Pierce High Girls Take on the Tom Martin Track Meet
By Naomi Sullivan
Pierce hosted the annual Tom Martin Memorial/Wausa Invite track meet on Thursday, April 24, where the Bluejay competitors got to stay on the home track and showcase their skills to the community. The girls track team placed second with a total of 74 points.
“The girls work hard at every meet and in every event, we PR every meet. I'm excited to see what we do at conference next week. A typical day doesn't change much. Reality is that throwers go early and runners go later. The day dictates off the weather, and we haven't had any great full days yet. I have great assistant coaches, and they all do what they're supposed to, and that makes my life easy. I enjoy watching and coaching everything. I coach the 400 and 800; every event is something different, which intrigues me, and I like to watch all of the events. I thought the kids competed hard as the conditions got worse as the day went on, and the girls never said anything about it; they just worked hard,” head coach Les Painter said.
Starting with the field events results, in discus Kylie Dvorak placed first by a 13-foot lead, with a total throw of 136-06. Jessa Kraft got second place, throwing 123-02.
In shot put, Dvorak placed third with a throw of 37-11.50. Following right behind Dvorak was Raleigh Pfeiffer, throwing 36-03.00.
Jumping to a different field event, Nora Herian placed second in long jump, reaching 16-04.25.
Soaring into the pole vault, in fourth place was Aubrie Zimmerman, vaulting 8-03.00.
Running in the 100-meter hurdles and placing fifth was Grace Suckstorf with a time of 17.95.
Aislyn Moeller placed second in the 200-meter with a time of 26.47.
Moeller also ran the 800-meter run and got first place with a time of 2:33.14. Natalie Endorf placed sixth with a run of 2:45.00.
Suckstorf, this time with the 300 hurdles, placed fourth with a time of 53.23.
Onto the relays, the first up was the 4x100 including Suckstorf, Zimmerman, Meredith Krienert, and Herian, and the team’s time was 54.51, placing sixth.
The 4x400m relay placed third with Kennedy Johnson, Haley Scholting, Herian, and Moeller, running a time of 4:29.25.
“I think this track season has been very successful, and I'm enjoying it. I competed well, I think I could have pushed myself more for the 800. I'm in the 200 ,400, 800, and 4x4. I do track because it keeps me in shape, and the friendships I make in track are also with other runners from other teams,” Moeller, a sophomore, said. “My favorite part of track is when the coaches push me and hang out with friends. The best memory of this track season is when we did the scavenger hunt for practice one day.”
Speeding to next week, the Bluejays will be traveling to the Norfolk Track Classic Invitational on Thursday, April 30, followed by the Mid-State conference meet on Saturday, May 2 at Wayne.
