Red Oak, Griswold have strong performances at Clarinda
CLARINDA — Kate Walker once again scored the bulk of the points for the Red Oak girls’ track team as the Tigers finished sixth at last Tuesday’s fog-filled Lady Cardinal Relays.
Walker had two wins and anchored the distance medley team to a second place finish. The Tigers had a score of 42 points in the 2A field as Glenwood won with 165. Walker was responsible for 22.5 of Red Oak’s points in the relays.
Both wins for Walker were highlights for the team. The first came in the 800-meter run when Walker edged out Atlantic’s Tiffany Williams with a time of 2:33.30. Williams, who won the 3,000 earlier in the meet, was a half second behind Walker at the finish line of the 800.
Walker’s second victory came in the 1,500 when she took over the lead from Creston’s Maria Mostek in the final 100 meters to run a time of 5:17.63. Mostek, who led for much of the race, wasn’t able to recover as she ran a 5:19.00.
In the distance medley, it was Walker, Sydney Streicher, Michaela Buntrock and Nikki Graber finishing behind only Creston as they ran a time of 4:45.02.
Red Oak had a big highlight from freshman Juhi Boeye as the freshman took third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:08.29. Natalie Mostek of Creston and Ashley Konfrst of Glenwood were the only ones to finish ahead of Boeye.
Ashley Brower took fourth in the 3,000 when she ran a time of 12:52.37. Brower was sandwiched between Creston’s Monica Powers and Lexie Little.
Sierra Athen also scored points for the Tigers thanks to her fifth place finish in the shot put. The freshman had a throw of 32’10.50”.
The other relay points finish for Red Oak came in the 4x400 when Boeye, Streicher, Paige Shirley and Graber took fifth with a time of 4:44.49.
Class 1A
It was Griswold dominating the 14-team field as they won with a score of 128 points. The Tigers more than doubled the point total of the two runners-up Treynor and Bedford (both had 62).
Griswold had three wins individually and two wins in relay races. Rebekah Topham and Alyx Flippin own two of those individual victories. Topham scored her win in the 400-meter hurdles when she won by nearly six seconds, running a time of 1:08.95.
Southwest Valley’s Elizabeth Herzberg was second with 1:14.52, while Griswold’s Jessica Marshall took third with 1:18.99. East Mills’ Sarai Waddell was fifth with 1:24.00 and Essex’s Sara Skalberg was seventh with 1:25.30.
Flippin meanwhile scored her win in the 1,500 when she won with a time of 5:15.01. Teammate Alyssa Wyman was second with a time of 5:58.87. Also in the race, Kendra Top of Southwest Valley took fifth with 6:11.82 and Devan Gray was sixth with 6:16.43.
Jackie Rush had the third individual win for Griswold when she won the discus with a throw of 102’4”. Teammate Kinzey Nicklaus was sixth with 82’2”. Rush was second in the shot put (32’5”), while teammate Mykenzie Rainey (31’3.50”) was third.
Both Topham and Flippin were critical legs for the 4x400 team as they won it along with Marshall and Wyman, posting a time of 4:31.38.
Griswold also picked up a win in the 4x800 when the team of Marshall, Wyman, Anna Young and Payton Rush ran a time of 10:59.36.
Stanton, Essex and East Mills all competed at the meet as well. Essex finished ninth, East Mills finished 11th and Stanton took 12th.
Each team had a winner during the meet.
The Viqueens big highlight came in the shuttle-hurdle relays when the team of Logan Wagg, Ally Focht, Chelsea Weis and Lauren Stephens won with a time of 1:14.70.
“It was good,” Stephens said. “The wind was really strong and it’s strange running the fourth leg, rather than the third.”
It was the first win for the new hurdle relay tandem. Weis and Focht are filling in the spots left by last year’s seniors, Carmen Subbert and Macy Elwood.
“Most of us practiced with the older girls last year, so we got to learn the tricks of the trade,” Weis said.
It was the first meet for Stanton, as their home meet scheduled for April 2 was postponed.
Essex meanwhile scored its only win in the 4x100 when the team of Daiton Martin, Jescenia Mosley, Bethany Johnson and Kym Graham ran a time of 55.55.
“I noticed Bethany and Jescenia, they had a really good hand-off and all the sudden Bethany was gaining on all the girls and she had a great lead on the girls and it gave me a kick right there,” Graham, the anchor for the race, said.
The team won by two seconds over Bedford, Griswold, Mount Ayr and Stanton. Graham said this is the one relay they’ve worked hard to get right.
“It helps because we have [Martin] and she’s great out of the blocks,” Graham said. “The rest of us have to work on our handoffs and we’ve been getting that down really well.”
Essex had a strong performance also from Martin, who finished second in a highly-contested 100-meter dash. Martin (14.23) was edged out at the finish line by Lexy Larsen of Sidney.
East Mills’ lone win came in the high jump as Sarai Waddell had a jump of 5’. Jessi Doyle was fifth for East Mills in the event with 4’6”.