Wind and cold don't stop Tiger Invitational
Geoff Preston
Red Oak Express
It was the theme of many athletic events during the past week in Southwest Iowa: cold, windy weather made times slower at the Tiger Invitational in Red Oak.
Despite the poor weather, a theme prevailed from most of the coaches: everyone has to deal with the weather.
“We try to mentally prepare [for the weather] but try not to make to big of a deal about it,” Southwest Valley head coach Mat Beu said. “Everybody else is competing in it, we’re all on the same level playing field, the wind is the same, the cold is the same for everybody else-we just have to be the tougher team.”
Red Oak head coach Curtis Adams echoed that sentiment, saying it’s just part of the early spring season.
“I just tell them it’s the same for everybody, and you just have to put your head down and go,” he said. “It’s more mental than anything. It’s cold and for some kids it’s just tough, and you have to just fight through it.”
The athletes did fight through the wind and cold. Sydney won the Class A meet while Glenwood took the top spot for AA. Various local athletes had impressive results as well:
Red Oak
A come-from-behind performance by Sydney Streicher in the final leg of the 4x100 shuttle hurdle was one of the more exciting results from Red Oak, and it helped the Tigers win their heat and place third overall with a time of 1:20.45. The other members of the team, were Morgan Akers, Emily Petersen and Paige Shirley.
The sprint medley team of Maysen Havener, Hannah Vial, Streicher and Juhi Boeye took fourth place with a time of 4:44.39.
Havener also took third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.28. Boeye was also busy with a second- place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:06.74 and a fifth- place finish in the 200 meter dash with a time of 29.22.
The 4x400 meter relay also scored points for Red Oak as the team of Ashley Brower, Streicher, Vial and Boeye finished fourth with a time of 4:44.39.
In its first meet at Glenwood Red Oak scored only 11 points, but Thursday scored 32 as a team, and Adams said the team can build off its improvement over just one meet.
“Part of it is getting them in shape, both physically and mentally,” he said. “Part of it is me figuring out how to get everyone in their right spot so we can maximize our team.”
Stanton
The Lady Vikings scored 59.5 points during the meet Thursday night, and were helped by a strong performance by Devin Druivenga in the discus, which she won by posting a throw of 91’.
Stanton’s 400 meter shuttle hurdle relay team also took first place with a time of 1:15.19.
Chelsea Weiss took fourth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 18.01. Madison Franzen was close behind in sixth with a time of 19.72.
Head coach Katie Elwood said she was happy with Stanton’s performance in their first full meet of the season.
“We got started at Clarinda and we got cut short,” she said. “I thought we got off to a good start down there, too. This hasn’t been too bad for us. We were excited to get out here and it’s good to see them compete.”
Essex
Essex was led by a strong showing from Daiton Martin in the sprint events and a first place result from Keegan Nelson in the shot put.
Nelson’s top throw was 33’3’’, while Martin took fourth in the 100 and 200 meter dash with times of 13.36 and 28.15, respectively.
Bethany Johnson was also on the cusp of scoring for Essex, finishing seventh in the 100 meter dash with a time of 14.15.
Kelsi Leninger got on the board for Essex, finishing fifth in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:14.93.
Devan Gray and Abbie Lindburg scored in the 800 meter run with fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Gray finished in 2:51.99 and Lindburg finished in 2:58.34.
Jescenia Mosley added a second place finish in the 100 meter hurdles, finishing in 16.59.
Overall, Essex finished with 82.5 points, good for fourth overall.
“I’m proud of the way they’ve competed,” boys head coach Jon Denton said.
Denton was filling in for girls head coach Liz Skillern while she was visiting family in Las Vegas.
Southwest Valley
Beu knew there was some heavy competition coming to Red Oak in the AA class.
“We weren’t really sure if we could compete with Glenwood or Creston,” he said. “We know Shenandoah has an extremely tough team, too, so we were hoping to finish in the top half.”
Southwest Valley came close but finished in fifth with 46 points. There were impressive results coming from the Timberwolves.
In the long jump, the duo of Miah Hummell and Diana Bergen finished third and fourth, respectively, with jumps of 13’10’’ and 13’8’’.
Another highlight was Kaylea Wiechnam finishing fourth in the 100 meter and 200 meter dashes. She finished the 100 meter in 13.41 and the 200 meter in 28.25.
Griswold
It was a big night for Griswold. They scored 104 points, which was good for third.
Anna Young took first place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:43.66, which was followed closely by Payton Rush’s third place performance with a time of 2:49.42
Griswold also got first place finishes from Alisha Seyler in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 13:28.54 and in the 400 meter hurdles from Jessica Marshall with a time of 1:17.06.
The distance medley team also came in first with a time of 5:04.14.