Mt. Pleasant hurdlers carry on tradition

DES MOINES - It was a Saturday during the state track and field tournament, so one would expect to see plenty of Mt. Pleasant Panthers hitting the hurdles at Drake Stadium. Like many years prior, 2021 saw multiple Mt. Pleasant athletes taking part in Class 3A state finals.

Two individuals and one team made hurdle finals for the Panthers over the weekend. Karsyn Lamm took seventh in the 100-meter hurdles. Bryce Wilson finished seventh in the 110-meter high hurdles, and the Mt. Pleasant girls shuttle hurdle squad finished eighth.

Lamm snuck into the field of eight with a seventh-place finish at the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries on Friday. She qualified seventh and repeated that performance one day later with a seventh-place finals time of 16.02 seconds.

“ I just wanted to run the best I could,” said Lamm, a senior. “I felt good the first couple and then I started hitting some hurtles, but I medaled so I’m happy with it.”

Lamm ran the anchor leg of the shuttle hurdle squad. Her team, which included younger sister Kenna Lamm, as well as another sister duo in Jenna and Josie Gilmore, ran the race in 1:08.75.

“Everyone did great, and it was a cool experience with our two sets of sisters,” said Karsyn Lamm. “It was an awesome experience to come up here and medal.”

Kenna Lamm was in the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries. She finished 16th, with a time of 16.81 seconds.

Sophomore Bryce Wilson was the lone finalist for the Mt. Pleasant boys on Saturday. After qualifying third one day prior, Wilson ran his final in 15.39 seconds, for seventh.

A frustrated Wilson said he was slowed by a little contact from his left side.

“The Pella kid hit me five times with his arm,” Wilson said. “Then he finished ahead of me, so I guess that’s how that works.”

The Mt. Pleasant girls team scored three points on Saturday to finish tied for 19th overall with 15 points. The Panther boys scored six points to wind up tied in 30th.