Raiders take home invite title

MOUNT AYR — Athletes battled the cold and bouts of rain Tuesday evening in Mount Ayr during the Chet Roed Invitational. In a close race, the Raiders took the title with 105 points. Lenox finished runner-up with 99 and Creston was third with 95. The girls race was just as tight, Wayne coming away as the winner with 135 while Creston and Mount Ayr tied for second with 130.

Creston

The Panthers put together 10 winning events Tuesday, seven of them being individual races. Seven events earned the runner-up spot.

Sophomore Cora Smith continues to dominate for Creston. She won the 200-meter dash (26.72), the 400m dash (1:01.87), placed second in the 100m dash (12.99) and was on the runner-up sprint medley relay team.

Another dominant sprinter for the Panthers is senior Avery Staver. In the 100m dash, Staver edged out Smith, taking the gold in 12.81, a new personal best. In the 200m, Staver took the bronze, running 27.47.

On the boys’ side, sprinter Seth Gordon won the 200m dash in 22.50, also running the 200 in the winning distance medley relay. The medley also included Riggins Hanson on a 200m leg, Ryder Sharp in the 400 and Wyatt Goodenberger in the 800.

Later that evening, Goodenberger put on a show in the 1600m with teammate Ryder Baird, the two taking first and second, respectively, in 4:44.55 and 4:45.17.

It was a similar display in the girls 800m run, Hope Henderson winning the race in 2:29.28 while teammate Reese Strunk finished right behind in 2:30.72. In the girls 1500m run, freshman Nevaeh Adamson took second in a time of 5:27.74.

In field events, Tom Mikkelsen placed second in shot put, throwing 54-04, after winning the discus in a mark of 133-07. In the long jump, Durrell Haynes leapt for a new PR of 18-11.5, taking the runner-up spot.

On the girls’ side, senior Jaycee Hanson threw 89-08 in the discus, placing second in the event. She was fifth in shot put.

First place relays for the girls were the 4x800 (Maylee Riley, Aubrey Kramer, Strunk and Adamson) and the distance medley (Grace Keeler, Kadley Bailey, Braylee Pokorny and Riley). The sprint medley team of Pokorny, Keeler, Bailey and Smith placed second.

East Union

In an unusual sight, there was a photo finish in the boys 3200m run, East Union’s Brock Driskill battling against Southeast Warren’s Raiden Jimenez down the home stretch. In the end, Jimenez won by 0.05 seconds, running 10:41.76 compared to Driskill’s 10:41.81. It was a personal record for both boys. Later, Driskill placed third in the 1600m run behind Creston’s duo, running 5:57.61.

Senior Morgan Cooley tested the limits of Mount Ayr’s 60-feet long shot put pit, throwing 59-07, just five inches shy of the wooden beam marking the end of the sand. It was the winning mark and the new meet record.

As a team, the boys placed eighth of 15 competing schools.

“I am super proud of the boys for their hard work and determination,” coach Alex Kalbach said. “They still are wanting to try new events to help the team out, and it paid off last night. To do this well at a meet like this is a true testament to the hard work they’ve been putting in.”

The shuttle hurdle team of Caden Clear, Anthony Pantoja, Braxdyn Tucker and Jensen Waigand placed sixth in a time of 1:11.42, a new school record.

In the girls’ 3000m, senior Quynn Foster took bronze, running 12:44.10. East Union’s best relay of the night was the girls 4x100, a team of Tristin Lear, Maria Long, Rebecca Young and Marissa Cass. The girls ran a 54.37, placing third.

As a team, the girls took fifth out of 13.

Southwest Valley

The Timberwolves came away with three wins in Mount Ayr, led by junior Brody Crozier. Crozier won the 100m dash in 11:39 and the long jump in 19-10. He also ran on the winning 4x100m relay team with Gavin Wetzel, Walker Bissell and Wyatt Mendenhall. The quartet ran 44.96, a new Southwest Valley school record.

The sprint medley relay of Wyatt Shires, Wetzel, Mendenhall and Crozier took second place, setting a school record in 1:37.44.

“It was another cold, wet and windy night for a track meet, which has been the story of the season,” Southwest Valley coach Jason Hults said. “But our kids put forth a lot of effort tonight, as shown by the three new records. With one week to go before the conference meet, we were just trying out a few last minute events and relay combinations to see where we can have chances to score the most points at the conference meet.”

The girls’ top individual performance came from Alyssa Pearson whose 400m hurdle time of 1:16 placed second. The other runner-up girls performance came from the distance medley relay comprised of Hailey Randall, Ray Helvie, Anistyn Poston and Saige Jones. The team ran a time of 4:49.44, breaking the school record.

Mount Ayr

The Raiders had a great performance at home, the boys winning the meet with the girls tying for second.

The teams combined for nine first-place finishes, four being individual events. Calvin Main won the 110m hurdles in 15.91; Drayden Thompson took the 400m dash in 52.62; Aubree Shields had the top mark in high jump with 5-02 and Emily Knox won the shot put with 35-06.5.

First place relays were the girls sprint medley (Kate Newton, Brittlyn Nickle, Chloe Robb, Emma Reynolds), the girls 4x100 and 4x200 (Robb, Shields, Nickle, Reynolds), the girls 4x400 (Tatum Friedrich, Newton, Shields, Reynolds) and the boys 4x400 (Manny Hyde, Jackson Ruggles, Calvin Main, Drayden Thompson).

The girls sprint relay teams broke four school records and ended the night ranked No. 1 in Class 1A for the sprint medley, 4x200 and 4x400.

Addison Doolittle is the fourth Raiderette to perform the “Iron Woman,” running the 3000m, 1500m, 800m and 400m all in one night.

Lenox

The Lenox boys took silver Tuesday, led by three first-place performances and several runner-ups.

Caden Kaufman ran a 56.46 to win the 400m hurdles and placed second in the 110m hurdles in a time of 15.97.

The boys won two relays — the sprint medley (Jackson Reed, Dawson Evans, Kolben Robinson and Kaufman) in 1:36.44 and the shuttle hurdle (Robinson, Wylie Brokaw, Colton Haidsiak and Ashton Leonard) in 1:02.54.

The girls’ top performances were third-place finishes by Addison Junker in the 800m (2:32) and the 1500 (5:40.32).

Photos available here.

Boys Team Scores

1. Mount Ayr 105
2. Lenox 99
3. Creston 95
4. Southwest Valley 82
5. Southeast Warren 70
6. Bedford 59
7. I-35 58
8. East Union 43
9. Central Decatur 41
10. Murray 26
11. Clarke 23
12. Lamoni 18
13. Wayne 15
14. Mormon Trail 4
15. Hamburg 2

Girls Team Scores

1. Wayne 135
2. Creston 130
3. Mount Ayr 130
4. Central Decatur 80
5. East Union 43
6. Southwest Valley 42
7. Clarke 40
8. Lamoni 35
9. Lenox 33
10. Southeast Warren 22
11. Seymour 11
12. Mormon Trail 8
13. Hamburg 1