The final day of competition for Greene County at the Coed State Track & Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines was very good for the Rams. Senior Jackson Morton placed second in the Class 2A 110 meter high hurdles in 14:64 seconds, and he anchored a third place finish for the Rams in the shuttle hurdle relay team in a season best time. The all-senior quartet of Landyn Venteicher, Bryce Stalder, Nate Black, and Morton ran 1:00.73. The foursome was second to Central Decatur (Leon) in section one, who ran 1:00.64, and was second overall. The four fastest qualifying teams from Thursday’s preliminary ran in the final section and only Spirit Lake, who placed first overall in 1:00.50, was faster than CD and the Rams. The placing was among the best ever for a Jefferson-based shuttle hurdle relay since the event began for boys more than a decade ago. The third place finish was worth six points for the team.

Morton’s second place finish meant eight more points for the Rams as they finished with 14 points, one of the higher point totals in recent seasons. Like the shuttle hurdle finish, his individual hurdles race placing is the highest in many years for the Jefferson-based program. Only Spirit Lake’s Jack Latham in 2A was faster and Latham set an All-Time Iowa best in that race of :13.81.

Olivia Shannon ran a personal best in the girls’ 2A 200 meter dash in :26.15 and finished in seventh place after qualifying eighth. She scored the only two points of the meet for the Rams.

All three Greene County events placed higher in the finals than what they were ranked following preliminary races on Thursday and Friday. Derek Merk is the girls’ head coach and Chad Morton heads the program for boys.