Nodaway Valley track athletes ‘working hard to get there’

Nodaway Valley’s girls and boys track and field teams feel they’re each successfully coupling together a more cohesive and effective lineup of events in order to score more and more points as the season continues.

The girls have been reliably in the top four of team standings at all meets this season, however the boys are working just as hard, also turning in strong efforts on the track and in field events.

The clock is now ticking on the season. State-qualifying meet assignments are expected to be released soon and next Monday are the Pride of Iowa Conference Championships at Martensdale-St. Marys.

Also of note, Nodaway Valley’s girls 4x100-meter relay with Maddie Weston, Abby Engles, Emma Lundy and Annika Nelson, qualified for the Drake Relays and will run there this Saturday.

The Wolverines competed at Martensdale-St. Marys Friday in a meet that was reduced to just track and jumping events because of wet conditions at the facility. The girls team scored 108 points to take their first team title of the season.

Looking at the conference leaderboards online, the Wolverine girls were pacing the rest of the league in five individual and three relay events as of Monday, April 24. The boys were leading in three individual events.

The girls are tops individually with Annika Nelson in the 100-meter dash (13.11 seconds), Emma Lundy in the 200 (26.97), Abby Engles in the 400 (1:02.19), Annika Nelson in the 100-meter hurdles (16.80 seconds) and Jorja Holliday in the discus (116 feet, 3 1/2 inches).

The four main sprinters NV has had so far — Maddie Weston, Engles, Lundy and Annika Nelson — are the ones leading the POI in the 4x100 (52.17), 4x200 (1:51.61) and sprint medley relays (1:55.07).

“Jorja in the discus, she’s really throwing it well. We’ve got a coach in Waukee who she goes and sees. We need to get back up there and tune some things up. Emma really is coming on more and more as a sprinter. We saw that during summer workouts. The 4x100 has been strong again, and we’ve slipped Abby in there. She’s having a good senior season,” girls coach Brett Welsch said.

The seven junior or senior girls the Wolverines have are providing strong leadership, but Welsch said part of the plan is to also make sure talented younger athletes are getting their chance to thrive, and he’s liked what he has seen.

“My four main sprinters have really taken it upon themselves to keep themselves healthy. The pieces have just come together. We’ve added Maddie Weston in there and she’s done really good at giving us good starts. Maddie Fry hurt her ankle earlier in the year and she’s realy been slowed by that, but we want to take the shuttle hurdle to state and I think Maddie has a good chance in the open hurdles she did well in last year,” Welsch said.

At Martensdale-St. Marys, winning girls events were the 4x100, the sprint medley, Annika Nelson in the 100, Lundy in the 200 and Engles in the 400.

Welsch said “anything goes” at the conference meet. To win that event as a team is a nice feather in a team’s cap late in the regular season schedule.

“We’re looking forward to qualifying for state. We’ve only run our 4x200 once. Our depth is really in the sprints, shuttle hurdle, so we’re looking forward to staying healthy and continuing to work on our sprints,” Welsch said.

In boys events, Berg was first in the 800 meters (2:08.04) at Martensdale-St. Marys and is doing a lot of good things for the boys team. That’s not to mention Blake Lund’s strong season in the hurdles and Warner’s accomplishments in the throws.

The Wolverines were hampered by illnesses at that meet, only coming away with 19 points from 11 events entered, but there are also many other highlights for boys coach Chase Green, but these have been the leaders, and the point total there is not indicative of the progress the program is experiencing.

Green said he hopes Warner can make it to state in both throws events, and he’s working hard to get there. Berg has been not only good in the 1,600 and 3,200, but the 800 as well. Berg runs on the distance medley that has been one of the team’s best quartets this year. Lund wasn’t able to run at Martensdale-St. Marys, but he’s been of the Wolverines’ best 400 runners to date.

“We’re doing the same thing with the boys that we’ve done with the girls, and that’s finding out where we can fit and what type of opportunities we have. We think we have seven events [that could make it], but maybe eight,” Green said. “Ben Hoover’s been jumping wel in the long jump. He’s just a couple feet away. There are some other things that are developing, but where we’re able to compete the strongest on the track is in the mid-distance to distance races, and the throws. Everyone working hard to get there is neat to see.”

Martensdale-St. Marys results

Girls

100: 1, A. Nelson, 13.24; 3, Weston, 13.75

200: 1, Lundy, 27.54; 2, Engles, 28.21

4x100: 1, NV, 52.21

400: 1, Engles, 1:03.46

4x200: 2, NV, 2:03.81

800: 11, McCall, 3:04.45; 10, T. Day, 3:03.74

4x400: 2, NV, 4:47.34

1500: 6, Christensen, 6:04.34

4x800: 5, NV, 12:08.12

Sprint Medley: 1, NV, 1:59.18

100H: 2, Fry, 17.13; 3, A. Nelson, 17.25

Distance Medley: 3, NV, 5:19.64

400H: 5, Laughery, 1:17.83; 6, Britten, 1:20.91

3000: 3, Christensen, 13:05.66

LJ: 9, Ford, 13-07

Boys

100: 11, Harris, 13.31; 14, LaBarge, 17.11

200: 11, Honnold, 28.13; 13, Sturdy, 31.74

4x100: 5, NV, 52.05

400: 7, Honnold, 59.23; 12, Harris, 1:03.94

800: 1, Berg, 2:08.04; 6, DeVault, 2:20.56

1600: 12, Sturdy, 6:46.82; 13, LaBarge, 17:17.02

110H: 10, Steeve, 19.04

LJ: 10, Hoover, 16-06 1/4