Pekin track teams open season in Pella

PELLA ? The Pekin girls? track and field team won two events and the boys seized one win during Friday?s season-opening Bulldog-Panther Track Classic at Central College in Pella.

The girls? 4x400 relay ? featuring Samantha Wright, Whitney Horras, Maleaha Earnest and Gwynne Wright ? won their race by 13 seconds (10:37). The distance medley consisting of Sam and Gwynne Wright, Whitney Horras and Sloan Reighard also blew away the competition with a 14:02 finish.

A runner-up finish came in the California mile, also known as the 8x200. Victoria Eckley, Jessica Horras, Nikole Arendt, Mallory Reed, Maranda Baker, Earnest, Beth Atwood and Mickey Reynolds combined for a time of 4:03, which was six ticks behind Ottumwa?s winning relay. The Panthers? quartet of Whitney Horras, Reighard, and Sam and Gwynne Wright also finished third in the 4x400 with a time of 4:34.

Pekin finished fourth in the 4x55 relay (31.48). Baker added a fourth-place toss of 33-feet, 5-inches in the shot put, while Reed claimed fourth in the 55-meter hurdles (9.26).

In boys? competition, Pekin?s Chase Copeland, Christian Wittrock, Graham Wittrock and Quinton Garrels placed first in the 55-meter shuttle relay with a winning time of 26.3 seconds.

Pekin?s 4x400 team of Cory Loyd, Eli Harper, and Graham and Christian Wittrock finished runner-up in 3:52.0. Chase Earnest also finished runner-up in the high jump with a clearance of 5-feet, 10-inches.

Eli Harper, Cade Millikin, Graham Wittrock and Austin Fariss teamed up to place third in the 4x800 (9:11), while the distance medley team of Millikin, Harper, Christian Wittrock and Austin Fariss finished fourth (12:24). Loyd, Cory Lanman, Earnest and Tanner Adam locked up fourth place in the shuttle hurdle relay (39.09).

Fourth-place individual finishes came from Lanman in the high jump (5?8?) and Austin Adam in the shot put (46?10?).

Also in action Friday were the Cardinal boys, who earned a second-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay (37.83) and fifth-place finish from Charlie Rachford in the long jump (18?9.5?).

Pekin?s teams return to Pella for their next meet, the Pekin Indoor, scheduled Thursday at Central College. Start time is 4:30 p.m.