Mount Ayr track competes at Earlham, Knoxville

By Editor | April 21, 2021 |

Tuesday night saw the Mount Ayr track teams head to Earlham to compete at Jack Padilla Field with 14 other teams such as Earlham, Panorama, Harlan and Van Meter.
The Raiderettes finished the night in fifth with 70 points, just behind fourth place South Hamilton.
Taking home the gold was Van Meter with 103 points, while Harlan and Panorama rounded out the top three with 102 and 88 points, respectively.
The girls saw a handful of wins throughout the night and were led by Addy Reynolds who brought in 29.25 points, while Hope Whittington brought in 11. Zoey Larsen and Payten Lambert scored 10 throughout the night to round out the double digits for Mount Ayr.
Reynolds took first in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash and took second in the 400 meter dash.
In the discus, Zoey Larsen took second overall with a throw of 94-00 while teammate Hope Whittington threw for 85-04 to bring home fourth.
Whittington also performed well in the shot put, bringing home the bronze with a throw of 30-07.25.
The Raiders had good success as well, finishing sixth in a crowded field with 64 points.
Taking the gold was ACGC followed by Van Meter and Des Moines Christian with 129 and 96 points, respecitively.
Bringing in the most points for the Raiders was Ryce Reynolds with 18.5, followed by Adler Shay with 10.75 to round out double digit scorers.
Reynolds took first in the 400 meter dash, almost two seconds faster than second place Chris Schreck of Van Meter.
Reynolds brought home the only individual gold for the Raiders, however, the relay teams saw some success.
The 4×800 relay team of Adler Shay, Erik Trujillo, Ryce Reynolds and Trae Ehlen finished second.
The Raiders stunned the crowed with an impressive finish to the night in the 4×400. The team of Erik Trujillo, Payton Weehler, Adler Shay and Ryce Reynolds fell behind early, running in seventh, the team began to gain ground as Weehler closed the gap in his leg of the race. By the anchor leg with Reynolds, the Raiders had surpassed the entire field and finished 1.75 seconds ahead of second place.
“Coming off last week, it’s a cold, windy night, I thought we competed really well, especially if you consider the conditions. Training is going really well and we had a few kids that are a little stiff right now that didn’t see any action tonight,” said coach Brad Elliott. “Trying to play it safe in the beginning of the season. We saw some awesome performances tonight. Reynolds just ran the first half of that race [4×400] like he was on a mission and gave us a preview of some exciting things to come from him and gave everyone a lasting memory tonight.”
Knoxville
Panther Meet
Mount Ayr traveled to Knoxville on Thursday where the Raiderettes took sixth overall with 61 points.
Winterset took first with 142.5 followed by Indianola with 134 and Pella with 123.5.
Ottumwa finished fourth with 99, Van Meter in fifth with 85, Knoxville seventh with 47 and Pella Christian eighth with 37.
Addy Reynolds led the points for Mount Ayr with 25.25 points, followed by Payten Lambert with 12.25.
Reynolds had a handful of second place finishes in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash events.
Lambert finished fourth in the 400 meter and sixth in the long jump and was part of the fourth place 4×100 team that included Kaylie Shields, Addy Reynolds and Maddy Stewart.
The Raiders finished fifth overall with 75 points.
Van Meter took first with 126 while Des Moines Christian and Knoxville rounded out the top three with 95 and 80 points, respectively.
Belmond Klemme was fourth, Pella Christian fifth, Pella seventh and EBF came in eighth.
Ryce Reynolds led the points for Mount Ayr with 12.5 followed by Payton Weehler with 10.5 and Briar Knapp with 10.
Reynolds and Weehler were second and third in the 400 meter dash and were also part of the winning 4×400 team that also consisted of Trae Ehlen and Adler Shay.
The Raiders also took first in the 4×800 with Adler Shay, Bryce Shaha, Erik Trujillo and Trae Ehlen.
The Sprint Medley team of Dawson Swank, Austin Cole, Payton Weehler and Ryce Reynolds took second.
Erik Trujillo finished third in the long jump with a distance of 18-11.25 and Bryce Shaha finished third in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:15.43.
Mount Ayr was set to run in Lenox Monday night but the meet was postponed.