The Mustangs delivered, capturing the team title in a tight race in Thursday’s Les Penick Relays at BCLUW High School.

East Marshall scored 112 points, finishing ahead of West Marshall (103) and Collins-Maxwell (100) for the team gold. BCLUW was fifth with 63 points.

“We wanted to come out strong here and have a good showing with the weather clearing up,” said Hull, East Marshall’s head coach. “The boys gave a great effort, and we knew we had a chance to be right up there team points wise, but most importantly we wanted to run personal bests, and we had those across the board tonight.”

The Mustangs won four events on Thursday. Jacob Farrington had a hand in three of those wins; he joined Carter Lavender, Blake Neuroth and Cale Hungerford on the winning shuttle hurdle relay team, and opened the triumphant 4×100 relay with Hungerford, Jaxson Boswell and Carter Pohle. Farrington added a win in the 110 hurdles.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Jace Eich, left, anchors West Marshall to victory in the sprint medley relay during Thursday’s Les Penick Relays in Conrad. The Trojan foursome of Gabe Degelau, Kinnick Geers, Aiden Knea and Eich won the event with a time of 1 minute, 40.52 seconds.

“Our hurdlers are the glue of our team this year, they’re our point getters,” Hull said. “We’ve got a lot of solid kids, and we’re young, but those hurdlers are our standout athletes. We’ve got a lot of decisions to make on what’s going to be best for all our different relays.”

Chandler Curtis brought in the other gold medal for the Mustangs in the 1,600-meter run.

“The coaches have a lot of confidence in us and our guys really ran their best today and never pulled back,” Farrington said. “I know the guys felt good about their [shuttle hurdle] and we’ve got a good shot at the team going to state later this year. I’m proud of them.”

West Marshall, as runners-up, won six events. Leading the way was Jace Eich, who broke his own meet record in the open 400 with a winning time of 51.99 and was the anchor on the winning sprint medley relay team, following Gabe Degelau, Kinnick Geers and Aiden Knea, in 1:40.53; as well as on the 4×400 relay team, after the baton passed between Dylan Thompson, Erick Rosas Canchola and Brevon Gibson, with a final time of 3:40.54.

Eich set the previous record as a freshman in 2022 with a time of 52.62.

“It was tough, but it was pretty fun,” Eich said. “I’m hoping that I have a chance to make it to state in the open 400. But beyond that I’m just trying to get as many of my teammates to state as possible.”

Rosas Canchola was the 800-meter run champion and handled the opening leg of the winning 4×800 relay team, joining Preston Reese, Gibson and Thompson in victory. Luke Steward added a top mark in the discus throw at 119 feet, 1 inch for the Trojans’ lone gold in a field event.

“We’ve got great teamwork, and I think we’re pretty good as a team,” Eich said. “We get things done, it’s just really fun having them out there with me.”

The host Comets did not win any events but finished high in several, including runner-up finishes for Owen Myers in the high jump, and the 4×200 (Alex Paxson, Ryan Busch, Carson Wayman, Carter Gallentine) and the 4×400 (Cael Keller, Ryan Busch, Kevin Hill, Cayden White) relays.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck placed sixth with 61 points. Treyvon Herron won the long jump with a top mark of 18 feet, 7.75 inches and was second in the 100-meter dash.

GMG finished tied for eighth with 44 points with event wins in the 4×200 (Slate Witte, Landon Stonewall, Colin Teske, Jabari Woodbury) and distance medley (Witte, Stonewall, Woodbury, Grady Dieleman) relays.

(Note: The final results in the distance medley relay appear to have incorrectly listed GMG as the winners of the event over West Marshall. The event had not been reviewed by meet officials as of press time.)

North Tama finished in 10th with 34 points.