Mt. Pleasant, IA- While the Midwest takes a plunge into arctic temperatures, it’s important to remember that spring is just around the corner and for some people it cannot come soon enough. Mt. Pleasant’s Savannah Slobodnik signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Mount Mercy University throwing team next season.
She explained what stuck out the most about Mount Mercy,
“I’m really excited. Mount Mercy is a beautiful campus. Their staff—everybody’s—really nice there. I just really am excited to start my school year.”
The senior has enjoyed a successful career in the circle for the Panthers with a specialty in discus. She was the best thrower by her sophomore year with a 111 foot and 2-inch mark for the season, pacing the team by nearly 15 feet.
Her junior season saw both individual and team success resulting in the Panthers taking first place in five meets and second place in two meets, including the Southeast Conference (SEC) meet.
“It takes like just supporting the other teammates,” said Savannah Slobodnik. “It really affects you a lot if you don’t have your other teammates there supporting you, it kind of feels like, you know, you’re not doing the greatest. Yeah, I’ll definitely take teamwork into college.”
A big reason for the team’s success was Slobodnik’s consistent performance.
She finished with the gold and silver in five meets apiece along with the bronze at the SEC meet. One of her second-place finishes punched her ticket to the 2024 state track and field meet, where she threw 106 feet and 10 inches to finish in 18th place.
She will be looking to best her mark of 118 feet and 7 inches in the upcoming season, a season that will have lofty expectations according to Slobodnik,
“I want to place at state this year. I kind of fell off last year, so I want this year to be big.”
Slobodnik plans on majoring in Elementary Education, so she can go into teaching. A profession she has grown to love,
“I’ve worked at a daycare for about two years now, and that’s just kind of showed me how much I like, you know, working with kids. So that kind of swayed me.”
The 2025 track and field season will start on March 11th with the Dickinson Relays at UNI and the senior is looking to adhere to along with leave behind one piece of advice for the future generation of throwers,
“I really hope that they don’t get nervous like me. Even if you have a bad meet, everything is fine. It will go away at the next meet. You just have to believe in yourself every practice, every meet.”
The Mustangs finished in fourth place at the Heart of America Outdoor Track and Field for 2024 that saw Bre Nail become the first female since 1981 to win three consecutive Heart of America championships in the same event. The all-American won the shot put on Saturday with a toss of 13.63 meters.
The team also featured Alyssa Striegel, a Mt. Pleasant native, as she recorded the second-best discus throw in school history at 43.38 meters.