Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
H-M-S girls reach personal bests at Okoboji Relays
Pamela Mutombo moves ahead of an Emmetsburg runner during the 100-meter dash finals.
Senior Alexis Grover finished 10th in the shot put at the Okoboji Relays.
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn girls' track and field athletes did not amass a large number of team points at the Okoboji Relays, but they turned in several personal-best performances during the meet on April 22 at Milford.
According to Hawk coach Kirsten Taylor, four athletes finished with their best times or distances in both running and field events.
"Our girls' times are going down and our field marks are improving at the perfect time," Taylor noted.
Top individual finishers were Lexi Croatt, fourth in the 3000-meter run (14:05.02) and Jocelyn Abonce, sixth in the 400-meter dash (1:11.15). Taylor said Abonce has been "running consistently" in the latter event.
The Hawks also scored points in the district medley relay, where Megan Otto, Kynlee Dolphin, Evelyn Steffen and Croatt combined to finish sixth (5:40.25).
H-M-S came close to scoring team points in several other events. Mutombo was eighth in the 200-meter dash (:30.14) and ninth in the 100-meter dash (:14.56), running her fastest times in both events. The 4x100 relay team of Diehm, Steffen, Dolphin and Otto placed seventh (1:00.85); Diehm, Steffen, Otto and Mutombo finished eighth in the 4x200 (2:07.16); and Diehm, Otto, Mutombo and Abonce placed eighth in the sprint medley relay (2:02.2).
In the field events, Otto placed seventh in the high jump with a personal-best effort (4'8"). Discus throwers Eliza Tewes (82'11") and Hannah Tessum (76'6") also set personal records while finishing eighth and ninth, respectively.
Tessum added a ninth-place finish in the shot put (25'5") and Alexis Grover finished 10th (24'6"). Competing in the long jump, Diehm placed eighth (12'4-1/2") and Madi Lauer was ninth (11'4-1/4").
Sioux Center won the girls' team title with 173 points and Spirit Lake was a close second with 168. They were followed by Okoboji 142, Emmetsburg 94, Harris-Lake Park 31.5, Okoboji JV 28, Sibley-Ocheyedan 24 and H-M-S 19.5.
The Hawks are scheduled to compete at South O'Brien on May 2 and at Sioux Central on May 6. The Class 1A state qualifying meet will be held on Thursday, May 9 at Armstrong.
