The Ballard women's track team competed in the Dallas Center-Grimes Classic on Saturday.  Shewaye Johnson won the 3,000 (9:52.06) and 1,500 (4:47.71) meter runs.  She broke the school record in the 3,000, a record in which she broke in the first meet of the season.  The distance medley team of Molly Ihle, Katie Tollefson, Natalie Maher and Caitlin Maher ran in a time of 4:30.53 to finish first.  The 4x8 relay (Kate Huisinga, Mya Ehresman, Ava Vance and Josie Fleischmann) finished third with a time of 10:20.92 and the shuttle hurdle relays finished fourth.

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"I was very pleased with what I saw tonight at the Dallas Center-Grimes Classic.  We showed lots of improvement between meet one and tonight's meet nine days later.  The beautiful weather without a doubt was an advantage today, but I do think that conditioning and experience played a role tonight also.

Shewaye Johnson was once again unstoppable.  She set two stadium records on the night winning the 3,000 meters in 9:52.06 and the 15,00 in 4:47.71.  The 3,000 meter time also breaks her own school record which she set nine days ago and is inching closer to the 1,500 meter record.  The 3,000 meter time is the states best by nearly 20 seconds and her 1,500 time currently ranks her 2nd and a solid qualifier for the Drake Relays in a few weeks.

The distance medley team of Katie Tollefson, Molly Ihle, Natalie Maher, and Caitlin Maher cut ten seconds off their previous season best by running a winning time of 4:30.53 which currently ranks them as 4th best in class 3A. 

The 4x800 finished in a close race for 3rd place.  Kate Huisinga, Mya Ehresman, Ava Vance, and Josie Fleischmann cut 32 seconds off their previous season best with Josie Fleschmann anchoring the team with a 2:27 split.  This relay now ranks #3 in class 3A.

The shuttle hurdle relay continued their growth running a 4th place finish in 1:19.65 which is an improvement of nearly three seconds from last meet. 

Kate Huisinga, who was a part of the 3rd place 4x800 team also ran a PR 800 split of 2:32 and followed it up with a 6th place finish in a loaded field with a personal record of 5:23.  This eclipses her old PR by over ten seconds.  Ava Vance also set her career 1,500 meter PR with a 5:31.

Noel Boettger also had a great night for us running a 1:06 split in the sprint medley and following it up with a 1:20 in the 400 hurdles which improves her PR in that event by two seconds.  Our sprint relays also shower growth with the Sprint Med improving their overall season best by nearly four seconds.  The 4x200 improved on their season best by over two seconds and the 4x100 also made a gain of two seconds since last meet.

We continue to struggle a bit in field events, but are also very young in those areas with all athletes competing in those events for the first time at BHS.  We hope to develop those athletes and get some points in those areas by season's end.

So, I am pleased with the progress we are making.  This is a hardworking group and very menatlly tough.  We knew this would most likely be the toughest meet we would compete in prior to conference, the state qualifying meet, and state.  The girls stepped up and performed well.  We will continue to work hard and keep the momentum going over the next few weeks."

DALLAS CENTER-GRIMES CLASSIC SCORES

1. SE Polk, 127

2. Pleasany Valley, 121

3. Pella, 97

4. Dallas Center-Grimes, 95

5. Ames, 74

5. Iowa City Liberty, 74

7. Davenport Assumption, 69

8. Ballard, 60

The Bombers are back in action on Tuesday - April 6 when they travel to Gilbert.  The meet will start at 4:30 PM.