Lady Panthers excel with relays and field events to kickoff outdoor season

The Lady Panthers opened their outdoor track season on the road when they competed at West Burlington/Notre Dame on March 27. The girls had to endure chilly and wet conditions, but still had some top-five finishes en-route to a seventh-place finish.

    Pekin picked up some points early by some underclassmen in the 100-meter dash. Sophie Wittrock finished third in 14.45 seconds, while Cate Roth took fifth with a time of 14.59 seconds. The two placements led to eight early points for the Lady Panthers. Roth followed up that finish with a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, crossing the line at the 30.67 second mark.

    Another underclassman, Emilee Linder, gained six more points for the Lady Panthers after she ran the third fastest time in the 400-meter dash, finishing with 1:07.78. The quality finishes kept coming for Pekin as Remi Duwa ran the second-fastest time in the 800-meter field, finishing up with a time of 2:41.76.

    Pekin finished middle of the pack in their hurdle events but did manage to pick up another six points along the way. Gracie Baetsle ran 20.34 seconds in her first 100-meter hurdle event, placing her in seventh, and was followed closely by Faith Goudy, who finished eighth with a time of 21.17 seconds. In the 400-meter hurdles Pekin took fourth through sixth. Kira Smith was the lone underclassman in the field and finished fourth, hitting a mark of 1:35.33.

    The Lady Panthers picked up several points in their relays, finishing third in the 4x100m (57.28) and first in the 4x800m (11:38.46). The girls also took third in the 800-sprint medley (2:03.31) and third in the 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle with a time of 1:26.23.

    Some other bright spots included a second-place finish by Katie Jones in the shot put (30’-2.00”) and a first-place finish in discus (88’-1.00”) by freshman Emi Zook.

    Other results are as follows:

    100-meter dash: Megan Criswell finished 16th (18.49)

    200-meter dash: Gracie Baetsle took ninth (31.80), Tara Kielkopf finished 16th (37.19)

    400-meter dash: Shannon Saeger finished 10th (1:25.88)

    1500-meter run: Kaitlyn Glosser finished sixth (6:37.15)

    3000-meter run: Kaitlyn Glosser finished fourth (13:52.72)

    100-meter hurdles: Kalee Haile finished 11th (21.92)

    400-meter hurdles: Kodi Dailey took fifth (1:39.07), Shannon Saeger finished sixth (1:40.73)

    4x200-meter relay: Pekin finished sixth (2:25.13)

    4x400-meter relay: Pekin finished fourth (4:57.28)

    Distance Medley: Pekin finished fourth (4:56.75)

    Long Jump: Emilee Linder took second (15’-5.25”), Kodi Dailey took sixth (12’-7.50”), Kaylee Peiffer finished eighth (11’-7.75”)

    Shot Put: Emi Zook took sixth (28’-1.00”), Anne Meier finished ninth (24’-2.50”)

    Discus: Katie Jones finished eighth (71’-8.00”)

    As a team, the Lady Panthers finished with 99 points, which put them in seventh of the 12 teams attending. The girls headed to Fairfield for their next competition on April 3.