The Mora Mustangs track and field team hosted its first official track meet of the season on Tuesday, April 11, at the Welia Center. It was a beautiful spring afternoon as the buses from Pierz, Albany and Milaca rolled onto the Mora Elementary campus for the indoor meet, a frustrating irony of the lingering winter that has caused a very soggy spring.
The Pierz Pioneers showed some early season strength by dominating the team points totals for both girls and boys. The Lady Pioneers had a 32 point advantage over second place Albany, racking up almost half of their points in distance running events. The boys’ rankings were a bit closer, with Pierz finishing 18 points ahead of second place Milaca. The Pierz boys nearly swept the jumping events, placing first in high jump, long jump, and pole vault, with a second place finish in triple jump.
Mora’s athletes placed well in most events, but both the boys and girls finished fourth in the team rankings, with 40 and 23 points, respectively. Head coach Brent Nelson was encouraged by his teams’ performances, though. “We had good individual results, but our teams aren’t quite as deep as the other schools,” he said.
The highlight of the meet for the Mustangs was senior Tayven Peterson setting a new Welia Center record in winning the 55m hurdles with a time of 8.02 seconds. Peterson also claimed first in the 400m run a bit later in the meet, with junior teammate Alex Williams taking first in the 800m and 1600m runs to complete a Mustang sweep of the distance races.
The lone win for the Mustang girls came on the strength of Bridget Nolan’s left arm. The junior shot-putter’s third throw soared 29’ 3” to claim first place by half a foot. Sophomore Genna McCallum took second place in the high jump and fourth in the pole vault, with junior Lola Schwinghamer finishing second in the 400m run.
The Mustangs were scheduled to be at Zimmerman on Tuesday, April 18, for another Granite Ridge Conference Quad, this time outdoors. The track teams will travel to North Branch on Friday, April 21, for a nine-team meet against Section 7AA opponents. Start time is 4 p.m.
Individual place winners, boys:
Tayven Peterson - 55m Hurdles - 1st place (new WC record 8.02)
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