Red Oak, Essex compete in Ram Relays

It has been a spring that has seen cold, rain, and other instances of nasty weather that have postponed or cancelled Southwest Iowa sporting events.April 25 in Glenwood was not one of those nights, as the Ram Relays went off without a hitch, in near perfect conditions.It was a successful night for Glenwood, as the Rams swept the overall championship for both their girls and boys teams.Essex and the Red Oak girls were also at the meet, and they had some solid results as well in multiple events.Red OakThe Ram Relays is usually a competitive meet that brings the top schools from the Hawkeye-10 conference and other parts of Iowa. Head coach Curtis Adams said because of the stacked field, he knew points would be hard to come by, but a lot of runners had their best meet of the season.“In the events that I thought we could get some points, we did,” he said. “We had some personal records that might not have scored points, but were still personal records and that’s what it’s about.”Adams said he was most impressed with the sprint medley team of Maysen Havener, Morgan Akers, Sydney Streicher, and Juhi Boeye.Adams said that team has a chance to qualify for the state meet, if they can get their time below two minutes. In Glenwood they finished fifth with a time of 2:00.71.“They didn’t really believe me I think,” Adams said. “I think they believe me now.”Adams also highlighted the performance of Boeye, whose 63-second split was better than any time she’s run in the 400-meter this year.“She runs faster when she’s chasing people,” he said. “She just goes after them; no one is faster than her in the last 100 and it’s really fun to see.”Boeye also finished third in the open 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.30.Havener took sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.85 and Streicher finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.55.Essex BoysGlenwood was not where Essex thought they would be racing when the day started.There was a home meet scheduled for Essex, but hard rain the night before and a dirt track meant that even with the good weather Monday, the track would not be ready in time.Essex was able to join the Ram Relays as a late addition, and boys head coach Jon Denton said they wanted to use the meet to simulate a larger, district-style meet.“We knew we were a little outmanned here,” he said. “The goal today was to get a track meet in, and this was a good opportunity for us to compete against bigger schools.”Denton said he was pleased for the most part with the effort of the Trojans.“It’s always tough going into a meet and knowing that you need to run your best in every race, but that’s the goal as you go through the season,” he said. “It’s part of building the program back up.”Cody McClintock had a good day in the 1,600 meter run, finishing seventh with a time of 4:57.75.Essex girlsThe Essex girls track team was in the same situation as the boys team, seeing their home meet cancelled because of track conditions.As by far the smallest school at the meet, head coach Liz Skillern said the team had different expectations than at other meets.“I told them we aren’t here to win the meet,” she said. “We’re here to compete and come up with some of our best times.”Essex’s sprint medley team of Daiton Martin, Shea Jensen, Bethany Johnson, and Jescenia Mosley took fourth with a time of 1:59.77.Mosley added a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.67.The 4x200 meter relay team of Mosley, Johnson, Devan Gray and Martin also had a big day, finishing fifth with a time of 1:54.57.Gray added a ninth-place finish in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 12:38.91.Essex finished the meet in ninth with 28 points, ahead of some larger schools such as Fremont-Mills and Red Oak.