Mount Ayr track sees first action in Earlham
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The Mount Ayr track teams had a great day to compete in the opening meet of the season on March 28 in Earlham.
It was a fairly decent day for late March. However, later in the night the cold set in, but it didn’t seem to effect the Raider 4×400 team that took the prestigious win to end the meet.
Raiders
Before taking the 4×400 victory, the Raiders saw plenty of other successes over the 6.5 hour meet.
Ryce Reynolds took the Raiders only other outright victory of the night in the 400 meter hurdles, completing the event in a meet-record time of 55.24, breaking the record that he set last year, during a very windy meet.
“We are all blessed that tonight was a better night than it could have been this early in the season,” said Reynolds. “I’m glad we are getting some races in. I’m excited to see how the next couple weeks progress.”
Reynolds became a star in the 400 meter hurdles, including winning the event at the State Meet last season at Drake and has no signs of slowing down.
“The first time running it last year I wanted to maintain my speed as best as possible and tonight I have a little more experience and strategy,” said Reynolds. “This is the first time I’ve ran it this year. My steps were a little off, wasn’t as clean over the hurdles as I wanted to be but it takes practice and time and it felt good for my first time out.”
Braydon Pierson took a fourth place finish in the long jump, with a leap of 18-11.25, in his first outdoor action with the Raiders.
The Raider 4×200 team of Preston Fleharty, Jaixen Frost, Pierson and Jaydon Knight finished third with a time of 1:36.62.
The Raider shuttle hurdle team of Dalton Barnes, Brayden Hale, Tate Dugan and Jackson Ruggles also had a nice performance, placing fifth overall with a time of 1:12.2. That time placed them second All-Time on the MACHS leaderboards.
The 4×400 gave the crowd an event to watch, finishing first with a time of 3:36.50.
The team of Pierson, Jackson Ruggles, Tate Dugan and Ryce Reynolds were sitting in fourth just before the anchor leg would be ran by Reynolds.
Reynolds took the baton and with only 100 meters left in the race, overtook first place and was able to help the Raiders achieve a first place finish.
Raiderettes
The Raiderettes also saw success throughout the night, with Zoey Larsen taking second place in the shot put, throwing a 32-03.5.
MaKenna Jones took on the 400 meter hurdles and placed sixth with a time of 1:14.21.
Aubree Shields put her mark on the high jump, placing fourth on the All-Time MACHS leaderboard with a fourth place finish and height of 5-00 cleared.
Despite not winning many events outright, the teams did well and coach Brad Elliott was pleased with the outing.
“It’s great to get everybody out and compete across the board with the boys and the girls. It’s easy to practice this time of year and coming off of spring break there are some we haven’t seen and had some really nice suprises and nothing to be disappointed about,” said coach Elliott. “Our main thing is to get them understanding how to warm-up and prepare themselves how to compete. There’s outstanding senior leadership, even with some without a lot of track experience.”
Coach Elliott expressed early in the season they aren’t necessarily looking for team points, but looking at event placement.
“We aren’t really looking for team points, but looking at event placement. We have a really good ability to score some points this season but we are looking to raise some people into shape and raise them into understanding what they need to do,” said Elliott. “Running over 10-flights of hurdles is a lot different in a meet than it is in practice. Developing that is a key-part of the meets right now.”
The Raiders competed at Panora on Tuesday, April 4 and will see action tonight (April 6) in Centerville.
