State meet to be full of Wildcats

Boys track

     Maquoketa Valley qualified nine entries in eight events for the State Boys Track and Field Meet, including five relays, during the Class 1A State Qualifying Meet at Edgewood-Colesburg.

     Advancing individually are Chance Downs in the 800-meter dash, Brendan Hogan in the 1,600, Chad Neuzil and Brock Hillers in the 110 high hurdles.

     Relays advancing include the 4x100, with Mitch Neuzil, Gianpaolo Pillon, Chad Neuzil and Daniel Hunter; the 4x200, with Mitch Neuzil, Evan Hoefer, Daniel Hunter and Derek Becker; the 4x400, with Becker, Downs, Hillers and Alex McCusker; the 4x800, with Downs, Becker, Hogan and Derek Mensen; and the shuttle hurdle team of Hillers, Becker, Tiege Hunt and Chad Neuzil.

     “It was an exciting and rewarding meet for us,” said Pat Meehan, who co-coaches the team with Curt Feldt. “We performed our best times and distances in almost all 19 events. We are preparing now to achieve our best at the state championships.”

     Earlier, Maquoketa Valley had a strong showing in the Tri-Rivers Conference Boys Track and Field Meet May 7 at Central City, finishing fourth with 96 points. Calamus-Wheatland was the conference champion with 117, North Linn was second with 115, and Lisbon took third with 114.

     Chad Neuzil was a conference champion for the Wildcats in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 15.80 seconds.

     Taking second place were Brock Hillers in the 400 hurdles, the 4x100 relay, the 4x200 relay and the shuttle hurdle relay.

      In third were Hillers in the 110 hurdles, Brenden Hogan in the 1,600, the 4x400 relay and the 4x800 relay.

     The state meet will be May 17-19 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Girls track

     Maquoketa Valley will send two girls, covering three events, to the State Class 1A Track and Field Meet, to be held May 17-19 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

     During the State Qualifying Meet held May 10 at Edgewood-Colesburg, Samantha Wall qualified in both the 100-meter dash and the 200. Lydia Helle advanced in the shot put.

Golf

     The season came to an end for the Maquoketa Valley boys golf team at the Class 1A sectional meet May 11 at Buffalo Creek Golf Club in Winthrop.

     The Wildcats shot 471 to finish sixth in the meet. Advancing to the district tournament as teams were East Buchanan with 335, Edgewood-Colesburg with 346, and Alburnett with 353.

     Austin Snyder led MV with a 107, Tony Offerman shot 110, Garrett Lahr had 126 and Morgan Hermanson scored 128.

     “Overall I was satisfied with how the guys performed given the conditions,” MV coach Tim Andrews said. “It was a cold, windy and rainy day, and they fought through it.

     “Having all underclassmen and a couple of first-year golfers, we have a lot to look forward to in years to come.”

     On the girls’ side, Maquoketa Valley finished a respectable sixth place in an 11-team field at the Tri-Rivers Conference Girls Golf Meet May 7 at Pin Oak in Manchester.

     East Buchanan was the team champion with a score of 414, Calamus-Wheatland was second with 416, and Central City came in third with 422.

     MV scored 437, as Kelly Winter had a top-10 finish, taking ninth place with a 104. Erika Supple scored a 107, Faith Hunt totaled 108, and Chloe Roling carded a 118.

     “Overall I liked how the girls competed today in a very competitive conference tournament,” Andrews said. “Coming in I knew any one of the top seven teams would have a chance to make a run at the title. We didn’t quite finish where we had hoped as a team today but hopefully we can use this as motivation as we move towards postseason play next week.”

     The Wildcat girls next competed May 8 at Lone Pine in Colesburg, defeating Ed-Co 213 to 216. Bellevue Marquette attended as well, but did not have a complete team.

     Winter was runner-up medalist with a 49. Supple shot 53, Hunt had a 54, Roling scored 57, and Maddie Lahr finished with a 70.

     Maquoketa Valley’s boys sent three golfers to the same meet. Snyder shot 52, Offerman had a 63, and Garrett Lahr totaled 81. Ed-Co defeated Marquette 177 to 190 in the team total.

     “Overall I was happy to see us battle through some adversity and get the scores that we got,” Andrews said. “I was also happy to see the girls come away with a team victory against an Ed-Co squad that placed ahead of us at the conference meet the day before.”