Mt. Pleasant girls narrowly miss SEC meet title

One and a half points.

That was the difference between winning and finishing the Southeast Conference girls' track meet in second place on Thursday evening. Unfortunately for Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield's one-two finish in the 1,500 meter run proved to be the difference as the Panthers took second place, 111-109.5.

"When you come up 1.5 points short, that is about as close as you can get. That is just finishing one place higher in any of the 19 events. [I'm] disappointed we didn't win but not disappointed in how we performed," said coach Dave Hutchcroft. "I thought we had the girls in the right spots and they did the best they could. Sometimes you have to give credit to your opponent for a job well done and that is the case here."

Altogether, Mt. Pleasant won five events at the SEC meet, including a one-two finish in the long jump from Leslie Taylor and Taylor Shull. Leslie Taylor, who hadn't competed in the long jump in five meets, posted a season-best distance with her jump of 16'-6".

The Panthers also won the 4x800 meter (Emma Ludwig, Natalie Myers, Taryne Shull, Sierra Wyse) in 10:35.18 and the 4x200 meter relay (Rebekah Kimzey, Kelsey Smith, Sierra Wyse, Taylor Shull) in 1:52.04.

Leslie Taylor also picked up an individual win in the 100 meter hurdles, winning in 16.69 seconds, while Chloe Haffarnan won the 800 meter run in 2:28.22. Katie Jones won the 400 meter hurdles in 1:09.61.

Mt. Pleasant competes again at the district track meet on Thursday, May 12. The meet will be held at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex in Mt. Pleasant, starting at 5 p.m.

Final team scores

1. Fairfield 111; 2. Mt. Pleasant 109.5; 3. Washington 87; 4. Fort Madison 52; 5. Keokuk 35.5

Individual results

100m ? 4th-Leslie Taylor 13.49

200m ? 5th-Taylor Shull 27.55, 8th-Abigail Feldman 31.18

400m ? 5th-Katie Jones 1:04.69, 5th-Kaitlyn Fry 1:14.40

800m ? 1st-Chloe Haffarnan 2:28.22, 4th-Taryne Shull 2:35.07, 5th-Jordan Walker 3:04.29

1,500m ? 3rd-Hannah Weber 5:32.92

3,000m ? 2nd-Hannah Weber 11:32.01, 6th-Maddie Lance 12:39.58, 7th-Jasmin Tone 12:52.08

100m hurdles ? 1st-Leslie Taylor 16.69, 4th-Chelsey Stark 17.37, 6th-Riley Zielinski 18.09

400m hurdles ? 1st-Kaitlin Jones 1:09.61

4x100m ? 2nd-Leslie Taylor, Kelsey Smith, Kaitlin Jones, Taylor Shull 52.71

4x200m ? 1st-Rebekah Kimzey, Kelsey Smith, Sierra Wyse, Taylor Shull 1:52.04

4x400m ? 2nd-Rebekah Kimzey, TaryneShull,Grace Lutovsky, Cloe Haffaran 4:26.13

4x800m ? 1st-Emma Ludwig, Natalie Myers, Taryne Shull, Sierra Wyse 10:36.18

Shuttle hurdle relay ? 2nd-Rebekah Kimzey, Chelsey Stark, Shayla Knudsen, Kaitlin Jones 1:11.81

Sprint medley relay ? 2nd-Rebekah Kimzey, Kelsey Smith, Grace Lutovsky, Sierra Wyse 1:58.87

Distance medley relay ? 2nd-4:35.45

Shot put ? 10th-Sydney Housh 22?6?

Discus ? 5th-Lindsey Fox 84?7?, Sydney Housh 50?2?

Long jump ? 1st-Leslie Taylor 16?6?, 4th-Taylor Shull 15? 7 1/4?, 9th-Tasha Vancil 12? 8 1/2?

High jump ? 4th-Grace Lutovsky 4?6?