This past weekend, the Pleasant Valley track teams competed at Drake Relays: a meet the teams look forward to each year. This meet is different from any other meet they go to during their season. “Drake is different because kids from every division in Iowa come out to compete,” said senior Sam Hanna. “Also other than the high school events, there are college and professional competitions going on as well.” This year the girls representing PV at Drake had the opportunity to meet Georganne Moline, Olympian and world champion in the 400-meter hurdles. She gave the girls some great advice going into the weekend.
The girls started off on Thursday with sophomore Sara Hoskins placing 14th in high jump, a great feat with all of the competition at Drake. Later senior Ellie Spelhaug was able to place 15th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.73 seconds. Senior Amaria Kirby qualified for the 100-meter dash finals to later place seventh overall. Their sprint medley relay team was able to pull off a 17th place finish. Spartan long jumpers freshman Harmony Creasy and junior Carli Spelhaug qualified for finals and ended up in eighth and ninth place. Seniors Kira Arthofer and Kirby with junior Adrea Arthofer and freshman Creasy ended with an impressive fifth place finish in the 4×200-meter relay with a time of 1:44.62.
After their performances the previous day, the girls went into Friday feeling confident. Their 4×100-meter relay qualified for finals and placed fifth. Their 4×400-meter relay went on to run in the finals as well and finished sixth. The 4×800-meter relay team placed 12th. Sophomore Clare Basala placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a new personal best time!
Although it may seem like all these girls did was run all weekend they really did enjoy themselves. “This meet is always something to look forward to. All of the best athletes are there to show what they have, not only in the high school and college division, but also famous Olympians. You can learn a lot and also see what works for them and what they do,” said Kira Arthofer. “It’s also time to hang out with the team and get closer.” The teams really take the opportunity to spend this extra time together. “We have a tradition of going to Spaghetti Works every year, but this year was really fun because we had an Olympian join us and talk to us about her career and experiences,” said senior Lexi Neal. “It was really cool.”
As for the boys, Hanna placed sixth in the discus throw and 10th in the shot put. In the 3200-meter race senior Konnor Sommer got fifth place. Seniors Arthur Braden and Collin Ankton placed 30th and 25th in the 100-meter dash. 4×100-meter relay team junior Andrew Schiltz and seniors Ankton, Tanner Erickson and Braden placed 30th. Juniors Michael Sampson and Parker Huhn and seniors Sommer and Anthony Pena finished 16th in the 4×800-meter relay. Sommer finished in third place in the 1600-meter race with a time of 4:18.47.
The Spartans represented well in their running and their sportsmanship this weekend, leaving all of Spartan Nation proud of their hard work.
