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It was a busy night for the track and field athletes across Iowa Thursday as kids looked to qualify for an appearance on the Blue Oval at Drake University today, Thursday, May 19, through Saturday, May 21.
The Mount Ayr Track & Field teams both finished second overall in the qualifying meet in Corydon, with 11 total events qualifying for that coveted appearance.
Girls Team Scores
1 Wayne 185
2 Mt. Ayr 121
3 L-Sully 103
4 N Maha 58
5 MT 37
6 TCedar 36
7 Lamoni 32
8 Murray 31
9 SEW 26
9 EU 26
9 MD 26
12 Morav 25
13 Seym 24
14 M-U 6
The Raiderettes saw Addy Reynolds qualify in two individual events, the 200 meter dash and 400 meter dash.
Reynolds won the 200 meter with a time of 26.42, slightly edging out Wayne’s Reese Brown who ran a 26.95.
In the 400, Reynolds placed first with a time of 59.75.
“I had to make goals coming off of last year. Last year I just wanted to make it to State, I didn’t care what it was in or how many events,” said Reynolds. “After I qualified and placed in all four events, I felt like I could set some goals. My goals were to set the records in the 100, 200 and 400 and I achieved that this year. Now I want to head to State and see what I can get there. I’m going to go up there and give it my all for my last season.”
Reynolds also talked about being apart of a State Qualifying relay team.
“It means a lot. Those girls, I feel like we’ve ran a lot of relays together,” said Reynolds. “We’ve consistently ran the sprint med all year and that’s probably our strongest relay. We have a really good chance of doing well at State and we have really good chemistry. It’s a great group of girls and we all support eachother.”
The Raiderettes also qualified a handful of relay teams.
The 4×200 team of Payten lambert, Kaylie Shields, Jaxy Knight, MaKenna Jones, with alternates Reynolds and Ashlyn Murphy.
The 4×200 team took first by over three seconds, with a time of 1:51.41.
“We knew we had to get out and push without Addy on our team because she was involved in another other races,” said senior leader Payten Lambert. “We gave it our all and we have a whole week of practice to prepare for State and it’s just fundamentals now. We are ready.”
Second runner of the relay, Kaylie Shields, talked about her leg of the race and battling the sudden change of heat.
“I felt like our meet at CD a lot of our legs were dead and we felt glued to the ground,” said Shields. “We had good handoffs and knew we had to get out hard and go. I just took the girl in the eighth lane and just pushed as hard as I could.”
Third on the relay team was speedy freshman Jaxy Knight who is prepping to run at State for the first time.
“It feels good to be apart of such a great team. It’s Payten’s senior year and I just want to make it the best for her,” said Knight.
Anchor leg, MaKenna Jones helped extend the Raiderettes to a three second lead over second place.
“I knew I had to get out and go and run for Payten,” said Jones. “State is a different environment. You have a lot more adrenaline to help push you. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Raiderette 800 sprint medley team of Kaylie Shields, Jaxy Knight, Payten lambert and Addy Reynolds, with alternates MaKenna Jones and Ashlyn Murphy placed first overall with a time of 1:53.48.
The Shuttle Hurdle team of Maddie Stewart, Kacee Klommhaus, Tegan Streit and Ryleigh Haveman with alternates Breya Nickle and MaKenna Jones, finished their race in second and qualified on time with a 1:11.63.
The boys saw similar success, advancing six events, three individual and three relay teams.
Boys Teams Scores
1 L-Sully 117
2 Mt. Ayr 105
3 Lamoni 92
4 N Maha 90
5 SEW 70
6 Seym 59
7 EU 45
8 M-D 42
9 Wayne 37
10 Morav 30
11 MT 16
12 Murray 15
Ryce Reynolds advanced in the 400 meter dash and the 400 meter hurdles.
Reynolds finished the 400 meter dash with a 50.88 for a first palce finish.
In the 400 meter hurdles, the Reynolds finished first with a time of 56.17.
Adler Shay advanced in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:04.40, a full four seconds ahead of second place.
The 800 sprint medley team of Jaydon Knight, Austin Cole, Adler Shay and Ryce Reynolds, with alternates Preston Fleharty and Hunter Case advanced with a first place finish after beating out Lynville-Sully by .01.
Reynolds, anchoring the Raiders and Conner Maston, anchoring Lynnville-Stully came down the home stretch neck and neck and with a little head movement across the line, Reynolds was able to gain that advantage to advance.
Relay leader, Jaydon Knight spoke about his experience running the sprint medley on a state qualifying time.
“It feels great to run with this group of guys,” said Knight. “I run the slowest time, no doubt, I just have to stick with the top guy and give Austin a good chance to go out and get the lead.”
Austin Cole received the handoff from Knight in decent position.
“We knew Lynville was coming and Lamoni was coming for us.” said Cole. “I just needed to stay with them so Adler and Ryce didn’t have too much ground to make up on my leg of the race.”
Cole and Knight both joked about how they knew Shay and Reynolds could make up any ground lost by them, however, their times made things a little easier for the next two speedsters.
“I just tell them to try and keep it close. ideally we would like them to gain a little ground, but Ryce and I can get it back to where we want,” said Shay. “Being the third leg, I just try to get position and let Ryce go out and get it.”
Reynolds, ran his anchor leg in which he brought home the first place finish for the Raiders by .01. Reynolds just a few weeks prior came in second at the Drake Relays by .01 in the 400 meter hurdles.
“That 1/100th of a second is a little too familiar for me,” said Reynolds on his finish in the sprint medley. “I’m glad I came out on the otherside. Them saying, I was an inexperienced runner really gave me the motivation throughout the rest of the night.”
The distance medley team of Preston Fleharty, Jaydon Knight, Austin Cole and Adler Shay, with alternates Ryce Reynolds and Hunter Case, also advanced after a first place finish with a time of 3:44.84.
The night ended on a high note for the Raiders with a 4×400 victory that consisted of Jaydon Knight, Austin Cole, Adler Shay and Ryce Reynolds. Will Newton and Evan Murphy will serve as alternates.
“Do you keep them out in the heat, do you put them inside, that’s the battle,” said coach Brad Elliott on the sudden change from 60 degree weather to 90 degrees. “They are multi-sport athletes and are practicing summer sports now so we figured we could get them use to the heat.”
Coach Elliott was very pleased with his team in Wayne.
“There’s good competitors on our group and really pleased at how everyone sold out,” said Elliott. “We had outstanding improvements in times, throws, there’s not much more you can ask in a district meet. I was really pleased with how they stayed focused and motivated eachother to do the things they needed to do today.”
Central Decatur
Invite
The Mount Ayr track & field teams traveled to Central Decatur before heading to the State Qualifying meet in Wayne to test out a few other lineups for the meet in Wayne.
Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and canceled the meet short during the 1500 meter run.
Girls Teams Scores
1 Wayne 116
2 CD 77
3 Clarke 60
4 Mt. Ayr 52
5 Lenox 51
6 Creston 39
7 CVille 30
8 SEW 20
8 Chariton 20
8 EU 20
The Raiderette 4×200 team of Addy Reynolds, Kaylie Shields, Jaxy Knight and Payten Lambert took first overall with a time of 1:50.20, while the 4×800 relay team of Kyleigh Conklin, Karly Elwood, Karlie Larsen and Anne Newton finished third overall.
The Shuttle Hurdle team of Tegan Streit, Maddie Stewart, Kacee Klommhaus and Ryleigh Haveman also placed third.
The sprint medley team of Kaylie Shields, Jaxy Knight, Payten Lambert and Addy Reynolds finished on the podium in third with a time of 2:07.04.
Boys Teams Scores
1 CD 106
2 Lenox 100
3 Clarke 95
4 Chariton 52
5 Creston 44
6 Mt. Ayr 42
7 SEW 20
8 EU 19
9 Wayne 14
10 CVille 3
The Raiders had a first place finish in the sprint medley with Austin Cole, Jaydon Knight, Adler Shay and Ryce Reynolds.
The distance medley of Hunter Case, Jaydon Knight, Austin Cole and Adler Shay finished on top of the podium with a time of 3:46.19.