Mount Ayr track has strong first outing

By Editor | April 14, 2021 |

Briar Knapp clears a hurdle in the 400 meter hurdle event in Panorama last week. Knapp went fastest for the first win of his track career.

Tuesday night marked the first time in a year that Mount Ayr athletes took to the track for competition. After missing the previous year to the COVID-19 pandemic, this years seniors were only sophomores in their last competition. They had something to prove on the track and in the field, as well as to their underclassmen, as leaders.
“We’ve been confident in the five weeks of practice we have had leading up to here,” said Mount Ayr head coach Brad Elliott. “There’s some really good quality on this team and we competed really well against some of the people that will be in the state finals.”
The Raiders placed third overall with 97 points, just behind Woodbine who took second with 114 points and ACGC (Adair Casey – Guthrie Center) who took the gold with 150 points.
Leading the Raiders in points was senior Briar Knapp, who won his first ever race in the 400 meter hurdles and set three personal records throughout the night.
Freshman Ryce Reynolds was second in the points with 15.5 and has impressed those that have seen him compete.
“Not to individually select anyone, but a lot of people ran PR’s tonight,” said coach Elliott. “That year off, athletes have had time to prepare, it was a nice night. They all did an outstanding job getting on the track and dusting things off and that’s what we wanted to come home with tonight.”
The Raiders saw Ryce Reynolds finish second in the 400 meter dash with a time of 52.31, behind Brigham Daniel of Glidden-Ralston who ran a 52.05.
Adler Shay and Trae Ehlen took second and third in the 800 meter run with times of 2:08.84 and 2:08.85, respectively.
Knapp’s 400 meter hurdle time of 1:02.65 was good enough for first and he also took second in the high jump with a height of 5-06 cleared.The Raiders took first in the 4×800 with a time of 8:50.16 that was ran by Trae Ehlen, Erik Trujillo, Bryce Shaha and Adler Shay.
The Raiderettes had an impressive first night out as well, placing third with 78 points, with Panorama in second with 84 and Harlan taking first with 130 points.
Leading the points for the Raiderettes was Adalyn Reynolds, who’s freshman year was cut short after a stress fracture took her out of the running for a trip to state, with 25.5 points.
Payten Lambert scored 15.5 points for Mount Ayr, while MaKayla Jones scored 10 to round out the double digit scorers for Mount Ayr.
Reynolds battled Madrid’s Ella Santi in the sprints, coming in second in the 100 meter dash by seven one-hundredths of a second. Reynolds finished in 13.09, Santi in 13.02.
The 200 meter dash saw Reynolds finish second to Santi again after Santi set a 26.59. Reynolds set a time of 26.86, which put her second on Mount Ayr’s 200 meter dash All-Time list.
“We placed really well with Addy Reynolds,” said coach Elliott. “She’s running against kids we will have to beat to do anything at the State Meet.”
Mount Ayr finished well in multiple events to help them secure the bronze.
MaKayla Jones finished second in the 1500 meter run with a time of 5:43.72, just half a second off first place.
Hope Whittington took third in the discus with a throw of 96-01 and second in the shot put with a throw of 34-05.
Payten Lambert jumped a distance of 15-03.75 in the long jump to place second.
“It’s always nice to get into a competitive field like this and test yourself but outstanding night and really looking forward to it [the season], said coach Elliott. “We put up a lot of points tonight and really just wanted to see what individuals were capable of and get an inventory of where we are at.”