The Ballard women's track team hosted the Ballard Invitational on Friday night.  The Bombers as a team finished second overall with 135 team points in Class A.  Gilbert won Class A with 196 team points and Iowa Falls-Alden won Class B with 132 team points.  To see the meet results, CLICK here.

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"We had were almost at full strength tonight which helped up move up in the team standings.  We tried to "stack" although we didn't have as many season bests and PR's as I had hoped for, we ran well and competed really hard.

Our highest placewinners on the night were:

Ellie Twedt in the 3000 meters with a time of 11:15 placing 1st.  She again ran most of the race by herself and was hindered by the brisk wind early in the evening, but continued her dominance in this event winning her 3rd title in a row in this event.  Ellie also placed 2nd in the 800 meters with a time of 2:37.

Caitlin Maher took home first place in the 1500 in a time of 5:14 which is her PR.  She also anchored the distance medley relay to a 1st place finish in a time of 4:35.  She was joined by Rachel Newell, Rori Jones and Natalie Maher.

Rachel Newell, in addition to her 1st place finish in the distance medley, also took home another 1st place finish in the 100 meter dash in a time of 13.17.  She hasn't run this event since her freshman season, but she had been performing so well in the lead leg of her sprint relays, we decided to give it a shot and that paid off.  She also helped the 4x100 meter relay to a 2nd place finish in a season best time of 54.67.  She was joined on this relay by Ellis Giles, Taiylor Wright and Rori Jones.

The 4x800 meter relay also placed 2nd in a time of 10:37.  This team was comprised on Josie Fleischmann, Mya Ehresman (in her first 800 ever), Kate Huisinga and Hailey Cole. Josie Fleischmann also placed 3rd in the 800 with a time of 2:38 to close out a good night from her.  She is coming on for us at the right time.

The hurdlers have started making a comeback from 2 athletes with injuries placing 3rd in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay with a season best time of 1:12.  That team of Taiylor Wright, Alexis Kluender, Ali Buban and Sarah Stolte also ran well in the open hurdles with Sarah Stolte placing 2nd with a season best time of 16.99 and Taiylor Wright placed 3rd with a season best time of 17.49.  Alexis Kluender and Ali Buban both placed highly in class B.

There were many other good performances including PR's for Alison Van ErsVelde in both the shot and discus.  She threw 29'03 and 90'03 respectively - both placing in the events! Natalie Maher, Mya Ehresman and Carley Wilson continue to develop as 200 and 400 meter runners.  They are critical to our relay and open events.

I really do feel that we are heading in the right direction and peaking at the right time.  We will be competitive in many events as the conference and state qualifying events are coming up over the next two weeks.  Hitting 135 points tonight and beating North Polk for the first time in many years are both signs of the competitive team we are becoming."

TEAM SCORE - CLASS A

1. Gilbert, 196

2. Ballard, 135

3. North Polk, 117

4. Des Moines Lincoln, 76

5. Perry, 28

6. South Tama, 20

TEAM SCORE - CLASS B

1. Iowa Falls-Alden, 132

2. South Hamilton, 123

3. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, 98

4. Collins-Maxwell, 88

5. SE Valley 79

6. Ogden, 65

The Bombers are back in action on Thursday - May 2 when they travel to Carroll for the Raccoon River Conference Meet.  The meet will start at 4:00 PM.

Photo Credit: Dee Newell