AMES — The STC girls track and field team kicked off their season on Thursday, March 12, when they traveled to Ames to participate in the annual IATC Indoor Championships on the Iowa State campus. Sophomore Scout Ridout led the way for the Trojans, fishing 6th in the 60-meter hurdles among tough 3A competition from throughout the state.

Ridout earned a spot in the 60-meter hurdles final with a time of 9.60 seconds in her qualifying race. She, then, bettered her time in the finals, running 9.47 to set a new personal best and earn sixth place. Last season as a freshman, Ridout finished in second place in the 100 meter hurdles at the WaMaC conference meet and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the state meet in the event.

Ridout also ran the second leg of the girls 4×100 relay team in Ames. The team of four sophomores — Sydney Arp, Ridout, Jayva Gomez, and Maylee Rucker — finished with a time of 53.69 to nab 18th place out of 24 teams. It is the same quartet who competed in the 4×100 relay all of last season and nearly qualified for the state meet. The team also picks up their ongoing chase of the STC school record this season. The record is held by Shae Slaven, Lauren Yuska, Allison Yuska, and Isabelle Tyynismaa in 2016 with a time of 50.01. Last season, Arp, Ridout, Gomez, and Rucker’s best time was 51.72.

In other action for the Trojans, Rucker and Arp both competed in the 60-meter dash. Rucker finished in 31st place (8.59), while Arp finished in 40th (9.06). Senior Autumn Elsbury took 28th place in the girls shot put — with a top throw of 27 feet, 2.50 inches.

As a team, STC finished in 31st place out of 36 class 3A teams competing in Ames.

After competing at the Wartburg Indoor Meet on Tuesday, March 17, the next meet for the STC girls track and field team will be the annual WaMaC conference indoor meet at Grinnell College on Tuesday, March 24.