Mt. Pleasant, IA- East Lake Park already had a reputation of being a perilous environment for visiting teams—even the home team has acknowledged its unpleasantries—but that was amplified in Monday’s home conference opener against Fairfield with a prevailing wind helping the Panthers glide to a 3-2 victory.

At the time of kick-off, the wind was bustling at 22 miles per hour with gusts north of 30 miles per hour. With an expansive space allowing unadulterated access to the wind, the advantage rested with the team going towards the north goal. Mt. Pleasant started with the disadvantage, which was not a surprise for Mt. Pleasant’s head coach Rocco Russo,

“Dylan [White] took the side that didn’t have the wind to start the game. He said it was strategic, so it looks like it worked out.”

For most of the first half, it appeared that the blustering winds was not going to be idyllic for either team with the score locked at zero; until the Trojans managed to find an opening right before halftime and took an early 1 to 0 lead into the break.

These two teams have become accustomed with narrow finishes as the previous six matches had been decided by two goals or less, including a 1-1 tie last April that saw Mt. Pleasant score a late goal to ruin the upset chance for the Trojans.

Despite the experience in these tight showdowns, it was a melancholy mood at halftime,

“Well, they came over and they were a little down on themselves because they felt like they definitely could have made a play on that,” expressed coach Russo. “But it’s early on in the season, and we’re making mistakes, and I think they’re going to clean those up. We are going to clean those up, and we’re going to keep pushing forward.”

But the now the wind was at Mt. Pleasant’s back, and they were quick to take advantage. Xachary LeBlanc, the First Team All-SEC goalie last year, was instrumental in keeping the pressure on the Trojan defense with long passes down the pitch allowing for quick strikes on offense.

The first goal for Mt. Pleasant happened within 10 minutes of the second half starting as Dylan White found a streaking Asa Rose on the right side of the field and Rose blasted it top left corner to even the game at one goal apiece. However, that tied score would not hold up for long as a Panther foul in the goalie box presented Cormac Van Pelt a penalty shot to retake the lead.

One shot later and Fairfield was back in the driver’s seat, 2 to 1.

Still, the Mt. Pleasant offense had found its rhythm by this point and started peppering the goal. A header from Isaiah Lange and a patient shot from the slot by White gave Mt. Pleasant their first lead of the night and the eventual final of the contest, 3-2. For coach Russo, it has been great relying on an offense that is averaging 6.3 goals through the first four games of the season,

“Yeah, our guys feel confident in their shot, and all that starts with passing the ball and making good passes and finding the guy that can take the shot. We’ve got about five or six guys that are not scared to pull the trigger, and when they do, things can happen, especially on a windy day like this.”

The win put the Panthers tied atop the SEC standings at 2-0 and 3-0-1 for the year, while Fairfield fell to 2-1 on the year and 1-1 in conference play. Fairfield will take on Central Lee tonight at 7 pm, while Mt. Pleasant will travel to Washington on Thursday, April 16^th, at 5 pm.

As the Panthers attempt to defend their conference title from last year, coach Russo is still looking for his team to hit the next gear,

“I’d like us to get a little bit mentally stronger. We’re a team that does not like something negative to happen, and if something negative happens right away, it takes us a few minutes to regroup and get going, and then once positive stuff starts falling, then it’s like the floodgates open and we start playing our soccer. We need to just start the game like that. We need to start with the mentality of we’re the big fish in the pond and we’re going to go get it.”

Wayland, IA- Six days later and an abbreviated team list but the WACO Relays went off without a hitch, including a successful defense of their home turf for the girls’ team in a close finish of team points.

Girls’ Meet

Of the original eight teams that were scheduled to make the trip to WACO high school back on April 7^th, only the Van Buren County and Springville girls’ teams were able to travel last night. The final podium had WACO on top with 70 points followed by Van Buren County with 65 points and Springville not terribly far behind with 52 points.

WACO dominated the individual events, which included a couple of repeat champions. Ryan Pepper demonstrated her speed, winning the 100-meter dash in 13.54 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 26.83 seconds.

Josie Dykstra’s long strides came through in the 400-meter dash with a gold medal time of 1 minute and 2 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles with a mark of 1 minute and 10 seconds. Of the multi-time winners, Macie Carter outpaced the field in the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter runs with times of 5 minutes and 26 seconds and 11 minutes and 49 seconds, respectively.

The Warriors also had winners in Carlee Lunsford and Madelyn Farmer. Lunsford grabbed the victory with a time of 2 minutes and 32 seconds in 800-meter run, while Farmer leapt to the win the long jump, covering 15 feet and 5 inches.

Van Buren County generated team success, snatching wins in four of the seven relay events—4×100, 4×800, sprint medley, and distance medley relays. Individually, Briley Losey swept the throwing events with a heave of 31 feet and 1 inch in the shot put and toss of 90 feet and 6 inches in the discus.

Boys’ Meet

The boys’ teams were a bit more eager to attend with six of the nine teams busing out to Wayland yesterday and it was Iowa Valley that finished atop the standings with 163 points followed by Van Buren County with 131 points and Washington with 117 points.

Like most of the season, Van Buren County was led by their seniors as Kayden Simmons claimed the gold medal in the 100-meter dash in 11.6 seconds, while Lincoln Bainbridge claimed 1^st place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.63 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles with a mark of 53.63 seconds.

The lone junior to finish atop the leaderboard for the Warriors was Landry Loeffler in the 3,200-meter run, as he paced himself to a time of 10 minutes and 39 seconds.

Washington had two winners in their 3^rd place team finish with the 4×800 crossing the line in 8 minutes and 17 seconds, and Sawyer Tschantz securing a time of 4 minutes and 42 seconds in the 1,600-meter run.

WACO finished in 4^th place as a team with Jude Dykstra’s lone 1^st place time of 2 minutes and 2 seconds in the 800-meter run leading the Warriors. Fairfield ended up in last place with only 31 team points. The 4×100 managed a victory, while Blake Burnett tied for the gold in the high jump with Josh Read of Iowa Valley as they each clear 6 feet-even.

Up Next

WACO will compete in the Co-Ed Lisbon Opener today, while most of the girls’ teams will head to Fort Madison for the Pen City Relays today and the boys’ teams travel to Fairfield for a meet.

Washington, IA- An unseasonably warm Midwestern night gave way for school records to fall and the Mt. Pleasant 8^th grade girls’ track team to take home some hardware at the Max Cousins Track Meet in Washington last night.

The highlight of the night was Hailey Schadt breaking the school record in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet and 7 inches. Kya Heaton needed one last lunge at the finish line to come away with the gold medal in the 200-meter dash. As a unit, the Panthers won three relays in the 4×100, 4×200, and shuttle hurdle relays.

The 7^th grade girls’ team ended up taking 4^th place as a team with Kora Boecker snatching the lone 1st place medal for the team in the 400-meter dash, which proved to be another close finish.

The 7^th and 8^th grade teams will be back in action on Monday, April 20^th, in Ottumwa.