GIRLS’ TRACK: Greene County makes noticeable strides in Carroll

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor
sports@beeherald.com

A breakout night led to a standout performance.

The Greene County girls’ track and field team produced 13 personal bests en route to a fourth-place finish at the Carroll Relays April 12.
More than half the team tallied above average results despite windy conditions, leading to 63 total points. Carroll walked away with the team title, making it a clean sweep along with the boys, securing 142 points in a blowout win. Roland-Story finished second (118 points) while Audubon came in third (106).

Greene County head coach Derek Merk was thrilled with the effort Monday, bolstered by a pair of gold medals and a trio of silver medals.  He was encouraged by the way the athletes picked each other up during the varying events.
“We are really pleased with how this group of girls are extremely supportive of one another throughout the night,” the coach said. “I think that support helps take our performances to the next level."

The sprint medley relay quartet of Annie Twillie, Alexa Peters, Olivia Shannon and Natalie Heupel were the stars of the evening, cruising to a gold medal time of 2:02.22, which was a full second quicker than second place Perry, who finished with a time of 2:03.60.
Emma Hoyle’s top toss of 31-06 in the shot put is the eighth-best throw in Greene County history, dating back to 2011 while senior Brooklyn Olson captured yet another gold medal, securing a elite throw of 37-06.75. She also finished third in the discus, heaving the disc 111-01.
Olson is currently ranked 22nd in all of Iowa in the shot put with a top throw of 38-05, which would qualify her for next week’s Drake Relays.

Greene County’s sprinter’s quartet of Shannon, Heupel, Makala Kafer and Osterson snagged a pair of silver medals as well, running to a time of 53.68 seconds in the 4-by-100-meter relay, which is currently the ninth-quickest time in 2A. The Rams were narrowly edged by Carroll, who finished with a winning time of 52.93.

The same Greene County grouping also came in second in the 4-by-200-meter relay, cruising to a time of 1:53.27, losing out yet again to Carroll (1:51.78). Greene County is currently ranked seventh in 2A with a season-best time of 1:51.68.
Senior Brianna Osterson snagged a silver medal in the long jump thanks to a top leap of 16-03. Carroll’s Shay Sinnard won the event title with a top jump of 17-00.25.

Greene County’s distance medley crew of Natalie Heupel, Kafer, Shannon and Katrina Heupel finished third with a time of 4:52.23. Audubon captured the event title with winning time of 4:44.02.

RAMS IN VAN METER

Greene County snagged a pair of gold medals as well as two silver medals in an encouraging meet April 8 amidst windy and rainy conditions in Van Meter.

Brianna Osterson secured first place in the long jump with a season-best leap of 16-05, which ranks her fifth in Class 2A. Olson followed that up with a silver medal sweep in the throwing events, finishing second in the discus (100-01) and runner-up in the shot put (33-08.5). CAM’s Molly Venteicher won the shot put title (36-11) while ADM’s Kirsten Kilker came in first in the discus with a top throw of 103-0.6.

Greene County’s other gold medal performance came in the 4-by-100-meter relay, anchored by Shannon, Natalie Heupel, Makala Kafer and Osterson. The quartet finished with a time of 54.49, a full second ahead of second place Winterset (55.89) and third place Van Meter (55.96).  
Olivia Shannon ran the sixth-fastest 400-meter dash in Greene County history en route to a third place finish, crossing the line with a season-best time of 1:04.27. Van Meter’s Darci Wiseman won the title with a time of 1:01.09.
As a team, Greene County finished sixth in a tight team race with 81 points. Winterset won the team title with 161 points, followed by Van Meter (130.5) and ADM (110). AC/GC finished fourth with 86.5 points, barely edging out fifth place Panorama (81) and Greene County. CAM finished seventh with 55 points.