg will compete today, (Tuesday) at Earlham.

CNA sports editor Ryan Kronberg contributed to this story.

Large school team results — 1. Shenandoah 116; 2. Creston 111.5; 3. Atlantic 81.5; 4. Clarke 41; 5. Interstate 35 22; 6. Clarinda 21.

Discus — 1. Hannah Hood, Crest, 106-08; 3. Faith Wilson, Crest, 94-6; 9. Kaela Eslinger, O-M, 80-3.

High Jump — 1. Breanna Wallace, Crest, 5-1; 4. Saige Rice, Crest, 4-6.

Long Jump — MaKenna Hudson, Crest, 14-8.5; 7. Danielle Castillo, Crest, 13-10.5.

Shot put — 1. Hannah Hood, Crest, 41-9.5; 5. Faith Wilson, Crest, 31-1; 7. Kaela Eslinger, O-M, 29-8.

800 sprint medley — 1. Creston (Kiersten Latham, Kesia Stewart, Cayla Maitlen, Brielle Baker), 2:02.97.

3000 meter run — 1. Claire Campbell, Shen, 12:02.87.

4x800 — 1. Creston (Emma Hanson, Brittany Linch, MaKenna Hudson, Brielle Baker), 11:11.18.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Clarke (Solanna Zimmerman, Ashlynn Oehlert, Chynna Beydler, Bailey Zimmerman), 1:13.97.

100 meter dash — 1. Charity Williams, Atl, 13.79; 4. Rachel Shepherd, Crest, 14.26; 5. Kesia Stewart, Crest, 14.47; 7. Cortney Gross, O-M, 14.75; 8. Katie Walter, O-M, 15.61.

1600 distance medley —1. Creston (Kiersten Latham, Allivea Skarda, Saige Rice, Breanna Wallace), 4:59.03.

400 meter dash — 1. Jessica Jackson, Shen, 1:06.35; 2. Brielle Baker, Crest, 1:06.78; 3. MaKenna Hudson, Crest, 1:07.62.

4x200 meter relay — 1. Creston (Kiersten Latham, Allivea Skarda, Rachel Shepherd, Cayla Maitlen), 1:59.79.

100 meter hurdles — 1. Bailey Zimmerman, Clarke, 16.96; 3. Danielle Castillo, Cres, 17.67; 10. Katie Walter, O-M, 20.21.

800 meter run — 1. Jessica Jackson, Shen, 2:40.69; 3. Emma Hanson, Crest, 2:44.61; 7. Jesse Vicker, Crest, 2:52.12; 11. Cameo Walker, O-M, 3:16.31; 12. Haylee Gardner, O-M, 3:21.59.

200 meter dash — 1. Karmyn Pickens, Shen, 28.9; 3. Cayla Maitlen, Crest, 29.19; 5. Kesia Stewart, Crest, 30.09; 7. Cortney Gross, O-M, 30.34; 10. Kaela Eslinger, O-M, 31.46.

400 meter hurdles — 1. Adrianna Holmes, Shen, 1:12.66; 3. Rachel Shepherd, Crest, 1:16.57; 6. Brittany Linch, 1:22.03.

1500 meter run — 1. Brielle Baker, Crest, 5:38.3; 7. Allivea Skarda, Crest, 6:30.44.

4x100 relay — 1. Creston (Rachel Shepherd, Kiersten Latham, Kesia Stewart, Cayla Maitlen), 54.58. Orient-Macksburg (Katie Walter, Haylee Gardner, Kaela Eslinger, Cortney Gross), 1:02.34.

4x400 relay — 1. Creston (Emma Hanson, Brittany Linch, MaKenna Hudson, Brielle Baker) 11:11.18.

Small school team results — 1. Mount Ayr 128; 2. Nodaway Valley 78; 3. Martensdale-St. Marys 82; 4. Stanton 44; 5. Diagonal 32; 6. Creston JV 9; 7. Clarinda Academy 3.

Discus — 1. Kylie Sherwood, MSM, 108-05; 3. Riley Lonsdale, NV, 84-0; 4. Sara Winemiller, MA, 76-0; 5. Hannah Jackson, MA, 74-4; 6. Abbi Hood, Crest JV, 73-0; 8. Cassie Lohmann, Diag, 70-10; 9. Sara Eddy, NV, 51-9; 10. Allison Norris, Diag, 49-0.

High Jump — 1. MacKenzie Shields, MA, 5-0.

Long Jump — 1. Morgan Dunn, MSM, 15-5.; 3. Ryann Martin, MA, 14-4.5; 5. Reba Lonsdale, NV, 13-7.5; 6. Jill Wallace, NV, 8-10.5.

Shot put — 1. Sara Winemiller, MA, 34-0; 2. Hannah Jackson, MA, 31-4; 3. Riley Lonsdale, NV, 29-9; 5. Abbi Hood, Crest JV, 28-9; 7. Cassie Lohmann, Diag, 27-4; 10. Allison Norris, Diag, 23-4.5; 12. Stormy France, NV, 19-3.

800 sprint medley — 1. Nodaway Valley (Paige McElfish, Joslyn Christensen, Sadie Marnin, Rachel Sheel), 2:03.21; 3. Mount Ayr (Alyssa Johnson, Samantha Stewart, Sadie Frost, Caylie Hickman), 2:08.26.

3000 meter run — 1. Maddie Lohmann, Diag, 12:06.07; 3. Elizabeth Sobotka, MA, 13:35.16; 5. Madison Van Otterloo, NV, 16:16.33; 6. Jaida Claussen, NV, 16:50.99.

4x800 — 1. Nodaway Valley (Terryn Bower, Reagan Weinheimer, Mallory Kuhns, Joslyn Christensen), 11:39.6; 2. Mount Ayr (Breanne Haley, Blair Glendenning, Kamyron Smelser, Paige Lynch), 12:03.3; 3. Diagonal (Emily Newton, Grace Hall, Erin Sobotka, Maddie Lohmann), 14:36.91.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Mount Ayr (Emma Mobley, Samantha Stewart, Megan Warin, Alyssa Johnson), 1:15.76.

100 meter dash — 1. Bailey Anderson, MA, 13.4; 2. Caylie Hickman, MA, 14.0; 6. Mallory Rhoads, NV, 15.25; 7. Sami Harris, NV, 15.5; 9. Kayla Bentley, Diag, 15.98; 11. Sydney Pantini, Crest JV, 16.43; 13. Allison Norris, Diag, 16.71.

1600 distance medley —1. Martensdale-St. Marys 5:13.08; 2. Mount Ayr (Ryann Martin, Megan Warin, Breanne Haley, Rachel Gregg), 5:16.3; 3. Nodaway Valley (Reba Lonsdale, Riley Lonsdale, Mallory Kuhns, Terryn Bower), 5:25.53; 4. Diagonal (Emily Newton, Grace Hall, Erin Sobotka, Maddie Lohmann), 5:38.03.

400 meter dash — 1. Rachel Scheel, NV, 1:04.99; 2. Bailey Anderson, MA, 1:05.96; 3. Reagan Weinheimer, NV, 1:07.16; 4 Samantha McGill, MA, 1:13.73; 7. Kayla Bentley, DIag, 1:26.84.

4x200 meter relay — 1. Nodaway Valley (Sadie Marnin, Paige McElfish, Joslyn Christensen, Riley Lonsdale), 2:02.42; 2. Mount Ayr (MacKenzie Shields, Caylie Hickman, Samantha Stewart, Sadie Frost), 2:03.99.

100 meter hurdles — 1. Alyssa Johnson, MA, 17.17; 3. Haylea England, MA, 19.71; 5. Reba Lonsdale, NV, 20.07.

800 meter run — 1. Jensen Archibald, MSM, 2:47.33; 2. Ryann Martin, MA, 2:49.46; 4. Kamyron Smelser, MA, 3:02.57; 5. Grace Hall, Diag, 3:12.53; 7. Jill Wallace, 3:20.28; 9. Jaida Claussen, NV, 3:54.26.

200 meter dash — 1. Rachel Scheel, NV, 28.71; 2. Sadie Marnin, 29.1; 3. Breanna Wallace, Crest JV, 29.16; 6. Cassie Brand, MA, 34.0; 9. Sydney Pantini, Crest JV, 35.25; 10. Allison Norris, Diag, 36.79; 11. Cassie Lohmann, Diag, 37.24.

400 meter hurdles — 1. Samantha Stewart, MA, 1:15.97; 3. Blair Glendenning, MA, 1:22.42; 5. Emily Newton, Diag, 1:31.13.

1500 meter run — 1. Reagan Weinheimer, NV, 5:46.49; 2. Maddie Lohmann, Diag, 6:02.14; 3. Erin Sobotka, 6:16.95; 4. Mallory Kuhns, NV, 6:18.21; 5. Rachel Gregg, MA, 6:19.09; 7. Gabby Hunke, MA, 6:36.67.

4x100 relay — 1. Mount Ayr (Megan Warin, Alyssa Johnson, Caylie Hickman, Bailey Anderson), 55.7; 3. Nodaway Valley (Paige McElfish, Joslyn Christensen, Reba Lonsdale, Sadie Marnin), 57.07; 5. Creston JV (Brittany Linch, Danielle Castillo, Sydney Pantini, Emma Hanson), 1:01.69.

4x400 relay — 1. Mount Ayr (Breanne Haley, Sadie Frost, Caylie Hickman, Ryann Martin), 4:45.24; 3. Nodaway Valley (Terryn Bower, Breanna Long, Mallory Rhoads, Madison Van Otterloo), 5:20.44; 4. Diagonal (Emily Newton, Kayla Bentley, Erin Sobotka, Grace Hall), 5:35.41.