The Ballard women's track team competed in the DCG Early Bird on Thursday night at Dallas Center-Grimes.  Shewaye Johnson won the 3,000 and 1,500 meter runs.  She broke the school record in the 3,000.  The distance medley team of Molly Ihle, Carley Wilson, Natalie Maher and Caitlin Maher ran in a time of 4:40.67 to finish first.  Kate Huisinga won the 400 meter run finishing in a time of 1:07.60.  The 4x8 relay (Huisinga, Mya Ehresman, Ava Vance and Josie Fleischmann) and the shuttle hurdle relay (Rori Olson, Alexis Kluender, Ali Buban, and Ali Baker) both finished second.  Huisinga finished the 1,500 meter run in second.  There were no team points kept for this meet.

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"Even though the weather was not perfect, it was great to be on the track with the girls again after a year hiatus.  That lost year definitely made for a few more nerves and the need to knock off some of the dust, but I am pleased with what I saw today. 

Leading the way tonight was sophomore Shewaye Johnson who swept the 3000 and 1500 meter combo.  She ran a 9:58.22 for the win which meets the blue standard for the Drake Relays in a few weeks and breaks the school record set by Abby Kohut-Jackson a few years back at the state meet.  She followed that effort with another great run winning the 1500 in a time of 4:53.39.  This was just off the school record and blue standard for the Drake Relays.  She will have a few more chances to get that over the next two weeks. 

There were also two other first place finishers on the night.  The distance medley relay of Molly Ihle, Carley Wilson, Natalie Maher and Caitlin Maher brought home the gold with a great, early season winning time of 4:40.67.  Closing out our first place finishers was Kate Huisinga in the 400 meter with a time of 1:07.60.  Kate has been training all winter and worked on improving her speed - she wanted to see what she could do after all her hard work and it obviously paid off for her as she ran a great race.

Our 2nd place finishers on the night were the 4x800 team of Kate Huisinga, Mya Ehresman, Ava Vance and Josie Fleischmann with a good early season 10:52.05.  The shuttle hurdle relay team of Rori Olson, Alexis Kluender, Ali Buban, and Ali Baker ran in a time of 1:21.75.  We ran a clean race with no hit hurdles and have potential to show great improvement over the course of the season.  Kate Huisinga closed out a strong night individually with a 2nd place finish in the 1500 meters with a time of 5:36.50.  She ended the night with a first place finish and two runner-up medals. 

Our 3rd place medalists on the night were Kate Miller in the 400 meter dash, Caitlin Maher in the 800 meter dash, and Noel Boettger in the 400 meter hurdles. 

There were other great performances on the night as well and I think my athletes did a great job tonight.  We definitely still need some conditioning - both physical and mental - but we definitely showed promise tonight in many events.  We now have a nine day period where we can work on those things along with hand-offs and some technique work for our field events.  The weather looks much nicer next week and we will put in some hard work and try to show some growth at DCG on Saturday, April 3rd."

The Bombers are back in action on Saturday - April 3 when they travel to Dallas Center-Grimes.  The meet will start at 12:00 PM.