LEON — For the second time in a week, the Davis County Mustangs and the EBF Rocket girls went down to the wire in deciding a conference championship and a State Qualifying Meet title. A week ago it was the Mustangs nipping the Rockets by five points to win the SCC crown and on a rainy Thursday night in Leon, it was the Mustangs again topping the Rockets by six points 114 to 108 for the qualifying meet championship. And, much to the chagrin of the Rockets, an out of zone disqualification in relays in both meets took away the points needed to win the meets.
After the top two teams, it was Pella Christian slipping past Clarinda 94-88 for third place and Albia easing past PCM 62-58 for fifth place. Centerville was 12th with 13 points.
For the winning Mustangs, it was a whole lot of sprinting, a nice blend of middle distance and distance points and some key field event points that would be the cherry on top. The Mustangs came out of the field events with 33 points and any time you can do that in a meet the size of the state qualifying meet, that is huge.
The Rockets were led by the twin tandem of Molly and Kate Shafer and each of them will be competing in four events at the big show. In this meet, Molly won the high jump at 5-05, was second in the 100 meter hurdles (15.81) and the 200 meter dash (26.08) and she joined Kate, Abby Jager and Lizzy Van Utrecht to run a Class 2A state leading time of 4:04.75 in the 4x400 meter relay.
Kate won the 400 meter hurdles (1:07.81), was second in the 400 meter dash (59.52), was on the winning 4x400 team and joined with Hailey Boyer, Lacey Taylor and Lizzie Van Utrecht for second place in the sprint medley relay.
Also competing for the Rockets on the Blue Oval will be Caroline Van Utrecht in the 800 meter run (2:26.39) and Ella Ray in the discus with a throw of 98-03.
“Our kids put everything on the line,” EBF coach Gladys Genskow said. “In a meet this size, you have your disappointments and you have surprises. We had both. I am just very pleased with this team and we will look forward to Drake Stadium.”
The Eagles of Pella Christian will have a pair of freshmen competing in four events at the big show. Meredith Van Wyk won the 100 and 200 meter dashes to punch her ticket. She will join Amelia Boender, Anna DeBoef and Bailey Vos winners of the sprint medley relay and she will anchor the second place 4x100 unit of Chloe Nikkel, DeBoef and Boender on the Blue Oval.
Vos won the 400 meter dash in 58.88 and her fifth-place time in the 800 meter run was under the cut allowing her to compete in that event as well. Vos has already been mentioned with the sprint medley relay and she will anchor the 4x400 relay team of Amaia Agre, Josie Settles and DeBoef at state.
Cara Veenstra punched her ticket with a second-place finish in the high jump at 5-01.
The Pella Christian Eagle boys ran into a talented band of Cardinals from Clarinda at the State Qualifying Meet at Central Decatur Thursday night. The Cardinal piled up 125 points to win the meet while Pella Christian was second with 95 points and Davis County was third with 72.
The Cardinals showed superior strength in the distance and middle-distance events and one-two finishes in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs proved to be a huge obstacle. And sprinters from Red Oak, Shenandoah and PCM took many of the points that the Eagles usually get.
The Eagles did well in the sprints as Isaac Kacmaryinski won both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Luke Nikkel notched a fourth in the 100 meters. The only answer the Eagles had for the Cardinal stampede in the distance races would be fourth place finishes by Kaden Van Wyngarden in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Van Wyngarden’s time in the 3200 was under the cutoff and he will be in the field at Drake Stadium.
Peyton Ritzert had a third place finish for the Eagles in the 400 meter hurdles, but his time did not meet the cutoff time.
The EBF shuttle hurdle team of Clayton Sandifer, Conner Arnold, Thomas McCrea and Russell McCrea ran to a second place finish in 1:03.13 and punched their ticket to the Blue Oval. Russell McCrea was third in the 110 meter high hurdles and his time of 16:03 was good enough to make the cut. EBF was fourth in the distance medley, but the time did not make the cut.
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