PHS Track
Pierce Knocks Out the Competition at Norfolk Catholic
by Autumn Lambrecht
On May 5, the Pierce High track team raced their way down to the Norfolk Catholic track meet. Both the girls and boys Pierce High teams brought home first place, and the girls won with a score of 122 points and the boys with 129 points.
Head coach Tim Waldner comments, “With conference only two days away we just limited everyone, treated it as a training day and hoped that no one got hurt.”
Starting off the day strong, Bethany Kaup took fifth place in the girls 100-meter dash with her time of 13.3.
In the girls 200-meter dash, Kaup brought home the gold with her time of 26.9.
For the girls 800-meter run, Callie Arnold took first with a time of 2:31.2 along with Payten Simmons, who stole second, running a time of 2:31.
In the girls 1600-meter run, Alexus Sindelar took second with a time of 5:28.6.
In the girls 110-meter hurdles, Skylar Scholting brought home sixth with her time of 17.6.
Racing in the girls 300-meter hurdles, Hadleigh Collison placed fourth overall with a time of 50.7.
The girls 4x100 relay placed fifth overall with a time of 53.3, with the team built up of Abby Watts, Kaup, Gina Wragge, and Morgan Moeller.
Taking first in the girls 4x400 relay was Moeller, Collison, Arnold, and Simmons with their time of 4:18.3.
For the girls high jump, Claudia Riggert took fourth with her jump of 4-06.00.
In the girls long jump, Wragge took first with a jump of 16-05.75. Scholting received fifth jumping 14-10.50, along with Morgan Blecher placing sixth with a jump of
14-07.00.
In the girls triple jump, Wragge took second with her jump of 33-01.00. Blecher placed sixth overall, jumping 30-07.00.
For girls shot put, Elly Piper took first, throwing 44-03.00, followed by Jozy Piper, taking second, with her throw of 42-08.50. Makinzie Parsons received fifth overall with a throw of 34-06.25.
J. Piper took first in girls discus with her throw of 133-05. E. Piper brought home second with her throw of 129-03. Graison Pfeiffer took home sixth with her throw of 79-10.
Arnold adds, “Having conference a day before the Catholic meet, a lot of people were sore and tired. I thought for what events people were in they performed really well.”
In the boys 100-meter dash, Keenan Valverde took first place with his time of 11.4.
For the boys 200-meter dash, Evan Willits brought home first with a time of 22.9, with Coleton Cooper receiving second, running a time of 22.9.
In the boys 400-meter dash, Keaton Weeder placed second overall, with his time of 53.7. Benjamin Bolling took fourth with a time of 55.9.
In the boys 800-meter run, Christopher Efta placed sixth overall with a time of 2:08.7.
Benjamin Brahmer took second in the boys 110-hurdles with a time of 15.2. Max Cooper placed sixth overall with his time 18.6.
In the boys 300-meter hurdles, Brahmer took second with a time of 40.7.
For the boys 4x100 relay, with a time of 44.6, the team consisting of Michael Kruntorad, Kaden Johnson, C. Cooper, and Valverde took home first.
In the boys 4x400 meter relay, with the team built up of Anthony Leise, M. Cooper, B. Bolling, and C. Efta received third overall.
In the boys 4x800, Pierce took third with Nickolas Efta, Elijah Streff, C. Efta, and Alexander Meier with a time of 9:41.2.
For the boys high jump, Isaiah Yarde placed third with a jump of 5-06.00.
For the boys long jump, Gavin Sullivan placed first with his jump of 20-03.25. Addison Croghan placed third with a jump of 19-05.75.
In the boys triple jump, Sullivan took first with his jump of 41-03.75. Croghan took fourth with a jump of 38-07.25.
In the boys shot put, Bode Hoffmann took fourth place with his throw of 44-03.00. Matthew Christensen got fifth place with a throw of 43-04.75. Dylan Riedel got sixth with his throw of 41-03.50.
For the boys discus, Carter Meier received fourth with a throw of 140-01. Schuyler Simpson placed fifth with a throw of 124-10.
The next meet will be state track on May 18, at Burke High School.
Pierce High Competes at Mid-State in Battle Creek
by Alle Koehler
On Tuesday, May 3, both the boys and girls track teams traveled the short distance to Battle Creek to compete in the Mid-State conference tournament, and with 125 points, the girls placed first overall and the boys, with 77.5 points, placed fourth.
To begin in field events, Claudia Riggert jumped 4-07, placing fourth in the girls high jump. Placing first in the girls long jump with a jump of 16-04.00 was senior Gina Wragge. Wragge comments on the meet saying, “Placing first in long jump with a PR definitely gave me a boost of confidence heading into districts. I’m glad that I’m peaking at this time of the season.”
Teammate Skylar Scholting finished second with a jump of 15-09.50.
Along with placing first in the long jump, Wragge managed to place fourth in the girls triple jump with 33-00.50.
Elly Piper finished in first place with a great throw of 44-09.00 in the girls shot put and in discus with a throw of 137-09. Not far behind her was Jozy Piper finishing in second place in both events with a throw of 44-03 in shot put and 133-10 in discus. Fellow senior Graison Pfeiffer finished sixth in discus with a throw of 98-03.
During the running events, Bethany Kaup placed third in the girls 200-meter dash with 27.03.
In the girls 400-meter dash Hadleigh Collison finished in fifth place with a time of 1:03.60.
Callie Arnold finished second in the girls 800-meter run with 2:27.96 and first in the 1600-meter run with five minutes and 35 seconds.
Senior Payten Simmons placed fourth in the 800-meter run with 2:32.50.
Alexus Sindelar finished second in the 1600-meter run with 5:35.73. Sindelar also finished in second in the 3200-meter run, running 12:22.69.
The 4x100 relay finished fifth with a time of 52.69.
Running in the 4x400 meter relay, Simmons, Arnold, Collison, and Morgan Moeller finished in second place with a time of 4:19.52.
Finishing in first place in the 4x800 meter relay were Simmons, Arnold, Moeller, and Sindelar with 9:59.16.
In boys field events, Isaiah Yard placed fourth in high jump with a jump of 5-07.
Gavin Sullivan placed third in the boys long jump with 21-00.00, while Addison Croghan placed fifth with 20-08.50.
Sullivan also placed second in the boys triple jump with 41-11, Croghan followed finishing in third with 41-10.50, while Luke Endorf ended in sixth with a jump of 39-01.00.
Bode Hoffmann finished fifth in boys shot put, throwing 46-00.50.
In discus Carter Meier finished in fourth place with 132-10 and Schuyler Simpson followed with 127-11 finishing in sixth place.
For the boys running events, Keenan Valverde finished fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.37, and finishing closely behind was Michael Kruntorad in sixth with a time of 11:42.
In the 200-meter dash, Valverde finished fourth with a time of 23.23, and Coleton Cooper finished fifth with a time of 23.27.
Cooper finished third in the 400-meter dash, running a 52.34.
Benjamin Brahmer placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.95 and following him was Croghan placing fifth in 15.18.
Brahmer also finished third in the 300-meter hurdles with 40.74.
Placing in first in the boys 4x100 relay, with a time of 44.45 was Michael Kruntorad, C. Cooper, Kaden Johnson, and Valverde.
Kruntorad talks about the run saying, “All four of us pushed hard and ran the best we could and the ending results showed.”
Also placing first in the 4x400 meter relay were Cooper, Johnson, Croghan, and Brahmer with 3:31.37.
The boys and girls who qualified for state will be back in action Wednesday, May 18, at Burke High School.
