Charger Boys Third, Girls Fifth at WCAC T&F Meet

After a year's absence due to the covid epidemic, the WCAC track and field athletes converged on Van Meter last night for the 2021 version of the conference meet. After all of the running, jumping, and throwing was done, Van Meter emerged as the girls' champion and Madrid captured the boys' title. The ACGC teams finished in the top half of both girl's and boys' meets, as the Charger girls finished in fifth place with 71.5 points and the boys took third place with 101. The Van Meter girls' totaled 177 points and the Madrid boys came up with 142 points.

The competition was fierce, as Chloe Largent was the lone Charger on either team to capture a first place. She remained undefeated as she claimed the gold in the high jump at 5'0".

The Chargers finished second in five events for the day. Among the boys Austin Kunkle claimed two second place finishes when he ran the 100 meters in :11.33 and the 200 in :23.58. Clayton Wardyn also finished second in the 110 hurdles with a time of :15.91.

Girls finishing second included Rylee Sloss who took the silver in the 3000 meter run when she ran it in 11:23.62. The shuttle hurdle team of Hayden Coffman, Jenna Rowley, Saige O'Brien, and Sophie Dorsey was second behind Van Meter and ran the event in 1:14.98.

Charger boys' coach Cody Matthewson offered these thoughts after the meet: "We are looking forward to preparing and getting ready for the state qualifying meet. The conference meet was a good experience on the big stage that most of our kids have not experienced."

Girls' team scores: Van Meter 177, Panorama 150, Earlham 86, Madrid 77, ACGC 71.5, Ogden 48, DMC 32.5, I-35 29, Pleasantville 28, W-G 25, WCV 17

ACGC girls' place winners: RUNNING EVENTS: 400 meters: EmmaKay McClain 8th (1:10.87) 1500 meters: Jorga Hoover 3rd (5:20.33); Rylee Sloss 4th (5:20.68) 3000 meters: Rylee Sloss 2nd (11:23.62) RELAY EVENTS: 4X400: (Rylee Sloss, Sophie Danker, Hayden Coffman, Anaston Bensen) 8th (4:55.33) 4X800:(EmmaKay McClain, Jorja Hoover, Sophie Danker, Kiersten Knobbe) 4th (10:54.99) FIELD EVENTS: High Jump:Chloe Largent 1st (5'0") Shot Put: Madey Kelsey 3rd (33'2") Discus throw: Mady Kelsey 5th (87'6"); Mersedez Richter 8th (85'7")

Boys' team scores: Madrid 142, Van Meter 127, ACGC 101, DMC 92, Earlham 91, I-35 57, Pleasantville 36, W-G 35, Ogden 35, WCV 24

ACGC boys' place winners: RUNNING EVENTS: 100 METERS: Austin Kunkle 2nd (:11.33) 200 METERS: Austin Kunkle 2nd (:23.58) 400 METERS: Charlie Crawford 3rd (:54.59); Zach Moon 6th (:55.13) 800 METERS: Trevin Suhr 4th (2:03.96) Charlie Crawford 7th (2:11.09) 1600 METERS: Trevin Suhr 7th (4:48.76) 3200 METERS: Andrew Mahaffey 7th (10:53.60) RELAY EVENTS: 4X100:

(Jacob Fox, Brock Littler, Cayden Jensen, Austin Kunkle) 4th (:46.42) 4X200: (Brock Littler, Reid Rumelhart, Cayden Jensen, Austin Kunkle 4th (1:34.44) 4X400: (Zach Moon, Jacob Fox, Brock Littler, Charlie Crawford) 5th (3:44.10) 4X800: (Kaden Thompson, Austin Wetzel, Zander Kenyon, Miles Kading) 4th (9:07.85) 800 Medley: (Jacob Fox, Reid Rumelhart, Cayden Jensen, Charlie Crawford) 3rd (1:39.51) 1600 Medley: (Brock Littler, Reid Rumelhart, Jacob Fox, Trevin Suhr) 4th (3:56.47) Shuttle Hurdle: (Anthony Solorzano, Hogan Grubbs, Dawson Muller, Zander Kenyon) 6th (1:17.45) FIELD EVENTS: High jump: Clayton Wardyn 4th (5'10") Long jump: Cayden Jensen 4th (19'7.5") Discus throw: Cael Hoing 4th (122'9"); Seth Reno 7th (111'0")