Perry thinclads ready to run — and jump — at state meet

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Bluejay tracksters, from left, Keegan Pfau, Marcus Meri, Adan Medina, Scott James and Reece Dunlap have been preparing for their events at the state track meet. Nic Wilhelmi and relay alternates Nic Fellom, Alex Long and Jacob Thompson are not pictured.

Scott James will not have to wait long for his return trip to the Class 3A State Track Meet to begin, as the senior will compete at 9 a.m. Thursday in the high jump for the second consecutive year.

Also in action Thursday for Perry will be senior Keegan Pfau, who will run in the 3200 at 10:10 a.m., with the Perry girls 4×800 quartet of Sidney Vancil, Breanna Penenger, Mariah Duffy and Emma Olejniczak taking to the blue oval at Drake Stadium at 11:10 a.m.

Nic Wilhelmi, Reece Dunlap, James and Pfau will run in the 1600 medley at 12:20 p.m. Friday, with Marcus Meri, Adan Medina, James and Pfau to compete in the preliminaries of the 4×400 at 2 p.m.

Should the 4×400 squad advance, they will run at 4:05 p.m. Saturday in the next-to-last race of the entire meet while Pfau will run Saturday in the 1600 at 1:45 p.m.

Alternate relay runners for the Bluejays are Nic Fellom, Alex Long and Jacob Thompson, with Haileigh Kenyon and Maggie Lowe on standby for the Jayettes.

Jayette coach Matt Hardy said he was proud of the tremendous progress the 4×800 team had made in the past few weeks.

“To be honest, when we say what our district was going to look like we realized the 4×800 probably had the best shot to make state, so we put some emphasis on it,” he explained. “They have really stepped it up and taken around 30 seconds off their time in the last couple of meets.”

Breanna Penenger, Emma Olejniczak, Sidney Vancil, Haileigh Kenyon and Maggie Lowe have spent the past few days readying for the 4x800 relay at the state meet. Kenyon and Lowe are alternates for the relay, with Mariah Duffy not present for the photo.
Breanna Penenger, Emma Olejniczak, Sidney Vancil, Haileigh Kenyon and Maggie Lowe have spent the past few days readying for the 4×800 relay at the state meet. Kenyon and Lowe are alternates for the relay, with Mariah Duffy not present for the photo.

The final order of the relay is not what it was at the start of the year. Vancil will led off the race, handing to Penenger, who will give the stick to Duffy, with Olejniczak anchoring the relay.

“We made some changes and played with the lineup a bit,” Hardy admitted. “I am excited to see what they do.”

Bluejay head coach Ben Coy said his hope is that every entry leave Des Moines with a new personal record and to improve upon their position entering state.

“Experience will play a role for some of them,” Coy said. “Scott (James) has been here before and jumped at the Drake Relays, so this will not be anything new for him. We have not had him try anything over 6 feet, 1 inch lately, but he has cleared 6’4 this year and there is no reason why he could not do that again.”

Pfau has had a strong senior campaign, which Coy chalked up, in part, to confidence.

“He was always capable, but needed to become a stronger runner mentally,” the coach said. “Once he had a clearer understanding of how to run his races he started to have more belief in his abilities and that is what has made the difference.”

Wilhelmi, Dunlap, James and Pfau is the order for the medley as Perry runs senior-freshman-senior-senior.

“I think we have some time we can drop,” Coy said. “We have been steady for most of the year and if we just relax and run our race we can post a good time.”

Meri, James, Medina and Pfau, in order, will carry the baton in the 4×400.

“I would love to see us slip into the finals and think we might be able to,” Coy said. “Carroll and Ballard will be in our heat and we have run against them this year, so the familiarity will help us know what we need to do. I like being in the fastest heat, because it can help speed you up.”

ThePerryNews.com will have updates, photos and full coverage from each day at the state meet.

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