Make it 19 in a row for Pekin boys; girls dominate again

WAPELLO ? The Pekin boys? track team has dominated their conference for the better part of two decades.

And when the Panthers stepped onto the track at Wapello Tuesday night they thought, ?Why stop now??

Pekin picked up an astounding 19th-straight conference title at Tuesday?s SEISC north division meet, and to long-time head coach Davis Eidahl who has been there for each and every one, it?s one more tally mark.

?To win meets, you must compete, and this was one of our best competing teams,? Eidahl said. ?It?s hard to lose when you can place two in most events, and I give credit to our entire team for a job well done.?

While Pekin only won one event on the track, they double-placed in nine of 11 individual events en route to scoring 157 points and running away with the team title. Wapello was second with 126, and Mediapolis fell to third with 99.

Leading the double-place finishes was the rock-solid group of field event athletes. The Panthers scored a whopping 63 points in the four field events led by Zach Mosbey clearly proving to be the best thrower in the conference. Mosbey was first in both the discus (153? 3?) and shot put with a season-best throw of 53-feet, four-inches.

Trey Sathoff also cleared six-feet, six-inches for the first time in his career and appears back on track for another good finish at the state meet.

Bryce Sines was second behind Sathoff in the high jump (6? 2?) and won the long jump with a leap of 19-feet, 11-inches.

The 4x800 foursome of Eli Harper, Graham Wittrock, Phillip Laux and Brady Lamb was also conference champs with a winning time of 8:27.

Lamb finished runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (57.76) followed by Maeder in fourth (59.70).

Girls win 21st in 23 years

WAPELLO ? It would have been tough for anyone to take Pekin down from its perch atop the conference regardless of how Pekin performed.

But the Panthers decided to have one of their best nights of the year by setting two conference records and posting season bests in 11 events to continue an amazing run of conference titles. Scoring 199 points Pekin picked up its 21st conference title in 23 years and nearly double the score of second-place Mediapolis (104) at Tuesday?s SEISC north division meet in Wapello.

Two relays re-wrote the conference record book, which now includes the names Annie Jones, Kaitlin Spilman, Kristen Fariss and Celsey Conger for their 4x800 time of 9:54. Victoria Eckley, Maranda Baker, Jones and Conger also ran the best time ever posted by a conference distance medley team with a clocking of 4:26.

Those wins were just the beginning for a Pekin team that won 10 events on the night including two more relays.

Individual season bests came from Brenna Conger in the 3,000 (1st, 11:06), Erin Mosinski in the 100-hurdles (1st, 16.01) and 200-meter dash (27.38) and Emily Ellis in the 400-meter hurdles (1:08.45). Brenna Conger also edged her sister Celsey by less than two seconds as the duo placed 1-2 in the 1500 with times of 5:03 and 5:05 ? both season bests for the sophomores. Full Results can be found on Page 5.