May 21, 2024

GIRLS TRACK: Lundy's 200 gold leads NV at Earlham

By Ryan Stonebraker
Nodaway Valley's Chloe Rardin competes in a sprint race for the Wolverines in a meet Tuesday, April 9 in Earlham.

Nodaway Valley's Chloe Rardin competes in a sprint race for the Wolverines in a meet Tuesday, April 9 in Earlham. (Dan Dickinson)

One meet last week yielded a good night with an individual win for Emma Lundy at Earlham’s co-ed meet Tuesday, April 9. There were a strong gathering of other season best performances to go with her gold in the 200-meter dash.

Jorja Holliday had a pair of runner-up finishes in field events. She was second in the discus with a best throw of 101 feet, 11 inches. Holliday was second in the shot put with a best throw of 32 feet, 1 1/4 inches. Grace Britten posted a pair of top-10 finishes with a fifth-place finish in the shot put and seventh-place finish in the discus. Her distance in the shot put of 30 feet, 9 inches, and her distance in the discus of 87 feet, 8 inches were season bests so far. Addison Glade added an eighth place finish in the long jump.

The Wolverines picked up five season bests in individual events. Lundy’s win in the 200-meter dash came with a time of 26.88, which is fifth-best in Class 1A this season and is tops in the Pride of Iowa Conference.

Junior distance runner Jazz Christensen had a nice meet with two season bests and a pair of near top-10 finishes with 11th place finishes in the 3,000 and the 1,500. One of her best times was in the 400-meter dash in 1:16.41 and her other was her 11th place finish in the 3,000-meter run in 13:40. Christensen’s 1,500-meter time was 6:15.73.

Sophomore Chloe Rardin ran to a pair of season best times in the 200-meter dash and 100-meter dash. Rardin’s time in the 100 was 14.88 and her time in the 200 was 31.43.

The Wolverines had three relays collect top-3 finishes. The Wolverine’s top relay finish came from their 4x200-meter relay team. The Wolverine team of Grace Britten, Annika Nelson, Maddie Weston and Lundy turned in a runner-up finish which was also a season-best so far, in a time of 1:50.73.

The Wolverines 4x100-meter relay team of Grace Britten, Weston, Lundy and Annika Nelson placed third and set a season-best time of 51.81. The Wolverine sprint medley relay placed third in a time of 1:56.39 with the team of Allie Cornelison, Weston, Annika Nelson and Lundy.

Nodaway Valley added a fourth-place finish in the 4x800, a sixth-place finish in the distance medley relay, and a 10th place finish in the 4x400 relay. The distance medley relay team’s time was 5:05.50 with the quartet of Cornelison, Glade, Joanna Larson and Kylie Nelson.

Nodaway Valley coach Brett Welsch said that he wanted to see how his team’s relays competed against good competition.

“Some of those relays we stacked to see how we could do and I was happy with the results. We faced good competition out there,” he said.

Welsch said that the Wolverines’ 4x100-meter relay team has a chance to qualify for the Drake Relays this year. Currently, the best time from NV in the event is 51.80 with the team of Grace Britten, Weston, Lundy and Annika Nelson, set last week at the Earlham meet. That time is 57th in all classes, fourth in Class 1A, and the top time in the Pride of Iowa Conference going into this week. The Drake Relays are in Des Moines April 25-27.