Mt. Pleasant girls? track and field runs away with win at Keokuk

KEOKUK ? The Mt. Pleasant girls? track and field team claimed eight first-place finishes, five second-place finishes, and an easy team win at the Keokuk Relays on Tuesday.

The Panthers? team total of 198 points was 88 points ahead of second place.

Fairfield was the runner-up with 110 points, followed by City High JV and Burlington with 79 points each, host team Keokuk with 66 points, and finally, Ft. Madison with 43 points.

Winning gold for the Panthers in individual events were Leslie Taylor in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of :15.8; Chloe Haffarnan in the 800 with a time of 2:27.4; and Emma Ludwig in the 400 with a time of :65.64.

Five of the Panthers? relay teams also won their events: the 4x100 team of Taylor, Kelsey Smith, Kaitlin Jones and Taylor Shull (:52.46); the 4x400 team of Natalie Myers, Sierra Wyse, Taryne Shull and Grace Lutovsky (4:26.45); the 4x800 team of Myers, Taryne Shull, Natalie Ita and Haffarnan (10:11.88); the shuttle hurdle team of Chelsey Stark, Jones, Amy Buckert and Taylor (1:09.2); and the distance medley team of Wyse, Laura Hult, Tasha Vancil and Elaina Conrad (no time given).

?Hannah Becker and Kelsi Phipps were held out with injuries, and we had some other girls really step in and help us last night: Tasha Vancil, Laura Hult, Chelsey Stark and Amy Buckert,? Coach Dave Hutchcroft said. ?(We) came out of field events very strong last night with 48 points.?

Some of those points came from Taylor?s season-best long jump of 16-8, which earned her second place in the event.

Lutovsky also claimed a silver medal with a personal-best high jump of 5-1, adding to the Panthers points in the field events, and another second-place finish and personal-best mark came from Mary Wester in the shot put with a throw of 35-11 1/2.

The Panthers claimed two other second-place finishes on the night: Stark ran a time of :17.34 in the 100 hurdles, and Conrad had a time of 5:20.6 in the 1500-meter run.

Six of the Panther girls are gearing up for the Drake Relays this weekend.

The full team will compete again Thursday, May 3, at the SEC meet in Mt. Pleasant.