(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic girl’s track and field team had one great performance on Monday night, earning themselves a second-place finish behind Glenwood on the Trojans’ senior night. Atlantic earned a total of 119 team points on the night for their second-place finish while Lewis Central came in a close third with 112 team points. The Harlan Cyclones were able to earn fifth place with a total of 61 points on the night.
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It all started with the field events and sophomore Lila Wiederstein who earned first place in the girl’s long jump with a jump of 17’2″ which was 8″ more than the second-place finisher Kylie Meier from Clarinda. She also worked in the relay events for Atlantic to help the Trojans earn their second-place finish and credits her teammates for pushing her toward success.
One of the highlights of the night was the 4×400-meter relay for the Trojans. While they weren’t able to earn first in the event, they placed third and it was a hard-fought third-place finish. Senior Claire Pellett was able to close the gap between her and the Harlan relay team that went all the way down to the 100-meter mark on the homestretch and she was able to cross the line by the slightest margin to beat the Cyclones.
Pellett’s regular season may be coming to a close, but is excited for these next weeks and has set quite a few goals for herself. One of those goals came in the 800-meter run where she came in second overall at 2:23.11 and even though she wants that time to improve by the end of the week, she is going to enjoy every moment left of the season.
The momentum was on Atlantic’s side Monday night. Other top finishers for the girl’s side were Stella Van Aernam finishing sixth in the 100-meter dash at 13.73 while Jersey Phippen came right behind in eighth at 13.96. In the 200-meter dash, Hailey Huffman earned second place with a time of 27.74, and Van Aernam was able to notch an eighth-place finish at 28.72. In the 400-meter dash, Abigail Andersen finished seventh at 1:07.40 while the Trojans featured a first-place finisher Jayci Reed in the 100-meter hurdles at 16.10 and teammate Adler Bruce in sixth at 18.03. Morgan Botos captured a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:08.86 while Katrina Williams was able to earn a fifth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run at 12:13.25.
In the field events, other than Lila earning first in the long jump, Taylee Hagen was able to gain a seventh-place finish with a jump of 14’3″. Adler Bruce made her mark in the high jump with a sixth-place finish at 4’4″while Olivia Olsen earned sixth in the shot put with a throw that went 32’7.5″ and Olsen also placed fifth in the discus at 97’10”.
Looking at the relay events, the Trojans finished first in the 4×100-meter relay at 51.19 and the 4×100-meter shuttle hurdle relay at 1:11.38. The Trojans also earned second in the 4×200-meter relay at 1:50.75 and the 1600-meter medley relay at 4:24.99. The girls were also able to capture a third-place finish in the 800-meter medley relay at 1:58.62.
Head Coach Matt Mullenix is happy to see things treading in the right direction for his girls. They are on a track of momentum as the relay teams have hit their season-bests and there were multiple personal records reached on Monday.
The girls are seeing their performances get better and better night in and night out. Coach Mullenix is seeing these girls buy into what the program is doing and it only continues to pay off.
Atlantic will now jump back into action on Thursday for the Hawkeye Ten Track and Field Championships with the meet starting at 4:15 p.m. in Shenandoah, weather permitting.
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For the Harlan Cyclones, the girls were able to capture a fifth-place finish with a total of 61 points. The Cyclones featured quite a few runners who encapsulated themselves in the beginning and began to break out in quite a few events as the meet carried on. Harlan featured seventh-place finisher Aubree Wegner in the 100-meter dash at 13.91 while Samantha Ineson was able to earn fourth in the 200-meter dash at 28.43. Brylee Schechinger earned fifth in the 800-meter run at 2:32.53 and Allie Anderson was able to earn seventh in the 1500-meter run. One of the top finishes for Harlan came from Jaylee Schmitz in the 100-meter hurdles with a second-place finish at 17.16. The hurdles also favored Harlan in the 400-meter hurdle event with Abby Broeckelman earning fourth at 1:11.71.
In the field events, Harlan’s Aubree Wagner tied for third with Council Bluffs Lincoln’s Hutson Rau with a jump of 4’6″. Moving over the relay events, the Cyclones earned fourth in the 4×400-meter relay at 4:17.68 and earned fourth in the 4×800-meter relay at 10:59.90. The girls earned one of their top relay finishes in the 1600-meter medley relay at 4:26.46 and in the 4×100-meter shuttle hurdle relay at 1:12.20.
