After five years of not having a home track and field meet, the Bobcats were finally able to honor a senior class, wishing the Class of 2024 well at Leonard Cole Field for the Bobcat Girls Invitational.

MHS finished third in the team standings with 72.5 team points. It was the first time the event had been held since 2019 — the meet was canceled along with the spring season in 2020, weather wiped out the event in 2021 and 2022 and construction denied the Class of 2023 a Senior Night.

For that alone, it was a special night for Zoe Boydstun, Thalia Gallegos, Esmeralda Gutierrez Cantu, Angelina Ibarra Singh, Nadasha Mathew, Amaya Moore and Alivia Williams.

“Our seniors had a good night,” MHS head coach Chad Pietig said. “[Thalia’s] the one that’s been here the longest and the most consistent, she’s a warrior and will fill in wherever we need; Nadasha and Amaya are both three-year participants and we appreciate their leadership and Alivia is someone who’s a four-year participant and really gets after it for us, really competitive in those sprints.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown’s Ava Kusserow, left, and Nadasha Mathew try to complete the final baton exchange of the 4x100-meter relay during Monday’s meet at Leonard Cole Field. The quartet of Alivia Williams, Laney Danielson, Mathew and Kusserow placed second in the race with a time of 54.84 seconds.

Marshalltown was led by runner-up finishes in five separate events on Monday — Amairra Johnson took the silver in the 100 and 200-meter dash events in 13.66 and 28.87, respectively.

The 4×100 quartet of Williams, Laney Danielson, Mathew and Ava Kusserow was 2nd in 54.84.

“We mixed that order up completely this week just to try something different and put Alivia and Laney up front and it worked,” Pietig said.

The 4×800 finished 2nd in 11:45.40 with Gallegos, Zoe Weidenaar, Mattea Wright and Elyza Ceren on the carry; the sprint medley finished in 2:01.83 after the baton passed between Kusserow, Moore, Danielson and Williams.

While MHS didn’t leave with any gold medals, Pietig said this was a big step forward for a Bobcats team where 80 percent of the roster wasn’t on the team last year.

Pietig went into Monday with the hopes that the Bobcats would step up in front of a home crowd and with a smaller group to compete with — West Des Moines Valley won the team title with 154 points, Aplington-Parkersburg was second with 101 points and Waterloo East took fourth with 63.5 points.

“When you go to some of these big meets, they just feel overwhelmed,” Pietig said. “Tonight was a good chance for them to maybe build up their confidence a bit as we get closer to the championship part of the season. But we’re learning a lot from steps to handoffs and just trusting themselves of what they can do.

“There’s been a ton of progress, and a lot of it just comes from understanding how hard they can push themselves.”

In addition to the strong performances from the relays and sprints, Pietig also put a spotlight on Moore’s finish in the long jump — while she was fourth overall, her best jump of 15 feet, 10.5 inches moves the senior closer to competing for a spot at state later this season.

“She’s only jumped three times this year,” Pietig said. “That puts her in a really good position for the rest of the season.”

The Bobcats are back in action next Monday at Mason City.

Bobcat Girls Invite

Team Standings — 1. West Des Moines Valley 154, 2. Aplington-Parkersburg 101, 3. Marshalltown 72.5, 4. Waterloo East 63.5.

EVENT RESULTS

100–1. Willingham, WE, 13.64; 2. Johnson, MHS, 13.66; 3. Todd, WE, 13.76; 3. Williams, MHS, 13.76; 5. Pinks, VAL, 13.88; 6. Lott, MHS, 13.92.

200–1. Wolff, A-P, 28.29; 2. Johnson, MHS, 28.87; 3. Todd, WE, 29.17; 4. L. Danielson, MHS, 29.29; 5. Hassler, VAL, 29.46; 6. Fleischman, VAL, 29.59.

400–1. Allan, A-P, 1:06.56; 2. Major, VAL, 1:09.69; 3. Bradford-Gates, WE, 1:12.74; 4. Mehmen, A-P, 1:13.73; 5. Ceaser, WE, 1:14.81; 6. Andersen, VAL, 1:17.38.

800–1. Schultz, A-P, 2:36.95; 2. Winne, VAL, 2:40.35; 3. Kearney, VAL, 2:42.45; 4. Morrison, MHS, 2:56.33; 5. Ceren, MHS, 2:56.69; 6. Allen, WE, 3:07.45.

1,500–1. Hancock, VAL, 5:14.77; 2. Vogel, VAL, 5:16.75; 3. Gallegos, MHS, 6:03.94; 4. Muilenburg, A-P, 6:53.87; 5. Alva Martinez, WE, 7:06.95.

3,000–1. Winne, VAL, 12:06.23; 2. Alberico, VAL, 12:06.27; 3. Kearney, VAL, 12:11.91; 4. Morrison, MHS, 13:27.38.

100 hurdles–1. Arou, VAL, 16.26; 2. Mohwinkle, A-P, 16.77; 3. Stanbro, VAL, 17.47; 4. B. Danielson, MHS, 20.34.

400 hurdles–1. Eddy, A-P, 1:13.05; 2. Gaye, VAL, 1:18.48; 3. Hay, WE, 1:19.38; 4. Westpfahl, WE, 1:21.42; 5. Schultz, VAL, 1:22.55.

4×100–1. WE (Willingham, Todd, Mhoon, Norman), 53.51; 2. MHS (Williams, L. Danielson, Mathew, Kusserow), 54.84; 3. A-P (Bellows, Mohwinkle, Uhlenhopp, Allan), 54.93.

4×200–1. WE (Willingham, Todd, Mhoon, Norman), 1:54.41; 2. A-P (Junker, Eilers, Eddy, Aswegen), 1:57.69; 3. VAL (Kiner, Cibula, Roemmich, Pinks), 1:59.60.

4×400–1. A-P (Aswegen, Wolff, Kalkwarf, Schultz), 4:17.23; 2. VAL (Dayton, Cibula, Tedestedt, Marturello), 4:28.18; 3. MHS (Moore, Johnson, Morrison, Yepez), 4:51.98.

4×800–1. VAL (McMahon, Vogel, Reid, Jones), 11:03.91; 2. MHS (Gallegos, Weidenaar, Wright, Ceren), 11:45.40; 3. WE (Allen, Norman, Westpfahl, Cody), 12:21.97.

Sprint medley–1. VAL (Roemmich, Kiner, Tedestedt, Dayton), 2:01.78; 2. MHS (Kusserow, Moore, L. Danielson, Williams), 2:01.83; 3. A-P (Aswegen, Strickland, Kalkwarf, Schipper), 2:09.37.

Distance medley–1. A-P (Wolff, Aswegen, Schultz, Kalkwarf), 4:36.44; 2. VAL (Dayton, Tedestedt, Hancock, Murdoch), 4:47.21; 4. MHS (Mathew, Ceren, Yepez, Morrison), 5:10.11.

Shuttle hurdle–1. A-P (Mohwinkle, Allan, Bellows, Eddy), 1:09.55; 2. VAL (Arou, Harris, Stanbro, Zeh), 1:12.46.

High jump–1. Cibula, VAL, 4-8; 2. White, VAL, 4-4.

Long jump–1. Mohwinkle, A-P, 16-11.75; 2. Norman, WE, 16-11.5; 3. Wolff, A-P, 16-0; 4. Moore, MHS, 15-10.5; 5. Fritz, VAL, 13-8.25; 6. Kruchten, VAL, 13-4.5.

Shot put–1. Jarchow, VAL, 32-9.5; 2. Freeman, WE, 30-7; 3. Uhlenhopp, A-P, 29-5; 4. Buchholz, VAL, 29-5; 5. Griggs-Smith, MHS, 27-7; 6. Lovelace, MHS, 26-5.

Discus–1. Mohler, VAL, 112-4.5; 2. Elliott, VAL, 91-11.5; 3. Griggs-Smith, MHS, 88-10.5; 4. Uhlenhopp, A-P, 85-11; 5. Lovelace, MHS, 75-1.

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