Greene County finished fifth among 11 teams on the boys’ side and sixth among eight girls’ teams on Thursday at the Carroll Tigers Coed Track & Field Relays. Thursday was the last date of competition accepted by the Drake Relays, so beautiful weather helped athletes attain several personal best and season best performances. The list of Drake Relays qualifiers is expected to be released on Saturday and high school events at Drake Stadium in Des Moines are April 28-29-30.
Team champions were Lewis Central (Council Bluffs) for the boys and Carroll for the girls.
The Greene County boys had one first place finish. That came from Nathan Black in the high jump at 5′ 10″. The Rams took a fall in the shuttle hurdle and finished in second place. That was one of the events they had hoped to improve their time and qualify for Drake, but that didn’t happen. The 4 x 100 meter relay took .33 off their previous best and finished second in :44.87, which unofficially puts them in the top 96 to qualify for Drake. Camden Strennen, Jackson Morton, Bryce Stalder, and Jesse Miller were in that quartet.
Olivia Shannon had both of Greene County’s first place finishes for the girls. She went 16′ 5-1/4″ to win the girls’ long jump and she set a new personal best by 1/4″. Shannon won the 200 meter dash in 27.28 seconds, just .01 off her personal record. Shannon led off the fourth place 4 x 100 meter relay. That unit shaved time off their previous best and could make a run at the top 96 and Drake qualification. Katrina Heupel, Natalie Heupel, and Isabella Schroeder round out the 4 x 100.
The Rams go to Gilbert on Monday for a coed meet.