Happy home Panther Relays

No group of supporters looked any happier at Thursday's boys Panther Relays than the dozen or so Creston Panther runners and supporters surrounding the finish line after Isaac Ralston won his heat of the 100.

It was smiles all-around and poses for the camera from Ralston after the race and congratulations from fellow Panthers, as Ralston ran a 16.77 in the JV 100 meter dash.

Discus thrower Zac Hague scored the Panthers' best performance of the night with his season-best throw of 123 feet and an inch in the discus.

Hague is starting to find consistency in his throwing and has begun to be reliable in picking up team points for the Panthers.

Throwing at home didn't hurt either.

“My legs are feeling really good today. pretty good," Hague said. "Nice wind out here, beautiful weather ... I was pretty happy.”

Now, he sets his sights on a personal record set at home last year of 124 feet.

“I need to practice more on footwork and releases," Hague said. "I want to hit at least 130 this year by the end of the year.”

Camden Peterson took home a fourth-place finish and some team points with his run of 59.93 in the 400 meter dash and was the anchor leg on the sprint medley group made up of Hank Looney, Ashton Wills and Jared Moreland.

Dalten Bierle stepped into competition for the Panthers in the first time in several weeks. He has been hobbled by a pulled muscle.

Bierle was determined to get out and run the 800 meter run, and despite showing fatigue and signs of discomfort, worked his way to the finish.

“He started off well at least until that first 300, but you could see things started tightening up in him," Creston coach Pat Schlapia said.

“Kid has guts.”

Schlapia noted several reasons to be pleased at the end of the meet.

He saw alumni in the stands supporting the team. was pleased to see all of the volunteers, which included the SWCC track and field team, and it made him happy to see the 4x100 and 4x400 competed for strongly at the end of the night. Longtime Panther track and field coach Dick Skarda presented Shenandoah's 4x400 winning team with a plaque to close out the evening.

"It was awesome to have some of our graduated track and field boys cheering on the team," Schlapia said. "It was a special moment having Coach Skarda there to present the plaque to the winning team, Shenandoah, of the Dick Skarda 4x400 Relay. That all showed our young track team, of some of the Creston Panther track tradition is about."

Raiders young and old thriving

Mount Ayr's boys track and field team is picking up contributions throughout its roster this season regardless of age, class or level of experience.

After losing a boatload of seniors from last year's fourth-place team in Class 1A at state, coach Brad Elliott's team has seen leadership from his small senior group of four boys.

"Real happy with my seniors the way they’re leading the team," Elliott said. "There’s only four of them, but they do a good job setting the tone for the way things need to be.”

Others, like freshman Isaac Timmerman, who ran under five minutes in the 1,600 at Thursday's meet in 4:59.53 to pick up second place, is picking up steam and helping push the tide forward for the young Raider runners.

“He’s a kid that is coming along really well as a freshman and there’s several of those in this freshman class that have surprised me this week," Elliott said. "The Dawson Frosts, and the Klommhaus twins (Kolben and Keelan) running well some of that stuff and out of the freshman class there’s some of those guys that are really chomping at the bit.”

Now, Elliott just hopes the kids who aren't seeing as much time in varsity events are getting the "track bug."

As the Raiders continue to feed off their youthful energy, they'll be working toward the greatness inspired by teams in years past. They will continue to try new combinations, find new strengths and root out weaknesses.

“The experimentation will start to to tune things up as we hit some co-ed meets and really focus on conference at this point," Elliott said. "That’s our main concern, is where are our strongest combinations going to get us the most points for our conference meet.”

It was also beneficial for the Raiders to see meet-winning Earlham Thursday. Mount Ayr will host the Cardinals at their home meet on April 25 and when they go to Earlham for state qualifying.

UP NEXT — Creston is at Ballard-Huxley on Tuesday and Mount Ayr will be at Madrid Tuesday.

Team results boys varsity — 1. Earlham 158; 2. Mount Ayr 93; 3. Shenandoah 84; 4.Red Oak 50; 5. Creston 7.

Discus — 1. Drew Williamson, Earl, 131-5; 3. Zac Hague, Crest, 123-2; 4. Mitchell Lutrick, MA, 116-7; 7. Jacob McCreary, MA, 106-6.

High Jump — 1. Hunter Rice, Shen, 5-4; 2. Trenton Stull, MA, 5-4; Josh Cowley, MA, 5-4.

Long Jump — 1. Devin Perkins, MA, 18-11; 4. Kolben Klommhaus, MA, 15-7.5; 5. Isaac Grose, MA, 15-7.

Shot put — 1. Drew Williamson, Earl, 43-3; 5. Zach Murphy, MA, 36-5; 7. Jacob Hoveland, MA, 34-4; 9. Ashton Willis, Crest, 31-7; 10. Zac Hague, Crest, 30-2.

800 sprint medley — 1. Earlham, 1:38.98; 2. Mount Ayr, (John Young, Hunter Arends, Cal Daughton, Hunter Haveman), 3:59.60; 5. Creston, (Hank Looney, Ashton Wills, Jared Moreland, Camden Peterson), 1:56.31.

3200 meter run — 1. Alex Caskey, Earl, 4:53.68; 2. Isaac Timmerman, MA, 4;59.53; 5. Will Hunt, MA, 5:34.18.

4x800 — 1. Earlham, 8:50.12; 2. Mount Ayr, (Dawson Frost, Will Hunt, Isaac Timmerman, Mitchell Jennett), 9:01.67.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Earlham, 1:04.40; 2. Mount Ayr, (Marcus Daughton, Keelan Klommhaus, Kolben Klommhaus, Trent Stewart), 1:07.21.

100 meter dash — 1. Joey Harkins, Earl, 11.75; 2. Cal Daughton, MA, 12..19; 4. Hunter Arends, MA, 12.59; 7. Hank Looney, Crest, 13.68.

1600 distance medley —1. Shenandoah, 3;51.59; 3. Mount Ayr, (Will Young, John Young, Connor Eaton, Isaac Timmerman), 4:00.74.

400 meter dash — 1. Caleb Swalla, Earl, 57.15; 4. Camden Peterson, Crest, 59.93; 5. John Shields, MA, 1:02.21; 6. Devin Russo, MA, 1:02.32.

4x200 meter relay — 1. Earlham, 1;35.72; 4. Mount Ayr, (Reese Knapp, Marcus Daughton, Mitchell Jennett, Isaac Grose), 1:43.26.

110 meter hurdles — 1. Brian Vanderheiden, Earl, 16.49; 3. Keelan Klommhaus, MA, 17.72; 6. Dawson Frost, 19.29.

800 meter run — 1. Michael Allen, Earl, 2:16.67; 4. Will Young, MA, 2:19.04; 5. Tucker Darrah, MA, 2:19.47; 8. Dalten Bierle, Crest, 2:27.02; 10. Jared Moreland, Crest, 2:30.00.

200 meter dash — 1. Hunter Haveman, MA, 24.02; 7. Brayden, MA, 27.30; 8. Camden Peterson, Crest, 27.78; 9. Hank Looney, Crest, 27.80.

400 meter hurdles — 1. Eli Kasap, Earl, 45.26; 3. Marcus Daughton, MA, 1:00.92; 6. Trent Stewart, MA, 1:05.36.

1600 meter run — 1. Alex Caskey, Earl, 4:53.68; 2. Isaac Timmerman, MA, 4:59.53; 5. Will Young, MA, 5:34.18.

4x100 relay — 1. Earlham, 45.26; 2. Mount Ayr, (John Young, Hunter Haveman, Hunter Arends, Cal Daughton), 45.28.

4x400 relay — 1. Shenandoah, 8:50.12; 2. Mount Ayr, (Mitchell Jennett, Hunter Arends, Hunter Haveman, Cal Daughton), 9:01.67.

Team results boys junior varsity — 1. Mount Ayr 31; 2. Shenandoah 19; 3. Earlham 14; 4. Red Oak 13.

Discus — 1. Jake, Stenzel, Shen, 123-7; 4. Drew Willis, MA, 84-7; 7. John Shields, MA, 74-3.

High Jump — 1. None.

Long Jump — 1. Zach Anderson, Earl, 16-4; 2. Keelan Klommhaus, MA, 15-3.

Shot put — 1. Derrin Sesker, Earl, 37-4; 6. Chris Kemery, MA, 29-4; 7. Andrew Belzer, MA, 24-11.

800 sprint medley — 1. Mount Ayr, (Will Young, Reese Knapp, Brayden Swank, Connor Eaton), 1:49.35.

3200 meter run — 1. Blake Son, Shen, 12:38.68.

4x800 — 1. Mount Ayr, (Ryker Hickman, Tyler Jones, Heath Andresen, Nathan Hauge), 10:23.49.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. None.

100 meter dash — 1. Zach Murphy, MA, 12.91; 2. Reese Knapp, MA, 7. Isaac Ralston, Crest, 16.77.

1600 distance medley —1. Earlham, 4:12.74.

400 meter dash — 1. Dominic Vance, Shen, 1:01.41; 2. Hunter Wilson, MA, 1:04.14; 3. Jared Moreland, Crest, 1:04.20; 4. Ashton Wills, Crest, 1:05.75; 6. Dylan McAlexander, MA, 1:14.37.

4x200 meter relay — 1. Red Oak, 1:50.04.

110 meter hurdles — 1. Trenton Stull, MA, 18.94; 2. Trent Stewart, MA, 19.50.

800 meter run — 1. Chase Smith, MA, 2:27.51; 3. Josh Cowley, MA, 2:31.72.

200 meter dash — 1. Blake Swanson, Shen, 27.30; 3. Jacob Hoveland, MA, 29.01; 5. Jordan McAlexander, MA, 30.23; 7. Isaac Ralston, Crest, 35.42.

400 meter hurdles — 1. Caleb Swalla, Earl, 1:04.19; 3. Dawson Frost, MA, 1:05.59.

1600 meter run — 1. Ryker Hickman, MA, 5:53.56; 3. Tyler Jones, MA, 5:59.72.

4x100 relay — 1. Mount Ayr, (Brayden Swank, Keelan Klommhaus, Kolben Klommhaus, Zach Murphy), 49.41.

4x400 relay — 1. Mount Ayr. (Isaac Grose, John Shields, Connor Eaton, Josh Cowley). 4:03.83.