GUTHRIE CENTER — AC/GC served as the host site for Coon Rapids-Bayard’s Tom Tipton Invitational Thursday. The ‘host’ Chargers won both the boys and girls team titles, with the Panorama girls second and boys third.
AC/GC totaled 170 points to nip Panorama, 170-163, in winning the girls crown. Van Meter (103) was third, with Glidden-Ralston (63), CR-B (53), CAM (29) and ADM (4) completing the field. A team score of 151 was enough for AC/GC to become boys champions, with Van Meter (129) second and Panorama (92) third. CAM (89) was fourth, with CR-B (54), G-R (41), Paton-Churdan (20) and Grand View Christian (13) also in action.
“Both of our teams loaded a few relays to see what we could do,” Panorama head coach Greg Thompson said. “We put some good times up. We still have work to do in the jumps, but we haven’t spent much time on them yet.”
“Morgan Johnk and Luke South are running well in the hurdles,” he added. “Sam Webster is placing well in the high (hurdles) with very little practice because he has been with the distance group for practices.”
Packing the relays paid off for the Panther girls, who won five of seven and finished second in the other two.
Payton Douglass, Kassidy Bremer, Bailey Beckman and Devyn Kemble won the 4×100 in 53.43 seconds and the 4×200 in 1 minute, 52.09 seconds. Beckman, Kemble, Johnk and Brianna Hoffman won the 4×400 (4:22.75), Kemble, Hoffman, Lydia Lindstrom and Emily Smith the 4×800 (10:53.29) and Douglass, Johnk, Abigail Brown and Maggie Woodvine the shuttle hurdle (1:14.01).
The foursome of Kellie Prince, Carson Fisher, Brooke Halterman and Bremer were second in the sprint medley in 2:021.4, with Prince, Halterman, Fisher and Hope Arganbright the runner-up in the distance medley in 5:05.72.
Johnk and Woodvine finished 1-5 in the 100 hurdles in 16.53 and 18.62, respectively, with Brown third (1:12.98) and Lydia Knapp fourth (1:20.74) in the 400 low hurdles.
Bremer was fourth (28.11) and Fisher fifth (29.13) in the 200 and Fisher fifth (13.69) in the 100 while Smith was fourth (5:48.54) in the 1500 and Brooklyn Behrends fourth (13:18.47) and Taylor Rishel fifth (13:23.77) in the 3000.
Lydia and Maddie Knapp were 2-3 in the 400, in 1:09.48 and 1:13.21, respectively, with Hoffman second (2:39.63) and Behrends fifth (2:47.03) in the 800.
Johnk cleared 5 feet to win the high jump, with Beckman leaping 14 feet, 6-1/2 inches for sixth in the long jump. Lydia Knapp (111 feet) and Kennedy Anderson (83’5-1/2) were 1-3 in the discus, the Knapp fourth (30’1) and Anderson fifth (29’4) in the shot put.
The Panther girls finished with 14 new personal bests in the meet, with the boys squad setting 11 new PB’s. Thompson named Fisher the meet MVP for the girls and Blaine Barber the boys MVP.
Barber ran on the winning 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams, leading off both. He was joined by Spencer Hunt, Conner Meinecke and Luke South for both, with the former relay winning in 47.51 and the latter in 1:38.95. Barber also provided fourth-place points in the long jump (17’5-3/4), finishing just behind Hunt (17’10).
Daniel Jensen returned to action Thursday and made an immediate impact, winning the discus at 122’1 and finishing third in the shot put at 38’1-1/2. Koltin Sloss was third in the discus with a spin of 104’7.
South crossed first, in 1:01.75, in the 400 low hurdles, with Webster fourth in the 110 high hurdles in 18.64. Webster led off the shuttle hurdle relay, which placed fifth in 1:14.04. He was joined in the race by South, Drew Hafner and Aaron Irving.
Danny Norquist, Levi Richey, Hunt and Meinecke used a clocking of 9:23.51 to place second in the 4×800, with Jeramy Randol, Emry Colby, Allias Stahl and Ethan Hupp teaming for fifth in the sprint medley in 1:52.41.
Bryce Halterman provided second-place points in the 100 (12.06) and fifth-place points in the 200 (25.2), with Norquist scoring fourth-place points in the 1600 (5:01.79).
“This was a great week for Panther track,” Thompson said. “Next week we will be mentally challenging our kids to compete as we have prom Saturday (April 8) and Easter break next week to manage while still competing at track meets.”
Both Panther squads will be in action Tuesday at Earlham, with the girls team visiting AC/GC Thursday.
