Pierce Wins Tom Martin Memorial Track Meet
By Addisyn Ludden
In a tight scoring team meet that came down to the final race, the Pierce girls were victorious and claimed first place in the Tom Martin Memorial/Wausa Invitational held on Thursday, April 18, and the boys team finished second.
”I thought overall both the girls and boys teams competed well at the Tom Martin/Wausa Track meet,” head track coach Les Painter states. “Our girls won the meet and our boys got runner up. The improvement from meet to meet has been good. The thing I see we need to work on that could help us get faster are our handoffs in all of our relays. This will be something we work a lot more going forward.”
The 4x400 relay team wrapped up two firsts for the Bluejays, one in the race and one in the team score, with a time of 4:20.57, edging out the second place team by only one second. Runners consisted of Claudia Riggert, Skylar Scholting, Hadleigh Collison, and Abigail Cone.
Starting off with the girls field events, in discus Kylie Dvorak threw 127-07 and got first place. Following her, Jessa Kraft earned fifth place with a throw of 108-00, and coming in behind her, Soiyer Pfeiffer threw 98-10 and got sixth.
Throwing in shot put, Raleigh Pfeiffer placed second with a throw of 35-07.00 and Dvorak medaled third, throwing 34-09.50.
Jumping in the triple jump, S. Scholting grabbed sixth place, leaping 30-08.50.
In long jump, Nora Herian jumped 16-01.75, claiming second place.
Moving onto high jump, Riggert placed third, jumping 4-08.00.
Going onto running events, in the 800-meter run Cone medaled, claiming second by running a time of 2:29.98 and Haley Scholting grabbed fourth place with a time of 2:38.62.
Running in the 1600-meter race, placing first was Josie Painter with a time of 5:48.14 and H. Scholting claimed her third medal of the day, by posting a time of 6:00.48, earning fifth overall.
In the 3200-meter run, Zoey Ebmeier received third with a time of 13:13.06.
Racing in the 100-meter hurdles, S. Scholting placed fifth, running a time of 17.66, and Mya Froehlich ran 17.67 and ended sixth.
S. Scholting again medaled, this time in the 300-meter hurdles, where she grabbed fifth with a time of 51.37.
Running in the 4x100 meter relay, Natalie Kosch, Herian, Grace Suckstorf, and Froehlich placed sixth overall as a team with an ending time of 55.19.
And finally, running in the 4x800 meter relay, Collison, Painter, H. Scholting, and Cone all contributed to the time with an ending time of 10:33.55, finishing third.
“The track meet went really well, and it was pretty awesome to win our own home meet. I thought everyone handled the wind and colder temperatures really well,” Cone comments. A lot of us also PR’d, so that’s really fun to see.”
For the boys side of the track meet, in long jump, Gavin Sullivan placed first with a jump of 21-01.50 and coming in behind him Keenan Valverde earned third with a jump of 20-01.50.
Moving onto triple jump, Ryder Theisen earned first with a jump of 42-01.50 and Sullivan placed second, jumping 42-01.25.
Going onto running events, in the 200-meter dash, Sullivan earned sixth place with a time of 23.82.
Running in the 400-meter race, Benjamin Bolling ended third with a time of 54.59.
In the 800-meter run, Brenden Bolling grabbed first, running the race in 2:02.74.
Also claiming a first place medal, Kendall Shada’s time of 4:49.35 was fast enough to win in the 1600-meter run.
In the 110-meter hurdles, Theisen earned third with a time of 16.59.
Moving onto the 300-meter hurdles, Theisen medaled again, this time grabbing fourth with a time of 45.82.
Running in the 4x100 meter relay, Turner Wolfe, Sullivan, Be. Bolling and Valverde, placed second overall with a time of 45.73.
The boys 4x400 team received first with a time of 3:36.54. Hayden Bauer, Be. Bolling, Valverde, and Br. Bolling were all a part of this team.
Placing first as well, the boys 4x800 team, running in a time of 8:49.66, included Shada, Keaton Frazier, Nickolas Efta, and Br. Bolling.
The next track meet will be on April 24, where qualifying athletes will compete at the Norfolk Track Classic starting at 4 p.m.
