Prep roundup: Area athletes shine at Denny White Relays
Apr. 16—MOUNT PLEASANT — Less than 24 hours before the cutoff to qualify for the 2021 Drake Relays, many area track and field athletes made one last effort to clinch a trip to Des Moines at the Denny White Relays.
The Pekin boys, coming off a runner-up finish on Tuesday at the Fairfield Trojan Relays, finished third in Class B with 71 points. Brady Millikin won the 1,600-meter run for the Panthers, crossing the finish line in 4:35.94 while Zack Wise, Sven Dahlstrom, Deklan Hampton and Jaedon Wolver brought home the 4x800 win for Pekin in 9:03.62. Neither time was fast enough to qualify for Drake.
Griffin Greiner, a high jump contender for Drake entering Thursday right on the cut line with a high mark of 6-2, won the long jump title for the Comets in Class B reaching 20 feet and four inches. The Comets scored 52 points, finishing eighth as a team.
Van Buren County tied Winfield-Mount Union for sixth place in Class B as both teams scored 56 points. Lane Davis secured a win for the Warrior boys in the 110 high hurdles, crossing the finish line in 16.62 seconds while Tyler Stoltz won the Class B boys high jump crossing the bar at five feet and 10 inches.
Centerville finished 14th among Class B boys with eight points. Brady Clark finished second for the Big Reds in the discus, reaching 145 feet and three inches with his top throw.
The Fairfield boys, coming off their home win earlier in the week, finished seventh in the large-school Class A division with 39 points. The Trojans picked up their own 4x800 relay win as Gavin VanVeen, Alex Forrest, Kaden Mickels and Kevin Kretz produced a time of 8:45.04, not quite fast enough to make it to Drake.
The co-ed meet also saw the Van Buren County girls finish fourth in Class B's female division with 76 points. The Warriors were consistently solid in the relays, finishing second in the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 races.
Ysabella Berja won the girls Class B long jump with a leap of 14-9.25 for Centerville, helping the Redettes finish fifth in total points with 63. Allison Casteel finished second in the 100-meter hurdles for Centerville in 16.22 seconds, lowering her previous season-best time of 16.26 that had Casteel in range to qualify for the Drake Relays.
GIRLS TENNIS
Fairfield 9, Keokuk 0
FAIRFIELD — Tess Paton, Abby Schaefer and Sydney Wells scored 8-1 wins in singles play for the third-ranked (1A) Trojan tennis team while Olivia Jones added an 8-0 sweep in the No. 6 match of a Southeast Conference dual.
Nellie Higdon pulled out the closest singles match, winning 8-6 over Jasmine Saunders in the No. 2 battle. Higdon and Lauren Kraemer added an 8-0 sweep in the No. 2 doubles match as the Trojans dropped just five of the 29 games played in the closing three doubles matches.
Fairfield (6-0, 4-0 Southeast) hosts Fort Madison on Monday.
