Fairfield girls take down Mt. Pleasant at Demon Relays

The Fairfield girls? track team was already looking at some prime competition at the Demon Relays on Thursday, but after a meet in Centerville was cancelled, the opposition became even tougher as Mt. Pleasant was added in at the last moment as another foe. The Trojans rose to the occasion, taking the top spot in the relays with 125 points, besting the Panthers? 120 and another SEC foe in Washington?s 105.

?It?s been a long time since we?ve beat Mt. Pleasant,? said Fairfield head coach Jerrod Belzer. ?The win was great for our team last night. The girls know now that they absolutely have what it takes to win conference so long as we keep putting in the results. We?re starting to see our best relays and lineups come together and we have a lot of interchangeable parts and can make adjustments night to night.

?Moving forward, we?ve got to learn from any mistakes we?ve made and just stay focused; the confidence is there, but now we have to continue to work.?

The Trojans got a top finisher individually in Taylor Ferrel, as the senior ran an 11:42.94 in the 3000-meter run to win it. Kara Jeffrey and Malory Jones were part of a four-way tie for the top spot in the high jump, clearing 4?8? each.

Sami Fritz took second place in the 400-meter dash at 1:04.32 and had another second-place finish in the 1500-meter run, an event that she broke the meet record in 2014, with a 5:22.15 time. Malory Jones placed second in the 400-meter hurdles at 1:14.85, falling by half a second to Washington?s Jessie Buchholz.

Maggie Ferrel ran a 2:36.16 in the 800-meter run, good for third place behind a pair of Fort Madison Bloodhounds. Brynna Bowman placed third in the 200-meter dash behind a pair of Panthers at 29.03. Jada Lippincott threw for third in the shot put at 33?3? and Kaylee Watson finished third in the discus with a distance of 87?6?.

The Trojans got a lot of points when it came to the relay races. Fairfield?s team of Alexis Jones, Jillian Dunlap, Nicole Buch and Ashley Bloomquist won the distance medley at 4:38.90. In the 4x400-meter relay, Malory Jones, Buch, Jeffrey and Fritz took the top slot with a time of 4:27.12.

Danae Drish, Fritz, Maggie Ferrel and Bloomquist ran the 4x800-meter relay and finished second at 9:53.34. Sarah Swanson, Kristen Daugherty, Malory Jones and Aluna Olaniyi placed fourth in the 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle at 1:17.60. The Trojans also placed fourth in the 4x200-meter relay with the team of Dunlap, Alexis Jones, Taylor Ferrel and Mackenzi Harwood.

Rounding out the relays were Gabrielle Kuehl, Blair Bowman, Alexis Jones and Dunlap in the 4x100-meter relay in fifth place at 57.76. In the final race, the 800-meter sprint relay, Amber Burroughs, Brynna Bowman, Taylor Ferrel and Jeffrey ended up sixth at 2:05.10.

Rounding out the individual finishers for the Trojans were: Jeffrey, fourth place 400-meter dash, 1:07.00; Harwood, fifth place 200-meter dash, 30.12; Olaniyi, fifth place 100-meter hurdles, 17.82; Drish, sixth place 800-meter run, 2:46.00; Brynna Bowman, sixth place 100-meter dash, 13.88; Daugherty, sixth place 400-meter hurdles, 1:20.58; Amiah Neff, ninth place 100-meter dash, 14.47; Swanson, eighth place, 100-meter hurdles, 18.52 and Abby Melcher, 10th place 800-meter run, 2:50.44.

Next up for the girls, the team travels Tuesday to Fort Madison for another set of relays. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m. while the running events start at 5 p.m.