Girls host Early Bird Relays

(Above) Ava Richtsmeier makes a hand-off to Layne Lester in the Sprint Medley relay.  The Lions hosted the Early Bird Relays on April 6.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake girls track team hosted their Early Bird Relays Tuesday, April 6, to kick off the season.

“We are made up of a young group of athletes and are off and running for our first track meet,” said Coach Shawn Puttmann.

The young Lion team finished seventh in the field of eight with 42 points.  Humboldt raced to the win with 151.5 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Iowa Falls-Alden with 128.  St. Ansgar was third with 113.5, followed by Algona with 103, Bishop Garrigan with 100 and Forest City with 78.  Hampton Dumont-finished behind the Lions with 10 points.

Clear Lake’s highest finisher was freshman Emily McLaughlin, who placed fourth in the 1500 meter run in a time of 5:48.11.  She also anchored the Distance Medley relay team to a fifth place finish in a time of 5:06.54.  That relay also included freshmen Kylee Leewright and Maycee Mariarty, as well as sophomore Ava Richtsmeier.

Also placing fifth was the Lions’ shuttle hurdle relay team of Grace Meyer, Payton McGrath, Anna Feuerbach and Mariposa Coleman.  The group posted a time of 1:25.43.

The 4x800 with Jadyn Heesch, Kylee Leewright, Kaitlyn VanderPloeg and Alexis Hauge crossed the finish line fifth in 12:32.11.

Other top six placements in running events included Anna Feuerbach, finishing sixth in the 800 in 2:49.60 and McGrath was sixth in the 400 hurdles in 1:28.68.

In field events, Grace Meyer and Makella Jacobs placed fifth and sixth respectively.  Meyer jumped 13’2.5” and Jacobs had a mark of 12’10.5”.  VanderPloeg cleared 4’4” to claim sixth place in the high jump.

Additional placements included:

•Sprint Medley: Jacobs, Jordan Maryland, Richtsmeier, Layne Lester, 8th, 2:13.40

•100: Jacobs, 10th, 14.99; Chela Herrequin, 12th, 15.41

•400: Herrequin, 8th, 1:17.64; Heesch, 9th, 1:20.66

•4x200: Maryland, Leewright, Mariarty, Lester, 7th, 2:09.61

•100 hurdles: Meyer, 11th, 20:46; Coleman, 15th, 21.71

•800: Hauge, 9th, 3:10.42

•200: Richtsmeier, 10th, 31.88; Kerstin Branstad, 11th, 34.27

•400 hurdles: Heesch, 7th, 1:30.45

•4x100: Jacobs, Heesch, Richtsmeier, Meyer, 7th, 58.55

•4x400: Feuerbach, McGrath, Hause, Lester, 7th, 5:10.73

•Discus: Alana Moody, 11th, 65’01”; Coleman, 13th, 49’02”

•Shot put: Moody, 8th, 27’10.5”; Coleman, 13th, 22’8”