Behind Fields’ Drake qualifying throw, Panthers third at home

CRESTON — Behind a Drake Relays qualifying throw from Kelsey Fields in the shot put and many other strong finishes on the night, Creston’s girls track and field team took third place away from their home meet Monday at Panther Stadium.

The girls scored 79 points, trailing team champion Atlantic’s 194 points and Clarke’s second-place 126. Finishing out team standings were Martensdale-St. Marys, Stanton and Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson. Atlantic racked up 10 event wins to run away with the team title.

Fields’ shot put went 43 feet, 11 1/2 inches, which is the second-best throw in school history, behind Hannah Hood’s toss of 44 feet, 2 inches in 2017. Fields’ previous best was 41 feet, 2 inches. In the discus, Fields threw a distance of 122 feet, 1 inch, which is still better than any other girl in Panther history.

“It was an absolute blast to watch Kelsey put on a throwing clinic at our home meet, in front of the hometown fans,” said Creston head coach Clay Arnold. “Her coaches are very proud of her rising to the challenge and doing what needed to be done to get the ‘blue standard’ in the Shot and improve her disc season best by almost three feet.”

Fields also anchored a winning 4x200-meter relay, with Angelina Chuong, Tristen Rice and Brianna Fields (2:00.33).

Finishing second for Creston was Paige Davis in the 800-meter run (2:38.11) and 1500-meter run (5:38.85). The 4x400-meter relay quartet of Peyton Rice, Chuong, Doryn Paup and Fields (4:40.69) and the 4x800 team (Davis, Brooklyn McKinney, Molly Sickels and Peyton Rice in 11:05.76) both took second.

The shuttle hurdle relay (Sydney Strunk, Grace Travis, Kristi Travis and Emma Pantini) placed third in 1:28.80. Finishing fourth was Peyton Rice in the 800-meter run in 2:45.22 and Chuong in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:18.14.

Three events placed fifth, to round out scoring events for the team. They were Sickels in the 1,500-meter run in 6:09.84, the 4x100-meter relay (Tristen Rice, Grace Travis, Kristi Travis and Pantini) in 59.69 seconds, and the sprint medley of Chuong, Tristen Rice, Paup and Brianna Fields, which finished in 2:09.50.

“Many younger sprinters and hurdlers showed great improvement tonight, including Tristen, Sydney, Grace, Emma and Kristi,” Arnold said. “Paige had a season best leadoff leg of the 4x800 and earned second in the 800 and 1,500.”

Creston travels to a girls meet at Glenwood Thursday before going to Dallas Center-Grimes next Tuesday.