The Ballard women's track team finished fourth at the Saydel Invite on Monday.  The Bombers would score 87.5 on the night.  North Polk won the meet scoring 212.5 points.

Paityn Noe would win the 3000 M run running in a time of 9:43.51.  The 4x800M relay (Kasey Larson, Ava Vance, Brooklyn Baumgardner, Ava Richardson) won finishing in a time of 10:30.51.  Katie Tollefson finished second in the 400 M run and Noel Boettger finished second in the 100 M dash.

The Bombers are back in action on Thursday - April 27 when they compete at Van Meter.  The meet will start at 4:30 PM.

Comments From Women's Head Coach Scott Barth:

"The girls traveled to Saydel on Monday night and ran in some of the best weather of the season. The competition was really good with 4 teams from class 4A, a really deep North Polk team and a compliment of other schools rounding out the field. We didn't run most of our distance core fully, but still managed to place a respectable 4th place out of the 9 schools in attendance. 

Our 2 first place finishers on the night came early with Paityn Noe's victory in the 3000 meters with a meet record of 9:43. She is competing this upcoming week at the Drake Relays in the new Elite MIle which features 8 of the best runners from the midwest and also in the 3000 meters. She will be among the favorites in both races, so she ran in only 1 race tonight to prepare for those big races on Thursday and Friday. The other victory came in the 4x800 which placed 1st in a time of 10:30. That team featured Annika Larson, Ava Vance, Brenna Baumgardner and Ava Richardson. This relay holds promise of being a state qualifier and is running well with a lot of confidence. 

Kasey Larson continued her string of strong showings in the high jump with a clearance of 4-10 which earned her the silver. Noel Boettger ran another great 100 meter race placing 2nd in an excellent field. Katie Tollefson ran the open 400 for the first time this season in placing a solid 2nd. The shuttle hurdle relay team of Boettger, Reagan Bartlett, Nora Loveland and Ally Baker shaved some more time off of their season best time in grabbing 3rd. Freshman Brenna Baumgardner showed promise in the 800 as she placed 3rd.

It was good for us to step up the competition at this meet. We are heading very quickly into the RRC meet next week and the SQM meet the following week. Both will take place in Carroll. The RRC is a monster with several of the top teams in the state. The SQM includes teams like Carroll, Glenwood and Harlan, so that will be a great challenge as well. We will use the next week to decide final meet placings heading into those two meets."

TEAM SCORES

1. North Polk, 212.5

2. Indianola, 122

3. Ankeny Centennial, 97.5

4. Ballard, 87.5

5. Roland-Story, 80.5

6. Bondurant-Farrar, 75

7. Des Moines Roosevelt, 29

8. Des Moines North, 15

9. Saydel, 14