Mount Vernon girls’ track coach Kory Swart takes the glass half-full approach.
The Mustangs had a big Saturday at the Class 3A State Track Meet, and ended up finishing runner-up to ADM.
“We thought at one point we’d finish in fourth, and not get a trophy,” Swart said. “We knew Gilbert, Marion and ADM all had a lot left.
“We had some great stuff happen. A lot of outstanding performances. At state, some events get away from you a little bit. That’s part of the roller coaster ride at the State Meet.”
Junior Cali Whitaker came up with a second-place finish in the 200, finishing in 24.81 seconds.
“Once she got us those eight points, we thought, okay, maybe we can do this,” Swart said.
Then sophomore Evelyn Moeller placed second in the 1,500 run in 4 minutes, 38.20 seconds.
“The whole crowd went nuts,” Swart said. “That was huge for us.”
Mount Vernon ended up scoring 58 points at state, tying Gilbert for second. ADM won it with 67 points and Marion was fourth with 50 points.
The nine-point margin may help keep the what-ifs at bay.
“I’m kind of a big believer if it is meant to be … it’ll be,” Swart said. “We were meant to be runner-up this year.
“I appreciate it all. We went through it all in three days at the state meet. But it was so rewarding to have the finish we did.”
The Mustangs scored a lot of points all weekend, and came home with a team trophy. They also came home with one gold medal – Libby Dix won the discus with a throw of 148 feet, 10 inches.
And the senior won a state title after finishing second at the State Qualifying Meet the week before.
“Libby shines the brightest when the lights are on,” Swart said. “We knew she was capable of it.”
As well as her second in the 200, Whitaker placed third in the 400 in a school-record 56.34 seconds.
Moeller added a second-place in the 800 and a strong anchor on the third-place distance medley and third place 4×800 relays for a four-medal weekend.
“She pushed us into contention,” Swart said.
Other points came from sophomore Lucy Wischmeyer in the long jump (seventh), senior Sydney Maue in the high jump (eighth), sophomore Eastin Whisner in the 400 hurdles (eighth), and the sprint medley placing seventh. That was senior Olivia Haverback, junior Grace Hale, senior Kara Swantz and Whitaker.
“Every point counted,” Swart said. “Lot of events cored points, even if it didn’t go as well as we hoped. It all allowed us to be runner-up.”
Class 3A girls
Team scores (top 5) – 1. ADM 67; 2. (tie) Mount Vernon 58, Gilbert 58; 4. Marion 50; 5. Clear Lake 40.
Mount Vernon
200 – 2. CaliAna Whitaker 24.81.
400 – 3. CaliAna Whitaker 56.34.
400 hurdles – 8. Eastin Whisner 1:06.67; 20. Sorell Telecky 1:09.60.
800 – 2. Evelyn Moeller 2:13.94; 14. Sam Schoff 2:22.22.
1,500 – 2. Evelyn Moeller 4:38.20.
3,000 – 22. Edith Dawson 11:23.80.
Discus – 1. Libby Dix 148-10.
High jump – 8. Sydney Maue 5-2. (winner was 5-8, Reese Wagner of North Polk)
Long jump – 7. Lucy Wischmeyer 16-11.5.
Shot put – 16. Libby Dix 35-4.75.
Sprint medley – 7. Olivia Haverback, Grace Hale, Kara Swantz, CaliAna Whitaker 1:48.92.
Distance medley – 3. Lucy Wischmeyer, Kara Swantz, Eastin Whisner, Evelyn Moeller 4:06.92.
Shuttle hurdle – (prelim) 22. Olivia Haverback, Adrienne Ruhland, Annabelle Smith, Kiersten Swart 1:11.07.
4×400 – (prelim) 9. Kiersten Swart, Eastin Whisner, Sorell Telecky, CaliAna Whitaker 4:03.37.
4×800 – 3. Eastin Whisner, Kiersten Swart, Sam Schoff, Evelyn Moeller 9:21.41.