Nodaway Valley girls, Mount Ayr boys take POI track titles

MARTENSDALE — Six event victories helped the Nodaway Valley girls fend off a title-sweep from Mount Ayr as they won the Pride of Iowa Conference Meet Monday at Martensdale St. Mary’s in a score of 127 to the Raiderette’s 110.

The Mount Ayr boys had seven first-place finishes, contributing to their 152-point conference title. Lenox took third with 110.

Wayne girls and Central Decatur boys were hoping to continue their back-to-back winning streak in the conference meet, but wound up taking bronze and silver, respectively.

Girls

Abby Engles and Annika Nelson led the Wolverines to victory with their impressive finishes in the sprints. Nelson took first in the 100 meter dash and 100m hurdles in times of :12.97 and :16.39.

Engles won the 400m dash and took second in the 200m dash behind teammate Emma Lundy. Nodaway Valley girls also won the 4x100m and sprint medley relays.

Jorja Holliday contributed to the victory with her second-place discus throw of 103-03 and third-place shot put of 33-07.5

Though the Raiderettes couldn’t find a first-place finish in any event, their consistent scoring contributed to their second-place finish.

The 4x200m relay team took second, scoring eight points, while eight events finished third.

The 4x100m, 4x400m and 4x800m relays took third in addition to Aubree Shields in high jump, Ashlyn Murphy in long jump, MaKenna Jones in 400m hurdles and Addison Doolittle in the 1500m run.

The Lenox girls took sixth place with 54 points, Southwest Valley was ninth (42) and East Union was 10th (34).

Cadence Douglas of Lenox won the high jump with her 5-01 mark. Teammate Sadie Cox finished second in the 400m dash with a time of 1:04.52 and their sprint medley relay took third.

Southwest Valley’s Emma Cooper won the long jump, shattering her previous personal-best of 16-05 with a new jump of 17 feet.

“I felt really good,” Cooper said. “The wind definitely helped, but I felt really good going into today. I was seeded high, and I was where I wanted to be.”

Her best jump came on her first attempt.

“It was a really fun way to start the day off. It’s just really cool to get it on your first jump,” Cooper said. “It feels awesome. I really struggled at conference last year. I had a really tough meet, and it makes me feel good because I’ve wanted to do this since my freshman year.”

Heading into districts, Cooper said this has increased her confidence.

“I had already felt pretty good going in, but this just boosts my confidence even more,” she said. “I’ll be ranked a little higher and hopefully seeded pretty high at districts.”

East Union’s Jillian Valencia took second in the two mile with her run of 12:57.01, and the Eagles’ distance medley relay earned bronze.

Boys

With four wins by reigning state champion Ryce Reynolds and four relay victories, the Raiders found a decisive victory.

Reynolds took the title in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash in addition to the 400 meter hurdles. Jaydon Knight got second in the 100m and third in the shot put. Braydon Pierson took second in the 200m.

The Mount Ayr 4x800m earned second while the sprint medley placed third. Drew Ehlen got third in the 800m.

The Lenox boys made a push for second, but fell short to Central Decatur.

Sophomore Gabe Funk led the Tigers with a first-place finish in the 110m hurdles and shuttle hurdle relay and a second-place finish in the 400m and 400m hurdles.

Senior Samson Adams was also a part of the winning shuttle hurdle relay as well as placing second in the high jump and fourth in the 400m and 400m hurdles.

“Having the shuttle hurdle early in the meet, I kind of like that,” Adams said. “We get a win, maximum points for a single race for your team. It sets the pace of the whole meet for me, and I really like doing it.”

Funk and Trenton Beck were both a part of last year’s state championship shuttle hurdle team, but this is Adams’ first year competing in hurdles.

“It’s a drive to want to do better knowing those two are state champs on that team,” Adams said. “I’ve never done hurdles except for this year, so it’s kind of pushed me to get better at it and do well at it.”

Though Adams had to make several attempts at a few of the heights, he jumped 6 feet, a consistent mark for him. He continues to try for 6-2, what would be a Lenox school record, but couldn’t clear it.

“Today was actually one of my worst days; there’s a really strong wind going into our face at the high jump pit,” he explained. “That really messed with me a little bit, but having teammates, needing points and knowing I can do better kind of pushed me to where I should be.”

The Tigers’ Isaac Grundman took second took second in long jump with his mark of 20-01.5 while teammate Donald Bashor placed third in the 100m and 200m dash.

East Union placed fifth with 57 points while Nodaway Valley took sixth (56) and Southwest Valley got ninth (38).

The Eagles took top-three in six events, shining more in distance and field events.

Jacob Driskill placed second in the 800m and third in the 3200m run. Morgan Cooley threw 129-10 in discus and 44-07.25 in shot put, both for second place.

The distance medley relay team placed third and Austin Lack took third in the 400m hurdles.

Nodaway Valley was led by Doug Berg who won the 1600m and placed second in the 3200m run. Trenton Warner had another victory for the Wolverines with his shot put mark of 45-03.

Marshall Knapp of Southwest Valley had no trouble taking a conference victory in the high jump, his starting height at 6 feet. His jump of 6-05 earned 10 points for the Timberwolves. They also earned bronze in the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 1:09.22.