The Le Mars Community track teams hosted the Missouri River Activities Conference track meet on Thursday night.
The Bulldog girls placed third in the tough eight-team field scoring 101 points on the night. The MRAC proves to have great track each and every year making it a very difficult meet to score well in. Head coach Tammi Dunn says she is happy that the girls never flinch when faced with tough competition.
The Bulldogs had four total event wins with their only non-relay win coming in the field events. Kenzie Niehus has put together a great season already, and she set a new season best in the long jump at 17’2” to win the title. Coach Dunn says it has been great to see her bounce back after a disappointing finish at the Drake Relays.
The three relay wins came in the Shuttle Hurdle, the Distance Medley, and the 4x400m. Coach Dunn says many girls make those relay wins possible and all bring some different skills to the table.
The Bulldogs are now off for a week until they have their state qualifying meet next week. Coach Dunn says they will do some off-track activities and get back to the swing of things on Monday to prepare to send some events to state.
The Le Mars boys finished second in the MRAC team standings with 114 points when the meet wrapped up on Thursday night. The boys title was up in the air heading into the meet with every team being capable of taking enough events to win the title. Head coach Caleb Van Otterloo says the guys were ready to compete and prove themselves against some of the best athletes around.
The long-distance runners did not get any wins for the Bulldogs, but they did prove to be the most consistent group. Trace Obbink finished second in the 800, 1600, and 3200 while having a teammate right behind him in third or fourth in each event. Coach Van Otterloo says the work those runners have put in is really paying off at a good point in the season.
The only champion for the Bulldogs came in the shuttle hurdle relay when Le Mars kept their time under 63 seconds. Coach Van Otterloo was happy that the hurdles and others were able to achieve some strong times.
As the Bulldogs prepare for the state qualifying meet, they are feeling pretty confident considering they know a lot of the teams competing at their meet. Coach Van Otterloo says knowing your competition means knowing they will be challenging his guys to compete at their highest level.
Le Mars will be at Sergeant Bluff-Luton on Thursday, May 9 for their state qualifying meet.
