Business as usual: MP wins SEC

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

In what has become a yearly tradition since the new millennium, the Mt. Pleasant track and field teams celebrated two more Southeast Conference championships on Thursday night.

Both Panther teams eclipsed 100 points during the SEC meet, which was held at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex in Mt. Pleasant. The boys won with 141 points and the girls topped the field with 101 points.

Mt. Pleasant also won 22 total conference championships on the night. The boys? team won 15 events and the girls? team won seven.

The night began with a sweep of the sprint medley events, which set the tone for the rest of the night.

The girls? team of Dani Broeker, Kirsten Smith, Maggie Cristoforo and Taylor Murray pulled it out on the final leg, winning the race in 1:57.03. The boys? team of Khang Truong, Nolan Quade, Chase Lamm and Rylan Seberg began the fun for the boys? team with a win in 1:39.32.

Cody Mertens had the first of two wins on the night in the 3200-meter run. He took the race in 9:46.22 with Logan Murray finishing right behind him at 9:46.65.

The boys? kept up the success with a win in the 4X800 relay. The squad of Ryan Hutchinson, Adam Bodenham, Brody Bender and Kyle Vanderham took the top spot with a time of 8:31.63.

Mt. Pleasant cruised through the shuttle hurdle races. The girls? team of Maddie Williamson, Serenity Keomanivong, Allison Buckert and Kalynn Batey won in 1:08.71, and the boys? team of Zach Beason, Chase Lamm, Cole Burns and Keegan Rich took first in 59.55 seconds.

The Panther boys? distance medley team of Jordan Magnani, Shull, Quade and Jacob Stukerjurgen took first in 3:49.84. Seberg added another win shortly after with a win in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 52.81 seconds.

The Panthers swept the 4X200 events. Katie Ensminger, Jenna Hummell, Kalynn Batey and Brianna Shelman took the girls? race in 1:51.68, and Rich, Khang Truong, Brody McGhghy and Hutchinson won the boys? event in 1:36.52.

In the sprint hurdle events, Buckert took first in the girls? 100-meter hurdle event in 16 seconds flat. Burns won the boys? 110-meter high hurdles in 15.47 seconds.

The Panther boys went one-two in the 800-meter run. Jonathan Ita took first in 2:04.14 and L. Murray was right behind him with a second place finish of 2:05.04.

As the night went on, the wins kept coming. Magnani picked up an individual win in the boys? 400-hurdles, topping the field in 59.46 seconds.

T. Murray held off the field for a win in the 1500-meter run, finishing in 5:04.15. The boys? team took the top two spots in the 1600-meter run with Mertens taking first in 4:45.21 and Bodenham placing second in 4:45.71.

The boys picked up two more relay wins to close out the night. The 4X100 team of Truong, Quade, Seberg and Beason won in 45.42 seconds and the 4X400 team of Hutchinson, Stukerjurgen, Vanderham and Shull topped the field in 3:37.26.

Both teams picked up a couple of SEC titles in the field events. On the boys? side, Sam Beatty and Ita went one-two in the high jump. Beatty won with a 6-00 and Ita was second at 5-08. Rich took first in the long jump with a leap of 20-11.25.

The girls continued their success in the throwing events. In the discus throw, Bailey Johnson won with a 102-11 and Abbie Liechty took first with a 101-10. Lexie Magnani took first in the shot put with a 34-11.50. Grace Bittle threw junior varsity shot put but actually had the best throw of anybody on the night, at 37-02.50.

The boys? team won their fourth SEC championship in a row on Thursday night. It was also the 11th win in the last 12 years. Head coach Mitch Anderson said after the meet that winning the SEC meet never gets old.

?It never gets boring,? Anderson said. ?I was around when we didn?t win it and that keeps you hungry every year.?

Anderson also spoke to the team?s depth, which helped them dominate even without top sprint-hurdler Jake Lowe, who is still sitting out with an injury.

?That?s the advantage of having such a deep team,? Anderson said. ?Besides having a good state team, I don?t think there is a team across the state that wants to match up with us in a local meet. We?re just so deep all the way through.?

The girls? team won their sixth championship in a row. It was also the 17th title for the MP girls in the last 20 years, and a nice birthday president for head coach Tyler Kibbee.

After the meet, Kibbee talked about his first SEC championship and the nerves he had going in to his first conference meet as MPCHS head coach.

?It?s always nervous (at first),? Kibbee said. ?When you get to see the lineups that other teams are putting together, like Washington and Fairfield, you know they are going to be coming for it.?

Kibbee also talked about the success of his relay teams, which helped bring the team title home for the Panther girls.

?Our sprint medley came out and ran big tonight,? he said. ?Our 4X200 came out and ran lights out, which is amazing because Washington has a great 4X200 (and) we did what we needed to do in the 4X100.?

Both Panther teams will now turn their attention to the state qualifying meet at home on Thursday, May 11, at 4 p.m.

FINAL BOYS? STANDINGS: 1. Mt. Pleasant, 141; 2. Washington, 61; 3. Fairfield 40; 4. Ft. Madison, 36; 5. Keokuk, 22.

FINAL GIRLS? STANDINGS: 1. Mt. Pleasant, 101; 2. Fairfield, 63; 3. Washington, 60; 4. Ft. Madison, 44; 5. Keokuk, 40.