Audubon Early Bird Event
HCHS Cyclones
With their previous event at Denison High School cancelled due to inclement weather, the HCHS Cyclones girls track and field team didn’t skip a beat with having to adjust to another outdoor meet at Audubon.
“This was a 16-team girls only meet with no team score, so we had a lot of room to experiment and try new things,” said Cyclone Head Coach Jenny Hamilton. “We had great weather and great competition for our first outdoor meet in Audubon.”
Freshman Cyclone Allie Anderson won the 3000m event with a time of 12:17.69. Senior Lauren Wingert finished eighth in the event with 15:10.18.
Senior Samantha Ineson competed in multiple events being a part of the spring medley, the 100m dash, the 4x200, and the 4x100.
Ineson helped lead the sprint medley team to a 3rd place finish with a time of 1:59.09 that featured her, Dani Smith, Kami Stork, and Abby Broeckelman. She finished 4th in the 100m with a time of 14.00, and 2nd in the 4x200.
“Sammie had a big night with four events, and she handled the challenge well,” Hamilton said. “She went neck-in-neck with Atlantic down the stretch in the 4x2 and was able to hold her off through the finish.”
In hurdles, the Cyclones had two girls who finished in the top 20 including Jaylee Schmitz taking second place with 17.20 and Ari Daniels taking 17th with 18.78.
“Jaylee and Ari are knocking on the door of where they left off hurdling last season,” Hamilton added.
A nice moment occurred during the event when Senior Taylor Bieker took one of the newer students under her wing and prepared her for an event.
“I listened to Taylor explain to Clara [Otto], our foreign exchange student from Germany, the ins-and-outs of the open 400,” Hamilton said. “One lap around, no hand-offs. That was one of the many things that made me smile.”
The Cyclones next event will be Thursday at 4:15 p.m. at Merrill Field where they will be one of seven schools competing.
IKM-Manning Wolves
In the 4x800 event, which featured Taylor Beckendorf, Raegan Garrison, Alikxa McGinn, and Addisyn Bandow, they managed to take home a 4th place finish, including a personal record.
“There were no team scores, but we had some girls step up and put up some really good times,” said Wolves Head Coach Emma Konkler-Petersen. “Our 4x800 started the season off with a huge PR of 10:45 and an incredible anchor leg run by Addisyn Bandow.”
Other highlights of the meet included the distance medley team which featured Grace Carroll, Caylie Rasmussen, Hannah McKinney, and Bandow taking 4th place with a time of 4:51.39, just 14+ seconds behind Logan-Magnolia who won the event with 4:36.97.
In the 200m dash, Oriah Meiners and McGinn both finished in the top 10 with Meiners taking 2nd with a time of 29.03 finishing behind Jozie Payne of Tri Center who won the event with 27.92 McGinn finished 6th overall with 29.64.
Beckendorf and Garrison also did well in individual events, with Beckendorf taking 5th in high jump with a 4-08.00 and 6th in 400 hurdles with 1:18.16, 6+ seconds behind Morgan Botos of Atlantic who won with 1:11.38. Garrison took 6th in the 1500m event with 5:42.16, just 20 seconds behind the winner, Madeline Knispel of Treynor with 5:22.03.
“We were very proud of how the girls competed overall,” Konkler-Petersen said. “We have a lot of little things we need to improve on as a team, but with it being early in the season, we have plenty of time to make these changes. The girls are all very motivated after seeing their times and their hard work paying off and are ready to do what it takes to go out and try to place in meets.”
The Wolves next event will be April 2 at 4:30 p.m. at Riverside High School where they will be one of 10 schools competing.