That’s the long and the short of it.

Marshalltown freshman Grace Whitmore won the 3,000-meter run and sophomore Grace Christensen scored victory in the 100-meter dash to highlight the Bobcat girls’ track and field team’s lone home meet of the season Monday at Leonard Cole Field.

It was Senior Night for both the Bobcat girls and boys, since the Kenny Dean Relays were rained out earlier this season, but Marshalltown’s youth was on display.

Christensen clocked in with a season-best time while Whitmore charted a personal best despite running all alone at the front of her premiere event. Their individual wins represented a good chuck of the Bobcats’ 74.5 points, which were good for fifth place out of seven teams in the final standings.

Cedar Falls ran away with the team title with 170 points, followed by Aplington-Parkersburg (90), West Des Moines Valley (89.5), Waukee Northwest (87), host Marshalltown, Mason City (32) and Waterloo East (20) on a breezy but beautiful evening at the Bobcats Sports Complex.

“We are a young team with 70 percent of our varsity lineup being freshmen and sophomores,” said MHS head coach Chad Pietig. “We challenged them to compete no matter who the other schools were and no matter who they brought. If our kids would focus on competing, they would be happy with their times and distances, but competing for positions had to be the emphasis tonight.

“When you look at the results, I feel like they did that.”

Whitmore did the first bit of winning for MHS on this night, clocking in at 12 minutes, 14.25 seconds to claim the 3,000. No runners were within 23 seconds of her. Christensen came up with the victory in the 100 in 12.81 seconds.

Silver-medal performances came from freshman Bailey Garland in the 200 with a personal-best time of 27.76, while junior Kendall Brummel was second in the 400 hurdles in 1:18.47.

The Bobcats also collected bronze in the 4×800 and shuttle hurdle relays. The quartet of Anessa Morrison, Drea Ceren, Brummel and Meyeraan took third in a season-best time of 10:52.55, while the foursome of Geneva Spitzli, Chloe Hoogensen, Brooklyn Hazen and Lorelai Villarreal was third in 1:21.07.

“Our young kids showed up and competed,” Pietig said, “but not to ignore the lone senior. Anessa Morrison scored in the 800 and led the 4×800 to a season-best — a nine-second drop from last week.”

Ceren placed fourth in the 800 in 2:43.57 and Morrison was fifth in 2:48.14, while Whitmore just missed scoring in ninth with a personal-best 2:55.36.

Meyeraan placed sixth in the 1,500 (5:38.47), while Anela Villareal was sixth in the high jump with a season-best 4 feet, 6 inches. Leah Graves got seventh in the long jump (15-1 3/4), and Olivia Wise scored eighth in the discus (83-6). Nevaeh Gonzales narrowly missed scoring in the discus, taking ninth (81-3).

Spitzli and Hoogensen finished 5-6 in the 100 hurdles; Spitzli in a season-best 18.35 and Hoogensen in a personal-best 18.37.

The Bobcats also bagged more points in the relays. The 4×200 team of Garland, Erandy Ibarra Madrigal, Leia Hernandez and Christensen came in fourth in 1:53.35. The distance medley relay team of Shailynn Sadie, Emerson Mason, Faith Sommerlot and Lily Johnson was fifth in a season-best 5:00.80.

The 4×400 of Garland, Christensen, Madrigal and Hernandez, as previously mentioned by Pietig, placed seventh in a season-best time of 4:35.50, and the sprint medley team of Flolangel Dessin, Madrigal, Hernandez and Mason earned eighth (2:07.92).

“There were a lot of things excited about tonight and we still have a few weeks left to train and get ready for the ultimate goal of qualifying for state.”

Marshalltown is slated to compete in the Newton Cardinal Co-Ed Invite on Thursday at H.A. Lynn Stadium.