Lady Eagles Track Team Competes Well at West Holt Invitational

Randi Pinkerman (left) and Sam Eichelberger (right) in the 100 Meter Dash Finals PHOTO CREDIT MIKE PETERSON

The Lady Eagles traveled to Atkinson to compete in the West Holt Invitational on Thursday, April 23rd. 

Despite having one of their top point scorers this year, Aurora Gutshall, home with the flu, they still managed to finish in third place behind Ord and North Central.

O’Neill was again led my multi-talented freshman, Mikayla Marvin. Mikayla vaulted 8-10 to finish in 2nd place; ran a personal best 17.1 in the 100 high hurdles finishing in 4th and sprinted her way to a 3rd place finish in the 400 with her personal best time of 67.2.

Another freshman having a great day was Sam Eichelberger. She ran her personal best time of 17.3 in the 100 high hurdles in the prelims, but failed to match that time in the finals running a 17.7 to finish right behind teammate Marvin to finish in 5th.  Sam’s best race of the day was in the 100 dash where she sprinted her way to a 1st place finish with a 13.5.  The Lady Eagles looked to sweep the 100 dash with Randi Pinkerman, Briaunna Parks and Eichelberger all winning their heats, but Parks false-started to put her out of a medal. Randi did run her best time of the year, 13.8, to finish in 2nd.

Payton Birkel continued her great freshman season by placing 5th in the 800 with a time of 2:42.8. She also was a member of the 4th place 4 x 800 relay team with teammates, Kadra Sommersted-Simmons, Kaddee Harner and Abby Gillham. Kadra also placed 6th in the 400 with a time of 1:11.0.

The 4 x 100 relay team of Gabbie Scott, Briaunna Parks, Sam Eichelberger and Randi Pinkerman finished in 6th place.  Allison Ludwig also finished in 6th place in the high jump clearing 4-6. Fellow jumper, McKenzie Adamson finished in 3rd in the triple jump going 31-8.

Head coach Mike Peterson had this to say:

“I was very pleased with our efforts and results today. Despite not having Aurora Gutshall due to illness, we had many athletes step up and score a lot of points for us. Even though not every athlete scored, we had many personal bests on the day and that is the beauty of track and field. I look forward to a very busy week next week with the Pierce 9/10 meet on Tuesday, the Norfolk Classic on Thursday and the Mid State Conference Meet on Saturday in Albion."

Congratulations on the fine performances!
Article courtesy Mike Peterson.

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