Mount Ayr shines on Blue Oval
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It had been 735 days since Iowa high school track teams and fans ascended on Drake University to watch friends and family compete on the ‘Blue Oval’ in the largest high school track meet in the nation.
In the district meet, a week before the State Meet on Thursday, May 20, Mount Ayr would qualify 14 events between the Raider and Raiderette teams, however, less than a week before the meet, only two tickets per athlete were going to be handed out.
Three days before the meet, Drake University lifted restrictions and 38,080 people attended the State Meet over three days, second to 2016’s meet of 38,161 attendees.
Mount Ayr put on a show for those in the afternoon sessions, with the Raiders placing ninth overall and the Raiderettes placing 12th after beginning Saturday in 27th.
The Mount Ayr track teams were led by siblings Ryce and Addy Reynolds who each brought home four medals.
Both were in their first appearances on the Blue Oval, with Addy being a junior and missing her freshman qualifying meet with a stress fracture and her sophomore year eliminated due to COVID.
Ryce is only a freshman and coming away with four medals is more than he could have ever asked for.
“The goal was just to make it so then to medal in four events is just amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Addy Reynolds. “I PR’ed sprint med and the 200 and just had the best block start of my life in the 100 so I am happy with it.”
With four medals, Reynolds has her eyes set for next year where she hopes to achieve more.
“I just have to strive for next year and hopefully I can get a gold and do even better than this year,” said Reynolds. “Just to not only make it but then medal in four, is amazing.”
Addy Reynolds saw medals in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash and the sprint medley.
Ryce saw medals in the 400 meter, 800 meter, 4×400 and 4×800 and was just as humble as his sister.
“I’m excited to see what I can do and push myself even more and I can’t wait until next season,” said Ryce Reynolds. “I wanted to put my heart out in this race for the two seniors on this 4×400 team. I wanted to give it my all.”
The Mount Ayr track team also saw plenty of other medals go to competitors throughout the meet.
Seniors Payton Weehler, Bryce Shaha, Seth Shelman, Trae Ehlen and Erik Trujillo each walked away with medals around their neck.
Trujillo, Ehlen and Shay all got hardware for the fifth place finish in the 4×400 that was anchored by Ryce Reynolds, in the last event of the meet on Saturday.
“My last year and Trae’s last year as seniors, I felt we did everything we could,” said senior Erik Trujillo.
Ehlen had the same sentiment.
“I feel pretty good. We are leaving here with three medals and that was my goal coming up here, I didn’t care what color. Obviously, I wanted the gold, but I will take three medals,” said Ehlen.
Ehlen, Shaha and Shay grabbed medals in the 4×800 that was also anchored by Reynolds.
The Raider distance medley team of Shleman, Weehler, Shay and Ehlen placed seventh to come home with medals.
The Raiderettes also saw medalists in the sprint medley that placed sixth. That team of Maddy Stewart, Kaylie Shields, Payten Lambert and Adalyn Reynolds ran a 1:53.05, which set a new school record. All will return next season.
At the end of the meet, coach Brad Elliott was very happy with the performance of his team.
“You always look at the performances and make sure you run your best at the State Meet and that’s what we trained for all year long,” said coach Elliott. “Things started off outstanding on Thursday. In terms of a group effort, just how everyone came up and brought it, a big atmosphere didn’t intimidate them so we were able to out-perform what we had done throughout the year”.
School records were set throughout the meet with outstanding performances on all fronts.
Addy Reynolds bettered here record in the 200 meter, while the boys set the school record in the 4×800 and the sprint medley.
Another record that is in jeopardy of being broken is the 800 meter that is currently held by coach Brad Elliott, set in 2000. Ryce ran a 1:58.74, which is just three seconds off Elliott’s time.
“I just have to keep pushing myself, keep running eight’s and training in eight’s,” said Reynolds. “Brad I’m coming to get your record.”
Coach Elliott had a reply to Reynolds on approaching that 21 year old record.
“You look at somebody like Ryce Reynolds, a freshman, who runs a sub two up here at the State Meet, there’s some things that are going to be really fun to watch.” said coach Elliott. “You coach to see records broken, whether it’s yours or not. We have had some outstanding athletes come through and obviously you want to exceed the limits of human performance any time you can. I actually ran on a 4×800 with Ryce’s dad when I was a freshman in high school, so really close family there, known him forever, but Ryce is phenomenal and I couldn’t think of anything more wild.”
Coach Elliott also spoke of the selflessness of the senior leadership throughout the team, noting Payton Weehler and his desire for team success and not just personal glory.
“I really want to mention Payton Weehler and Erik Trujillo,” said Elliott. “There was a big story in the football season last fall where he wanted to see Frost take the starting quarterback role and Payton took new roles and we talked about this last week and said if we make it to the State Meet in the 4×400 we are going to have an outstanding opportunity here and Payton said it’s his, he’s been on it all year. The type of teammate Payton Weehler is, you don’t find that in a young man and we have seen it twice now in major sports in successful positions for him. I want to give a shout out to Payton and the Weehler family, Trujillo coming back from what he had to come back from this last week.”
Mount Ayr may not have won a title at the State Meet, but gained confidence and experience heading into next year.
Track Meet Times
Girls
4x200m:
Maddie Stewart, Kaylie Shields, Payten Lambert, Addy Reynolds – 1:53.05/6th
4x800m:
MaKayla Jones, MaKenna Jones, Payten Lambert, Karly Elwood – 10:24.29/12th
Sprint Medley:
Addy Reynolds, Payten Lambert, Kaylie Shields, Maddie Stewart – 1:53.03/6th – SCHOOL RECORD
Karlie Larsen:
3000m: 12:41.80/24th
Addy Reynolds:
100m prelims: 13.04/8th
100m finals: 13.13/5th
200m prelims: 26.62/4th
200m finals: 26.52/3rd – SCHOOL RECORD
400m Dash: 1:00.24/3rd
Boys
Ryce Reynolds:
400m: 50.47/3rd
800m: 1:58.74/5th
Bryce Shaha:
1600m: 4:54.45/22nd
4x400m Prelims:
Erik Trujillo, Trae Ehlen, Adler Shay, Ryce Reynolds: 3:30.62/6th
4x400m Finals:
Trujillo, Ehlen, Shay, Reynolds: 3:30.30/5th
4x800m:
Ehlen, Shaha, Shay, Reynolds: 8:09.85/3rd – SCHOOL RECORD
Distance Medley:
Seth Shelman, Payton Weehler, Adler Shay, Trae Ehlen: 3:44.13/7th
