The Comets didn’t just host the meet either, they competed well throughout the night and were rewarded with their first team win of the season, taking the top spot on the leaderboard with 87 points, nine ahead of Hudson in second.

BCLUW head girls track and field coach Dustin Grothoff, who earned a victory in his first meet leading the Comets, said things couldn’t have gone much better for his first meet.

“I think the best part was seeing the girls come out and be very competitive today and be happy with the results, but not too happy that they are comfortable with where they are at,” Grothoff said. “Each one came off the track and said, ‘I know I can do better, I want to do better,’ so I told them, ‘let’s talk tomorrow about how we can do that.’ That was exciting, they are really pumped.”

The Comets came away with first-place finishes in two relays, with the 4×100-meter relay team of Kiersten Kruse, Kaylee Grant, Olivia Hughes and Lizzie Garber winning with a time of 54.94 seconds and the shuttle hurdle relay team of Kruse, Hughes, Garber and Payton Pekarek taking first after crossing the line in 1:11.31.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Hughes, who also took second in the 100 hurdles by running a 17.14, said both relays were in great form so early in the year.

“We were flying, we ran almost two seconds faster than we did last season at any time and I feel like our handoffs were pretty solid,” Hughes said of the 4×100, “We felt pretty confident in that and we ran like it.

“This was the first time going over 10 hurdles for every single one of us so for the first meet it wasn’t bad,” she said of the shuttle hurdle. “We are always looking to get our time down there.”

On the individual side, Katie Thompson finished in second in the 100 for the Comets with a time of 13.69, then she placed third in the 1,500 with a 5:28.76. Grothoff said seniors like Thompson and Hughes have already done a great job leading the team during workouts, and they started the season by leading the team on the track to their first win in the Early Bird as a class.

“The seniors haven’t won one before, I think it’s neat for them to have that experience,” he said. “Katie had an outstanding mile race there, Olivia Hughes ran some good hurdles and competed on some good relays as well. We are shy on numbers, but Madison Engle is another one who helped us out getting some of those places. We’re not senior-heavy but we have a lot of leadership in some of those senior spots and a lot of girls who just love being out here with each other.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Other top finishes for the Comets were Lizzie Garber finishing just behind Hughes in third in the 100 hurdles with a 17.41, Kruse taking second in the high jump with a vault of 4 feet, 10 inches, and Garber coming in third with a height of 4-8, Erin Asche finishing in fourth in the shot put with a heave of 32-5.5 and the 4×200 relay team and distance medley relay team both placing third.

Hughes said getting her first Early Bird win as a senior is a great set up for what could be a strong season on the track for the Comets.

“It gives us motivation going through the rest of the season,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time we won a meet, we didn’t have very many runners last year so it feels pretty good to win our home meet especially.”

West Marshall was the next-best area team as the Trojans finished in fourth with 68.33 points. The lone win on the day for West Marshall came in the 4×800, where the Trojans finished atop the standings with a time of 10:56.89.

There were three individual runners-up as well, with senior Grace Girard taking second in the 1,500 after crossing the line in 5:28.18, senior Kayla Cripps coming in second in the 400 with a time of 1:04.74 and junior Renae Schaper finishing in second in the shot put with a throw of 36-7.75.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Girard, who was also part of the winning 4×800 relay team, said it was a good start to her final year running for the Trojans.

“I was really happy with how I ran today,” she said. “I didn’t have a great season last year, I personally just never felt like I got to where I wanted to be. That was definitely my fastest 800 in a long time I ran today, and I was four seconds off my career best in the 1,500, so that felt really good.”

Some other high finishes for West Marshall were Cripps taking third in the 200 with a time of 28.38, the 4×400 team finishing the meet with a third-place showing by crossing the line at 4:41.19, the shuttle hurdle relay taking third with a 1:24.15 and Olivia Gradwell placing third in the 400 with a time of 1:20.17.

Girard said it’s always nice to have a good time in the first meet of the year, but that’s not the most important thing to accomplish in such an early meet.

“You don’t want to start out too fast because you risk plateauing later in the season,” she said. “I was really just testing out the waters here, making sure I am where I want to be and not too fast yet.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

East Marshall was sixth in the team standings with 57 points. The Mustangs were paced by senior Melinda Puumala, who got her outdoor season started strong with wins in the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles.

She ran a 16.31 in the 100 hurdles to nudge by BCLUW’s Hughes and Garber, then in the 400 hurdles Puumala smoked the field by running a 1:10.34, more than five seconds in front of the second-place finisher.

“I wasn’t surprised I won, but I was surprised with my times,” Puumala said. “I didn’t think they would be this good at the first outdoor meet of the season. I’m excited about that.”

Coming around the final turn and heading into the home stretch of the 400 hurdles, Puumala had an incredible lead, though she wasn’t sure just how far in front she was.

“I never look back, because my previous cross country coach told me to never look back and I’ve had that hammered into my brain, but I didn’t hear anyone,” she said with a smile. “I was assuming I was pretty far ahead, but I didn’t really know.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Puumala also finished in second in the long jump with a distance of 16-8. Some other strong finishes for East Marshall were Ellie Hull placing third in the 400 and fourth in the 800, Wendy Liera taking third in the 3,000 and seventh in the 1,500, and the shuttle hurdle and sprint medley relay teams both finishing in fourth.

North Tama finished in 10th place with 17.33 points. The best individual performance from the Redhawks came from Takoa Kopriva, who finished fourth in the high jump with a vault of 4-8.

The sprint medley relay team finished in third for North Tama with a time of 2:03.27, while the 4×800 team was fourth with an 11:58.33 and the 4×400 team crossed the line in 4:47.99 to take fifth. The other scoring for the Redhawks came from Symphony McDowell placing sixth in the 200 and Abby DeBoef tying for sixth in the high jump.

GMG came in last place with two team points. The lone scoring for the Wolverines came from the distance medley relay team placing fifth with a time of 5:04.74. Belle Duncan just missed on a scoring finish by taking eighth in the 200 with a time of 29.83.

Comet Early Bird

At Conrad

Team Standings — 1. BCLUW 87, 2. Hudson 78, 3. Grundy Center 77, 4. West Marshall 68.33, 5. Dike-New Hartford 65, 6. East Marshall 57, 7. AGWSR 53.33, 8. Collins-Maxwell, 9. South Hardin 22, 10. North Tama 17.33, 11. Colo-NESCO 12, 12. Columbus Catholic 4, 13. GMG 2.

Event Results (top 3)

100 — 1. Hailey Wallis, GC, 13.61; 2. Katie Thompson, BCLUW, 13.69; 3. Crystal Kennet, DNH, 13.74.

200 — 1. Eden Barrett, DNH, 27.92; 2. Kyah Luhring, GC, 27.99; 3. Kayla Cripps, WM, 28.38.

400 — 1. Aubrie Fisher, AGWSR, 1:03.60; 2. Kayla Cripps, WM, 1:04.74; 3. Ellie Hull, EM, 1:06.36.

800 — 1. Aubrie Fisher, AGWSR, 2:30.25; 2. Taylor Kvale, DNH, 2:32.47; 3. Jessica Regenwether, Hudson, 2:37.01.

1,500 — 1. Aubrie Fisher, AGWSR, 5:21.97; 2. Grace Girard, WM, 5:28.18; 3. Katie Thompson, BCLUW, 5:28.76.

3,000 — 1. Aubrie Fisher, AGWSR, 11:21.60; 2. Morgan Hansen, Hudson, 12:32.10; 3. Wendy Liera, EM, 13:16.45.

100 HURDLES — 1. Melinda Puumala, EM, 16.31; 2. Olivia Hughes, BCLUW, 17.14; 3. Lizzie Garber, BCLUW, 17.41.

400 HURDLES — 1. Melinda Puumala, EM, 1:10.34; 2. Kate Pfaltzgraff, AGWSR, 1:15.87; 3. Olivia Gradwell, WM, 1:20.17.

4×100 — 1. BCLUW 54.94, 2. Collins-Maxwell 55.31, 3. Dike-New Hartford 56.25.

4×200 — 1. Grundy Center 1:58.29, 2. Dike-New Hartford 1:59.80, 3. BCLUW 2:00.40.

4×400 — 1. Dike-New Hartford 4:26.44, 2. Grundy Center 4:30.17, 3. West Marshall 4:41.19.

4×800 — 1. West Marshall 10:56.89, 2. Hudson 11:00.95, 3. Grundy Center 11:22.64.

SPRINT MEDLEY — 1. Grundy Center 1:56.78, 2. Dike-New Hartford 2:02.70, 3. North Tama 2:03.27.

DISTANCE MEDLEY — 1. Hudson 4:44.51, 2. Collins-Maxwell 4:51.85, 3. BCLUW 4:55.01.

SHUTTLE HURDLE — 1. BCLUW 1:11.31, 2. Collins-Maxwell 1:14.51, 3. West Marshall 1:24.15.

HIGH JUMP — 1. Lauryn Hill, CN, 5-0; 2. Kiersten Kruse, BCLUW, 4-10; 3. Lizzie Garber, BCLUW, 4-8.

LONG JUMP — 1. Kylee Sallee, Hudson, 17-2.25; 2. Melinda Puumala, EM, 16-8; 3. Kyah Luhring, GC, 16-1.

SHOT PUT — 1. Brylie Zeisneiss, SH, 45-2.5; 2. Renae Schaper, WM, 36-7.75; 3. Kylie Willis, GC, 32-9.5.

DISCUS — 1. Brylie Zeisneiss, SH, 147-7; 2. Stephanie Frather, Hudson, 108-8; 3. Brittany Burroughs, GC, 101-0.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No