Pekin exhibits long-distance strength in home track meet

The Panthers had their boys’ and girls’ track teams competing in various events when Pekin hosted an indoor meet at Central College on March 9. Both teams showed some of their strengths, as the season has yet to officially begin, doing best in the long-distance events.

On the girls’ side, the Lady Panthers competed in eight events, four of which they finished in the top three. The long-distance relays provided two of those top finishes, as the girls finished first in the 4x800 and third in the distance medley, which was a combined 1200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1600-meter legs in one race. Pekin also exhibited some speed as they managed to pull off a second-place finish in the 4x200, running a time of 1:58.78, only .14 seconds off the lead.

They continued to show their quick burst ability in the shuttle relay, taking the third best time with a time of 31.26 seconds. Pekin managed to put together a solid fourth-place finish in the 4x400, finishing up with a time of 4:48.13. The last event on the track the girls competed in was the shuttle-hurdle relay, where they came in fifth of five teams, running a time of 46.68 seconds.

A small handful of Lady Panthers took part in the field events, such as high jump and shot put. In the high jump, Ellie Ledger eclipsed a height of 4’-08” on her best attempt and finished in fourth place. The top three were able to get over when the bar was set at 4’-10” to take the top three spots. Two Pekin girls tossed around the shot put, with Katie Jones doing the best with 30’-2.5”, ending up in fifth place.

“That competition against other teams is a nice thing to see, and we competed hard,” Lady Panthers coach Josh Roudabush said. “I wanted to see them give it their all, regardless of what they ran and to see where we need to improve the most.”

The Pekin boys saw similar results on the day, finishing in the top five in all eight events they competed in. Of those eight finishes, three resulted in first-place wins in the 4x800 (8:40.79), Shuttle Hurdle Relay (35.10 seconds) and 4x400 (3:38.45). Pekin dominated for a majority of all those events, either leading wire to wire or staying close and making a move in the latter stages.

In the Distance Medley the boys finished in second place with a time of 12:30.28, hanging around the front of the pack for most of the race, and as it began to spread out, managed to stay in the top five. Colten Glosser took the baton on the final leg, starting out with a quicker pace to get them back in the top two, then settling in to hold onto the spot and runner-up finish. The Panthers also took second place in the more unorthodox California Mile, which consisted of eight boys running 200-meter dashes.

Though Pekin produced speed in their relays, the 4x200-meter dash wasn’t as kind, but they still took third place with a time of 1:40.87. Though the Panthers were able to blaze their way to a top finish in the shuttle hurdle relays, they were unable to do as well in the same event, minus the hurdles. They finished in fourth place with a time of 27.67, within one tenth of a second from third place.

Pekin had one lone male finish in the top three in the field events, as Slater Williams took third in the shot put, throwing for 44’-.75”.

“This was a great start for us,” Panther coach Davis Eidahl said. “After two weeks of practice it is nice to have a meet to see if you are on pace to meet your goals. A meet like this allows you to run all your team and have each being able to compete in at least three events.”

The Pekin boys’ team traveled to Ames on March 13 in hopes of building off their success, while the girls won’t compete again until March 14, when they host another indoor meet at Central College.
 

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