NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – Sophomore Oliva Hala runs the anchor leg of the Sprint Medley relay. The team of Sydney Arp, Naomi Peshel, Scout Ridout, and Hala took third place.

The South Tama girls track and field team finished in third place at their annual home Coed Invite on Tuesday night, April 29. The Trojans ended with a total of 98 points and finished behind meet champion North Mahaska (134) and runner-up Hudson (125).

Once again, the Trojans received a stellar performance from their 4×100 relay team, which has performed well all season. The team has typically been made up of all freshman runners, as was once again the case on this night. Freshman Brylee Nelson, Scout Ridout, Jayva Gomez, and Maylee Rucker took first place with a time of 52.92. The relay team has been hovering around the school-record of 50.01 all season. The record was set in 2016 by the quartet of Shae Slaven, Lauren Yuska, Allison Yuska, and Isabelle Tyynismaa.

In individual races, the Trojans were led by Ridout and junior Autumn Elsbury. Ridout won the 100-hurdles with a time of 16.84 and finished in fourth place in the 200-meter dash (27.95). Elsbury finished in second place in both throwing events. In the shot put, she took runner-up with a throw of 33 feet, 9 inches. In the disc, Elsbury completed a best throw of 104 feet, 3 inches. STC also received three top-ten finishes in the 100-meter dash. Gomez led the way with a third place finish (13.41), followed by sophomore Alexis Thiessen (7th, 14.50) and sophomore Payton Aguilar (10th, 15.09). Ridout’s fourth place finish in the 200-meter dash was followed up by three more Trojans in the top eight spots: Gomez finished fifth (28.27), Nelson finished sixth (28.31), and freshman Shelby Johannsen finished in eighth place (29.17).

As the distances grew longer, STC continued to secure high finishes. Sophomore Livia Smith finished fourth in the 400 hurdles when she crossed the finish line with a time of 1:23. Sophomore Olivia Bradley (3:00) and junior Nazaret Carrillo (3:20) combined for a sixth and seventh place finish in the 800. Finally, senior Jennifer Manzo-Herrera (9th, 7:12) and junior Alexandra Castanon (10th, 7:36) both finished in the top ten in the 1500.

In the evening’s field events, the Trojans followed Elsbury’s performances with solid efforts by two sophomores: Ioleta Kingbird and Emma Slifer. Ioleta finished third in the shot put (29 feet, 3 inches) and sixth in the discus (84 feet, 7 inches). Slifer finished eighth in the shot put (24 feet even) and tenth in the disc (67 feet, 5 inches). In the long jump, STC was led by sophomore Olivia Hala, who finished in fourth place with a jump of 13 feet, 11 inches. Rucker and Smith participated in the high jump, with Rucker coming in fourth place (4 feet, 6 inches) and Smith finishing right behind her in fifth place (4 feet, 4 inches).

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – Sophomore Payton Aguilar competes in the 100-meter dash. Aguilar finished in tenth place for the Trojans.

The Trojans also received top-three performances from all four of their remaining relay teams on the evening. In the 4×200, the team of Johannsen, freshman Cahysia Kapayou, Gomez and Rucker finished in second place (1:54.76). STC secured third place in three other relays: the 4×400 team of Bradley, junior Madeline Paxton, junior Naomi Peshel, and Hala (4:44.66); the Sprint Medley team of freshman Sydney Arp, Peshel, Ridout, and Hala (2:01.98); and the Distance Medley team of sophomore Khloe Balderas, Peshel, Paxton, and Smith (5:04.27).

The Trojans now turn their attention to postseason competition. After competing in the annual WaMaC conference meet on Thursday, May 8, the Trojans will head to their State-Qualifying meet on Thursday, May 15. That meet will take place at Mount Vernon High School.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – Junior Madeline Paxton runs the third leg of the Distance Medley team. The STC relay team finished in third place.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – Freshman Maylee Rucker runs the anchor leg of the 4x200 relay. Rucker and her teammates finished in second place.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY STEVE BRANT – )Freshman Cahysia Kapayou participates in the 4x200 relay during the STC Coed Invite.