EARLHAM — The outdoor portion of the track season began for both the Panther boys and girls track teams Monday when Panorama competed in the unscored Earlham Early Bird.
Head coach Greg Thompson was pleased with the efforts of both squads, noting six new personal bests were set by the girls and five by the boys.
“This was a good opening meet,” he said. “The girls team depth is definitely a strength, and while the boys depth was definitely good, it will need to improve.”
The Panther girls won three relays, with Bailey Beckman, Kassidy Bremer, Brooke Halterman and Devyn Kemble claiming the 4×200 in 1 minute, 53.1 seconds. Beckman, Bremer, Kemble and Morgan Johnk won the sprint medley in 1:57.41, with Hope Arganbright, Kellie Prince, Carson Fisher and Taylor Rishel teaming to post a winning 5:05.83 in the distance medley.
Breanna Hoffman, Beckman, Johnk and Kemble were second in the 4×400 (4:25.89), with Hoffman, Emily Smith, Brooklyn Behrends and Cameron Laughery second in the 4×800 (11:33.86) while Johnk, Kemble and Beckman were joined by Lydia Knapp in placing third in the 4×100 (54.24).
Johnk was third in the 100 high hurdles in 16.74 seconds, with Payton Douglass third (1:15.71) and Knapp fourth (1:18.46) in the 400 low hurdles. Hoffman (2:48.19) and Lydia Lindstrom (2:51.24) were 2-4 in the 800, with Behrends (5:58.51) and Smith (6:07.86) placing 2-3 in the 1500.
Knapp had the only top three finish in a field event, placing third in the discus with a spin of 88 feet, 9 inches.
Koltin Sloss shoved the shot put 35’11-3/4 to place second for the Panther boys, the lone top three field event finish for the squad.
Spencer Hunt had a strong opening outing, placing second in both the 100 (11.88) and 200 (24.62) and joining Blaine Barber, Allias Stahl and Luke South to finish second in the sprint medley (1:43.59). Hunt also ran with Barber, South and Conner Meinecke in the 4×400, which crossed the line third in 3:51.09.
South was third, in 17.46 ticks, in the 110 high hurdles, with Emry Colby third in the 800 in 2:19.03 while Josh Carstens used a clocking of 11:16.69 to place second in the 3200.
The 4×100 quartet of South, Meinecke, Stahl and Barber finished third in 49.75, with Jeramy Randol, Bryce Halterman, Aaron Irving and Carstens running to third in the distance medley in 4:19.47.
Panorama returns to action Thursday with a visit to Perry for the 10th annual Davis Family Invitational before hosting their own invite April 4.
