County athletes compete at state meet

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com
The weather was great, and it was a full day for athletes from the county at the state track and field meet in Des Moines. Freshman Megan Durbin of Greene County equaled her PR in the high jump when she soared 5’ 4” and placed second. This is the best finish for a Ram female athlete since Chantel Blair took runner-up honors in the long jump in 2012. Durbin credited her teammate Nadia Fisher for helping her stay focused during the competition. Fisher tied for 18th with a jump of 4’ 9”, but stayed with Durbin throughout the rest of the competition.
 Greene County’s shuttle hurdle relay team ran a season’s best 1:08.21 and qualified for Saturday’s 3A finals in that event. The quartet of Mollie Sorber, Nadia Fisher, Sarah Sandage, and Eme Johnson finished second in their  heat right next to one of the 3A state leaders Mount Pleasant who won the heat in a blazing 1:05.45. Coach Kelly Simpson was elated after the race. “We told the girls to try to keep up with the Mount Pleasant team and things would work out fine,” said the coach. Pella will go into the finals with the fastest qualifying time of 1:05.36.
In other girls action today Hannah Onken placed 19th in the discus with a heave of 103’ 3”, and Olivia Hansen set a new personal record in the 200 meter dash. Hansen ran :26.10 and placed tenth.
The Ram boys were also in action today. Max Neese finished 18th in the 100 meter dash in :11.68, and was 22nd in the 200 meter dash with a time of :23.44. The shuttle hurdle relay team of Dylan McConnell, Joe Doran, Daric Whipple, and Tyler Beger ran 1:01.57 and placed 17th.
Paton-Churdan’s Jake Carey was the last county athlete to participate on Thursday. Jake ran in the 1A 400 meter dash and placed 20th with a time of :53.26. Carey thought the 400 times were faster this year, and he was right. Four boys in 1A clocked times under 50 seconds.