Fairfield, IA- “Yeah, that’ll be the goal all year long,” said Mt. Pleasant girls’ head coach Scott Lamm. “And we’ll try to chase down the demons and see if we can get that conference title back to Mount Pleasant.” A night at Fairfield and 19 events later, the Mt. Pleasant girls’ team overtook the Demons and brought home their 11th SEC title in 13 years.
On the boys’ side, it was Fairfield, led by a trio of state talented athletes, nabbed the conference title away from Washington, securing 152 points to the second-place Demons’ 120 points. Fort Madison finished in 3rd place with 111 points.
SEC Girls’ Results
It came down to the wire for who would exit with the conference crown between the Panthers and defending Demons, who nabbed their first SEC title since the late 1970s last year, but it was a dominant showing for Mt. Pleasant in the relays that brought them to victory with 160.5 points to Washington’s 157 points.
Additionally, Mt. Pleasant simply outsprinted the Demons in more events with seven first place finishes for the Panthers compared to Washington’s three. Alex Scott was personally in four of those individual conference titles and a new meet record.
Scott raced to the win in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.49 seconds and the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.86 seconds. She would join Ellie Freeman, Kiyah Sanders, and Taylor Williamson to snatch the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 49.65 seconds.
Kynlee White would jump in for Williamson in the 4×200 meter relay, resulting in a new meet record time of 1 minute and 44 seconds and 10 points to be added to their total. White, Izzy Slota, Jenna Schwartz, and Alexis Wagner would outpace the Demons in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 4 minutes and 12 seconds.
The dominance in the relays would continue into the sprint medley relay when the squad of Sloat, White, Sanders, and Wagner would breeze to the win by a three-second margin. The last victory would belong to Sloat as her leap of 16 feet and 7.5 inches would overcome the competition in the long jump.
For Washington, they found wins in the 400-meter dash with Jaedyn Moore, the 1500-meter run with Iris Dahl just edging out Avery Rump by two-tenths of a second, and Leighton Messinger taking the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 7 seconds.
Fairfield’s Lilly Bergren vaulted her way to a win in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.84 seconds. She would go on to anchor the winning team of Isabel McCready, Hayley Reinier, and Ireland Cranston in the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 1 minute and 9 seconds.
Fort Madison grabbed victories in the remaining relays: the distance medley and 4×800 meter relay. Mara Smith took the 800-meter run, while Rump would get retribution in the 3000-meter run with an 11-second cushion between her and her second-place teammate Jordyn Marshall.
Camryn Atterberg took home Keokuk’s lone victory in the high jump with a height of 4 feet and 10 inches. Burlington’s throwing phenom Kylee Hill swept the shot put and discus with throws of 49 feet and 5 inches and 149 feet and 5 inches, respectively.
SEC Boys’ Results
Fairfield’s path to the conference championship did not feature the same type of resistance that characterized the girls’ meet as a trio of Trojans dominated the leaderboards.
Gabe Tejada continued his dominance with victories in the 400-meter dash (50.43 seconds) and the 800-meter run (1 minute and 57 seconds). The hurdling tandem of Ryan Giberson in the 110-meter hurdles and Dylan Adam in the 400-meter hurdles each secured golds with Giberson picking up a time of 15.26 seconds and Adam clocking in a time of 57.19 seconds.
In the field events, Eli Zillman and Giberson shared the conference title as they each cleared 6 feet and 2 inches. Zillman would finish with his own conference title in the long jump with a mark of 21 feet and 7 inches. The Trojans went on to win the sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays.
The Demons had success in bunches with Tyler Alderton outpacing the field in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs. Greyson Hartman commandeered the throwing events, winning both events by at least 10 feet with a heave of 59 feet and 0.25 inches in the shot put and a toss of 159 feet and 1 inch in the discus.
Fort Madison posted three wins in the relays: the 4×400 with the team of Nolan Guzman, Peyton Lambert, Mason McLey, and Julian Dear, the 4×800 with Krogmeier replacing Dear, and the distance medley team of Aurelio Jaciunde, Dayton Lamar, Riley Tripp, and McLey.
Burlington’s lone win occurred in the 4×100 meter relay with the team of Amare Stepps, Darius Shealey, Kamryn Reynolds, and Laderrias Shealey collecting a time of 44 seconds in the win.
Keokuk’s Ryan Bair is fast, and he exhibited that in the 100 and 200-meter dashes with a time of 10.89 seconds and 22.26 seconds, respectively. He anchored the gold medal team of Travarius Smith, Drew Campbell, and Tramell Smith in the 4×200 meter relay.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team collected 59 points as they finished in second place in the shuttle hurdle relay with the team of Kaden Schadt, Keegan Heaton, Franky Lopez, and Caleb Shepherd, and Jaymisen Rich took the silver in the shot put with a heave of 44 feet and 7.5 inches.
Up Next
Mt. Pleasant will be hosting Fairfield, Fort Madison, and Keokuk in the Class 3A state qualifying meet on Thursday, May 15th, at 4 pm.
Washington will head to Mt. Vernon for their state qualifying meet, while Burlington will venture to North Scott for their Class 4A state qualifying meet on Thursday.