Spring sports briefs

Area teams competed Monday evening at the Lenox Coed Track and Field meet where multiple school records were broken.

The biggest showdown was between Lenox junior Gabe Funk and Mount Ayr senior Ryce Reynolds in the 400m hurdles. The two finished third and first, respectively, at the state meet a year ago. They both rank in the top-eight nationally.

As the athletes came down the home stretch, Reynolds cleared the final hurdle first, but Funk edged him out on the sprint, finishing in a :53.43 compared to Reynolds’ time of :53.46.

The athletes have both met the Blue Standard time of :54.5 to qualify for the Drake Relays. Funk’s time broke his own school record. It wasn’t the only record Funk broke in front of his home crowd. He ran a :51.11 in the 400m dash to take first and break the record he set last week.

Funk pulled off four wins, also taking first in the 110m hurdles and the shuttle hurdle relay. The relay, comprised of Donald Bashor, Jordan Martin-England, Dawson Evans and Funk, ran a 1:01.35. The time narrowly topped the team’s fifth-place time of 1:01.39 ran at state last year.

The Lenox girls won the sprint medley relay. The team of Bentley Petersen, Gabby Robles, Zoey Reed and Sadie Cox ran a 2:00.2.

Mount Ayr boys won the sprint medley relay with their team of Reynolds, Preston Fleharty, Jackson Ruggles and Adan Trujillo. They posted a time of 1:41.29.

The Raiderettes brought home relay wins in the 4x400 and 4x800, winning the latter by nearly a minute.

Anne Newton, Addison Doolittle, Aubree Clarke and Ashlyn Murphy finished the 4x8 in 11:32.53 for the win. The 4x400 was ran by Newton, Tatum Friedrich, Clark and Murphy. Their time was 4:31.24.

Southwest Valley had four gold medal performances and a new school record. Senior Emma Cooper finished first in the 200m in :27.21 and anchored the 4x200 relay to first place with a time of 1:57.96, with her relay teammates Anistyn Poston, Katey Lillie and Haidyn Top.

Cooper added two silver medal performances, with a new school record in the 100m dash of :12.66 and a long jump of 16-3.5.

Walker Bissell won the boys high jump at 5-10 and Theron Mullen had a PR of 44-7.5 in the shot put to earn gold.

Mount Ayr girls tied for third with Griswold in team scores. Southwest Valley placed fifth, Lenox took seventh and East Union tied for eighth.

Mount Ayr boys placed third, Lenox boys took fourth and Southwest Valley was seventh.

Golf

The Creston boys golf team competed Thursday at Lewis Central and Friday at Lenox where they placed 13th and fifth, respectively.

Leading the team at LC were Chasse Downing and Marshall Long, each with a score of 95. At Lenox, Carson Rieck had the team low of 90 while Tristan Evans had a 91.

Creston girls enjoyed great weather as they competed at the Winterset Tournament Monday. Averi Culbertson shot 48-44-92 medaling in 5th place on a tie breaker on the first handicap hole. Kylie Metheny shot 49-49-98 which earned her 8th place.

“Both girls shot the best rounds they have shot in tournament play,” Coach Steve Shantz said. “Both girls are getting better on each round and are playing with more confidence.”

With the boys home meet against Clarinda Tuesday postponed, the next action for the Panthers is Thursday at Shenandoah where both boys and girls will be competing.

Tennis

Southwest Valley’s varsity tennis teams split with the Red Oak Tigers in action Monday.

The boys improved to 5-0 on the season with a 6-3 home win, while the girls dropped an 8-1 encounter. The girls are now 2-5 in duals.

“Happy to see the boys stay undefeated and earn a win they really wanted after losing a close dual to Red Oak last season,” Southwest Valley Coach Steve McGrew said. “Red Oak is so strong on the girls’ side this season, but I thought we had a solid shot at number one doubles, which is the win we got in the dual.”

Evan Timmerman, Slate Goodvin-Kinnaird, Parker Boswell, Lucas James and Ethan Bruce all won their singles match ups.

“Slate came out really strong in singles, taking an early 3-0 lead,” McGrew said. “He was never really in danger in the match as he moved to a 6-1 advantage, and just kept cruising the rest of the way. Everything was well calculated by Slate. He was wise as to when to hit out on the forehand, when to slice and when to get the net. His accurate approach shots put him in great shape when he did approach the net.”

The match between Boswell and Red Oak’s Griffin Eubank was much closer. “Parker was up and down. It was a true roller-coaster match in which the lead changed hands many times,” McGrew said. “Parker was at his best at 7-7 with two really strong games to close out the win. Parker’s strongest tennis, over the course of the match, came when he set his feet, played smart on defense when stretched out to the corners and got the needed depth to keep Eubank off the net.”

Bruce earned his first singles’ win of the season. “I love to see such a hard worker get some rewards,” McGrew said. “Ethan wasn’t happy with how his groundstrokes were looking in Friday’s practice. So he asked to stay well after practice and he worked on grooving his groundstrokes with me until about 7:15 p.m. that night. This speaks to this young man’s dedication.”

The Timberwolves boys return to action against undefeated Glenwood Thursday.

The girls went up against a Red Oak squad that is one of the best dual teams on Southwest Valley’s schedule.

The Tigers swept the Timberwolves in singles. Charlee Larsen and Maddie Bevington won their doubles match 8-4 to put a point on the board for Southwest Valley.

“Assistant Coach Micayla Taylor did a nice job with the girls against a unique Red Oak team,” McGrew said. “The top four Red Oak girls are all senior veterans. Merced Ramirez is so good. She is a backboard-type player who just doesn’t miss shots unless you can aggressively force the issue. Merced is a player to watch in regional singles in May. Charlee has had a great season in singles. It takes a tremendous player to blank her in singles.”

Larsen and Bevington are now 9-1 in doubles. “I felt like this was our best chance to win a match, and I honestly thought we would win this one,” McGrew said. “I told Coach Timmerman at the boys’ meet that I thought we could get this one. Merced and Grace are such tremendous singles players, so I knew we would have a much better shot at doubles. Not to mention that Charlee and Maddie are playing at such a high level in doubles after decisive wins over good pairs from St. Albert and Atlantic.”

The Timberwolves girls return to action Tuesday at Clarke.