Close, but no trophy.
The Mount Vernon girls’ track team led at the state meet after two days, but ended up finishing fourth with 41 points, two points behind second place MOC-Floyd Valley and Sioux Center. ADM won the 3A title with 48 points.
“We had the lead, but knew we left some points out there, so it was touch and go. Every point was going to matter,” Mount Vernon Coach Kory Swart said. “We had a few things go our way, and a few things not go our way. It is part of the State Meet experience. An absolute roller coast ride.
“We knew it was going to be close. And we knew the other teams had a lot of firepower left.”
Saturday started strong with the sprint medley of Lillian Wischmeyer, Kara Swantz, Caliana Whitaker, Eastin Whisner finishing in third place in 1:49.46.
But those were the last points of the weekend for the Mustangs.
“The girls poured their heart and souls into it,” Swart said. “Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short.”
Still, there was a lot to feel good about.
Eastin Whisner came home with four medals, finishing third in the 400 hurdles and being part of the sprint medley, fourth-place 4×800 relay (with Evelyn Moeller, Sam Schoff and Kiersten Swart), and seventh-place distance medley relay (with Kara Swantz, Caliana Whitaker and Swart).
“She had a great state meet,” Swart said.
Libby Dix finished third in the discus, as expected, but also came through with a third-place finish in the shot put.
“She’s one of those athletes who is a gamer,” Swart said. “She came through bigtime for us.”
Sydney Maue was runner-up in the high jump. Also scoring points: Lucy Wischmeyer (eighth in long jump) and Caliana Whitaker (seventh in 400).
And while there was no team trophy to bring home, there was a big helping of motivation. Most of the team returns in 2025.
“We return a lot,” Swart said. “We are set up to go back after a trophy, and have a lot to look forward to. It’ll make our returning athletes hungry.”
Boys
The Mount Vernon boys competed in seven events and had one place winner.
Junior Grady Olberding finished eighth in the 1,600. Western Dubuque won the 3A title by one point over ADM. Solon finished fifth.
Class 3A boys
Team scores (top 5, MV) – 1. Western Dubuque 72; 2. ADM 71; 3. Pella 48; 4. Central DeWitt 42; 5. Solon 38. 41. (tie) Mount Vernon 1.
Mount Vernon events
800 – 18. Dawson Scheil 2:00.48.
1,600 – 8. Grady Olberding 4:23.93.
3,200 – 12. Grady Olberding 9:43.04.
4×800 – 9. Mount Vernon (Dawson Scheil, Seamus O’Connor, Chasen Caskey, Grady Olberding) 8:10.50.
Distance medley – 11. Mount Vernon (Colin Bentley, Gage Fairchild, Grady Olberding, Dawson Scheil) 3:36.17.
High jump – 10. Jackson Kutcher 6-3.
Long jump – 23. Stanley Krob 17-11.5.
Class 3A girls
Team scores (top 10) – 1. ADM 48; 2. (tie) MOC-Floyd Valley 43 and Sioux Center 43; 4. Mount Vernon 41; 5. Gilbert 39; 6. (tie) Clear Lake 37 and Dubuque Wahlert 37; 8. Maquoketa 35; 9. Pella 29; 10. Solon 27.
Mount Vernon events
200 – 9. Caliana Whitaker 25.66.
400 – 7. Caliana Whitaker 58.67.
800 – 10. Evelyn Moeller 2:22.52; 20. Sam Schoff 2:26.67.
1,500 – 16. Kiersten Swart 5:11.31.
3,000 – 16. Claire Jensen 11:15.53; 20. Edith Dawson 11:27.94.
400 hurdles – 3. Eastin Whisner 1:06.26.
Shuttle hurdle – 9. Mount Vernon (Chloe Meester, Kiersten Swart, Olivia Haverback, Elsa Appleton) 1:09.35.
4×400 – 23. Mount Vernon (Kara Swantz, Alivia Truitt, Evelyn Moeller, Abbie Moss) 4:16.48.
4×800 – 4. Mount Vernon (Evelyn Moeller, Sam Schoff, Kiersten Swart, Eastin Whisner) 9:37.93.
Sprint medley – 3. Mount Vernon (Lillian Wischmeyer, Kara Swantz, Caliana Whitaker, Eastin Whisner) 1:49.46.
Distance medley – 7. Mount Vernon (Kara Swantz, Caliana Whitaker, Eastin Whisner, Kiersten Swart) 4:12.86.
High jump – 2. Sydney Maue 5-4; 12. Paige Schurbon 5-0.
Long jump – 8. Lucy Wischmeyer 17-0; 20. Elsa Appleton 14-10.5.
Discus – 3. Libby Dix 134-9.
Shot put – 3. Libby Dix 38-9.75.
MV girls’ finish fourth in Class 3A
Ryan Suchomel, Sports Reporter
May 23, 2024
About the Contributor
Ryan Suchomel, Sports Reporter
Ryan Suchomel is a sports reporter for the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.