Headed in the right direction

Great effort led to season-best times and distances for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in a pair of track and field meets.

The Hawk girls began the week at the Okoboji Coed Relays at Milford. Individuals contributing to H-M-S's point total were Megan Otto, fifth in the high jump (4'8") and Frankie Mohni, sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:21.40). Both were personal best efforts.

Relays adding points were: 4x100 – Mohni, Moriah Otto, Payton Diehm, Abby Otto, sixth, :58.25; Sprint medley – Mohni, Diehm, A. Otto, Moriah Otto, sixth, 2:18.50; Distance medley – Evelyn Steffen, Pamela Mutombo, Kamryn Ebel, Jocelyn Abonce, sixth, 5:30.0.

"The meet at Okoboji is always competitive," noted Hawk coach Kirsten Taylor. "It's a great challenge seeing our athletes rise to compete against some of the strongest athletes in our state."

Other individual competitors were: 100 – Diehm, 10th, :15.0; Mutombo, 13th, :15.80. 200 – A. Otto, 10th, :30.80; Alivia Baker, 12th, :31.90. 400 – Baker, ninth, 1:16.50; Moriah Otto, 10th, 1:18.0. 800 – Ebel, 12th, 3:05.60; Abonce, 13th, 3:08.10. 1500 – Lexi Croatt, 10th, 6:37.90; Clara Funk, 11th, 7:01.20; Abonce, 12th, 7:02.80; Ebel, 13th, 7:07.0. 3000 – Croatt, seventh, 14:42.60; Funk, eighth, 15:47.20. 100 hurdles – Mohni, 13th, :20.20; Megan Otto, 17th, :26.70.

Field event participants were: Shot put – Alexis Grover, ninth, 28'6"; Hannah Tessum, 12th, 24'11-1/2". Discus – Eliza Tewes, ninth, 70'9"; Grover, 12th, 57'6".

The Hawks finished seventh in the 4x200 relay, run by Steffen, Mutombo, Megan Otto and Diehm (2:10.10).

In JV, Baker and Steffen tied for fifth in the 100 meter dash (:15.90). Natalie McDaniel placed ninth in the discus (35'5") and tenth in the shot put (16'11-1/2").

Sioux Center edged Spirit Lake, 123-122, to win the girls' team title. Sibley-Ocheyedan was third with 118 points, followed by Okoboji 115.5, Emmetsburg 55, Sheldon 26, Harris-Lake Park 9, Okoboji JV 7.5 and H-M-S 6.

• Personal bests at North Union

Several season or personal best efforts at the John Larson Relays at Armstrong were "a great confidence boost" for the Hawks.

Megan Otto finished second in the high jump (4'8") and Mohni was runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (1:21.54). Placing fifth were Steffen with a personal best time in the 400 (1:14.60), and Abonce with a season-best time in the 800 (2:59.80).

Adding sixth-place finishes were Lexi Croatt in the 1500 (6:14.28) and Diehm in the long jump (10'7-3/4").

The best relay finish came in the 4x800, where Abonce, Funk, Ebel and Croatt finished third (12:50.37). Mohni, Diehm, Moriah Otto and Abby Otto finished fifth in the sprint medley (2:07.45) and sixth in the 4x200 (2:02.78). Mutombo, Diehm, Moriah Otto and Abby Otto finished sixth in the 4x100 (:57.99).

Other results were: 100 – Moriah Otto, eighth, :14.56; Mutombo, 12th, :16.26. 200 – Steffen, ninth, :33.14; Megan Otto, 12th, :35.70. 1500 – Funk, eighth, 7:00.36. 100 hurdles – Mohni, seventh, :20.72; Megan Otto, 10th, :25.24. Shot put (V) – Grover, 13th, 26'4"; Tessum, 14th, 24'7-1/4" (JV) – McDaniel, fifth, 16'3-3/4". Discus (V) – Grover, 11th, 49'2-1/2"; (JV) – Tessum, fourth, 58'8"; McDaniel, seventh, 36'6".

Additional relay results were: 4x400 – Steffen, Abonce, Croatt, Ebel, seventh, 5:21.64. JV 4x200 – Mutombo, Megan Otto, Tessum, Steffen, fourth, 2:13.53.

"There was an overall great effort given by all," Taylor said. "Times are going down and distances in the field are consistently getting farther, which is exactly where we want to be right now."

Girls' team standings were Northwood-Kensett 119, North Union 110, Bishop Garrigan 104, West Bend-Mallard 90, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 63, North Iowa 62, H-M-S 52 and GT/RA 47. The Hawks' point total was a season-high.

H-M-S will finish the regular season with meets at South O'Brien on May 4 and Sioux Central on May 8.