Mt. Pleasant 7th winners, 8th runners up in SEC boys’ middle school meet

FORT MADISON — Southeast Conference track athletes joined together in Fort Madison on Monday as the 7th and 8th grade boys’ championships were held.

It was Mt. Pleasant that fared the best out of the three Union area big school. The Panthers won the seventh grade event, scoring 122.50 points. They took second, scoring 107 points.

The Panther seventh-graders did most of their damage in the sprints. Ryan Helling took home two conference championships, one in the 200-meter dash, and one in the 400-meter dash.

Helling ousted teammate Griffin Jones in the 200. Jones did win the 200-meter hurdles.

The Panther 4X400 relay team of Caleb Shephard, Khanon Koller, Jones and Gunner Ortiz-Beckman won. Also winning for Mt. Pleasant was the shuttle hurdle relay of James Thiengmany, Koller, Isaiah Lange and Kaden Schadt.

Washington had one championship on the seventh grade side. The distance medley team of Owen Wulf, Tyler Lukavsky, Daniel Chenoweth and Parker Tschantz took first place.

The eighth-grade Mt. Pleasant squad had a fantastic day in the sprints and hurdles. Most notably, Franky Lopez and Keegan Heaton went one-two in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter hurdles, with Lopez winning both.

The Panther eighth grade shuttle hurdle team of Brody Clark, Owen Lord, Lopez and Heaton took first as well.

Washington had a winner in the 4X400 team of Kobe Williams, Mark Chenoweth, Ashton Manz and Blaine Rees. The Demons’ big points came in the throws, however, as Greyson Hartman won the shot put with a throw of 47-07.50, and took the discus with a hurl of 147-04.

Fairfield didn’t have any winners, but the eighth-grade 800 runners scooped two out of the Top-3 positions. John Miller finished second, and Lane Stever finished third.

7TH-GRADE TEAM SCORES

1. Mt. Pleasant 122.50

2. Ottumwa 107

3. Fort Madison 91

4. Washington 85

5. Keokuk 73

6. Burlington 42.50

7. Fairfield 30

8TH-GRADE TEAM SCORES

1. Ottumwa 125

2. Mt. Pleasant 107

3. Fort Madison 95.33

4. Washington 79

5. Burlington 77.33

6. Fairfield 45.33

7. Keokuk 18