9 GOLDS TOTAL

By William

NEWTON – The McPherson track/field team got off to a superb start to the 2021 season on Monday as they traveled to Newton and the Lady Bullpups came home with eight gold medals for first place finishes.

“It was a learning process for sure,” noted Bullpup head coach Jace Pavlovich. “Our goal going into the meet was to compete to the best of our ability and use this as a glorified practice. Never have we gone to a meet this early in the season and I was proud of how our kids competed. I figure if we had our girls 4×400 meter relay team running, we would have won the meet.”

The highlight for the Lady Bullpups was the performances by Jayla McLeod and Courtney Eickbush as they both earned double golds on the afternoon.

McLeod, just a freshman, scored two golds in the sprints by winning both the 100 and 200 meters, while Eickbush, a veteran distance runner, won both the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs.

Other Lady Bullpup gold medalists were Aislyn Soukup in the 100 hurdles, and Emily Whorton running in the 400 meters, while Katie Berg and Grace Pyle scored gold in two field events as Berg won the shot put and Pyle tossed the javelin further than anyone.

As a team, the Lady Bullpups finished second, just a mere six points behind host Newton, not a bad finish for not entering all events.

For the Lady Bullpups, Coach Pavlovich had plenty of reflections to share by saying, “We had a phenomenal performance highlighted by Jayla McLeod in the 100 and 200 meters, plus Aislynn Soukup running a great 100 hurdles. Grace (Pyle) dominated the javelin, and we went first, second and fourth in the shot put with Katie (Berg) winning it. While Emily (Whorton) won the 400 meters, she also finished third in the high jump and Courtney (Eickbush) scored gold in both distance events with Evie Elder finishing third in the 1,600 and second in the 3,200.”

The Bullpup boys placed third out of five teams in the team standings as Brycen Labertew was the lone gold medalist on the boys side with a win in the 110 hurdles.

Concluding his post-meet reflections, Pavlovich looked at the positives for the boys team by adding, “On the guys side, Gavin Wedel just picked up the javelin recently and finished fifth while Aaron (Powell) took second in both the long and triple jumps. Brycen (Labertew) earned a win in the 110 hurdles while Cody Achilles took third in the 1,600 meters. We did go second and third in the 400 meters with two freshman, Javyn Alexander and Jayce Schriner. Tucker Pelnar is a competitor, and we cannot wait to see what he does through the season as he finally was able to compete again after a should injury.”

The Bullpup track/field team will be back in action on Thursday, April 1 when they travel to Andale for the nine-team Andale Invitational.

MCPHERSON BULLPUP INDIVIDUAL TRACK RESULTS:

LADY BULLPUPS RESULTS:

Javelin = 1. Pyle 107’5”; 8. Malm 65’2”.

Discus = 3. Berg 98’5”.

Shot Put = 1. Berg 36’9 ½”; 2. Pyle 35’7”; 4. Buettgenbach 34’1 1/2”.

High Jump = 3. Whorton 5’0”.

100 Hurdles = 1. Soukup 16.81; 5 Smith 23.28.

100 Meters = 1. McLeod 13.02.

1,600 Meters = 1. Eickbush 6:08.77; 3. Elder 6:30.61.

4×100 Relay = 2. 53.74 (Casebeer, McLeod, Soukup, Lang).

400 Meters = 1. Whorton 1:03.80; 5. Casebeer 1:14.56; 6. Lang 1:16.51.

300 Hurdles = 2. Smith 51.98; 3. Holmes 53.33; 4. Martens 53.46.

200 Meters = 1. McLeod 27.54; 5. Casebeer 31.38; 6. Lang 53.46.

3,200 Meters = 1. Eickbush 14:02.55; 2. Elder 14:31.48.

BULLPUP BOYS RESULTS:

Javelin = 5. Wedel 123’4”.

Discus = 3. Bailey 124’2”; 7. Snyder 107’5”; 14. Landrum 79’5”.

Shot Put = 4. Wallace 42’11 ½”; 9. Minier 37’9”; 10. Bailey 36’4”.

Triple Jump = 2. Powell 39’10”.

Long Jump = 2. Powell 20’2”; 4. Gibbs 19’1/2”.

High Jump = 3. Becker 5’6”.

110 Hurdles = 1. Labertew 17.64.

100 Meters = 6. Tucker Pelnar 11.65; 8. Kaufman 11.97.

1,600 Meters = 3. Achilles 5:09.59; 6. Mendez 5:27.20.

4×100 Relay = 4. 46.52 (Kaufman, Tucker Pelnar, Powell, S. Schriner)

400 Meters = 2. Alexander 54.75; 3. J. Schriner 55.16; 7. Hardgrave 59.36; 10. Dossett 1:01.31.

300 Hurdles = 4. Muehler 46.66; 7. Labertew 48.31.

200 Meters = 4. Buckbee 24.87; 5. Tucker Pelnar 24.91; 10. Kaufman 26.42.

3,200 Meters = 2. Achilles 11:14.40; 4. Mendez 12:02.00.

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