Ballard girls place in the top four at two track meets

Dec 28, 2023

The Ballard girls track team had a productive week with two top-four finishes and senior distance runner Paityn Noe repeating as the Drake Relays girls 3,000-meter run champion and adding a close runner-up finish in the first-ever girls elite mile race at Drake.

The Ballard girls took fourth at Saydel April 24 with a score of 87.5. They finished third at the Dave Tapps Invitational in Van Meter April 27 with 97 points.

The Bomber boys track team finished fifth at the Comet Invitational in Alleman April 25 and third at the Norsemen Relays in Jewell April 27. The boys scored 65 points during at Alleman and 89 at Jewell.

The Ballard boys golf team shot a 162 over nine holes to take second at a home triangular meet April 24 at the Ballard Golf and Country Club. The Bombers finished just two strokes behind Winterset's winning score of 160.

The Bomber girls golf team took third during a 9-hole triangular at Winterset after shooting a 214 as a team at the Lakeview Country Club in Winterset April 24 and they had two golfers place in the top 10 individually during the 18-hole Woodward-Granger Invitational April 27 at the Woodward Golf Club.

The Ballard girls tennis team won the Grinnell Invitational with 165 points April 24, crushed Saydel by a 10-1 score in Des Moines April 25 and blanked Webster City, 9-0, Friday in Huxley. The Bomber boys tennis team pulled off a 9-0 shutout win over Iowa Falls-Alden April 24 at Assembly Park in Iowa Falls and suffered an 11-0 loss to Boone April 25 in Huxley.

The Ballard girls soccer team suffered an 8-2 loss at home to Class 1A No. 12 Panorama April 25, but the Bombers bounced back with 3-1 victory at Humboldt Friday to improve to 6-4. Statistics for both games were not available at press deadline.

The Bomber boys soccer team suffered a 3-0 loss to Bondurant-Farrar April 24 at Bondurant. Ballard rebounded with a 2-1 home victory over Hampton-Dumont-CAL Friday to improve to 3-7 on the season.

The Collins-Maxwell boys track team ran at the Clary Invitational in Eldora Friday. The Spartans finished second in the team standings with 118 points.

Here is what we learned from this week's Ballard and Collins-Maxwell high school sports competition.

The Ballard girls track team won four gold medals during the week.

The most impressive was Noe's Drake Relays victory in the girls 3,000 April 27. Noe finished the race with a PR time of 9:28.89 to finish just shy of the Relays' record time of 9:26.87 set by Linn-Mar's Stephanie Jenks in 2014.

Noe also had a great showing the first girls elite mile race Friday at Drake. She was neck-and-neck with Des Moines Roosevelt's Adrienne Buettner-Cable, running a 4:49.91 to take second to Buettner-Cable's 4:49.58.

The Ballard girls team opened the week by winning two gold, three silver and a pair of bronze medals at Saydel.

Noe won the 3,000 at Saydel in 9:43.51 and the Bomber girls 4x800 team of Annika Larson, Ava Vance, Brenna Baumgardner and Ava Richardson placed first in 10:30.51. Kasey Larson took second in the high jump with a jump of four feet, 10 inches, Noelle Boettger was runner-up in the open 100 with a time of 13.25 and Katie Tollefson earned a silver medal in the 400 with a 1:04.42 showing.

The Ballard shuttle hurdle team of Boettger, Reagan Bartlett, Ellanora Loveland and Ally Baker placed third in 1:12.93. Baumgardner won a bronze in the 800 after crossing the finish line in 2:39.64.

At the Dave Tapps Invite the Ballard girls won one event, placed second four times and took third on three occasions.

Larson and Vance went first and third in the 3,000 with respective times of 11:02.34 and 11:31.95. Boettger again won silver in the 100 with a time of 13.28 and she was also second in the 200 with a 27.66 showing.

Tollefson won another silver in the 400 after finishing in 1:02.73. Boettger and Tollefson earned another silver together when they teamed with Richardson and Kate Miller to finish the 4X400 in 4:24.81.

Loveland placed third in the long jump with a distance of 14-7.5 and Baker won a bronze in the 100 hurdles after clocking in at 17.91.

The Ballard boys track team won two events, placed second three times and third on five occasions at the Norsemen Relays.

Eli Rouse won the 200 dash in 23.51 seconds. He held off South Hamilton's Kolby Hodnefield, who finished in 23.82.

Chase Ihle gave Ballard a win in the 110 high hurdles. He finished the race in 16.34 to beat the 16.55 effort by Gilbert's Isaac Wilcox for the gold.

Jayden Swain and Ihle took second and third behind Nevada's Kane Williams in the long jump.

Swain jumped 19-11 and Ihle went 19-7.75. Williams edged out Swain for first with a distance of 19-11.75.

Swain and Rouse joined up with Eric Sydnes and Jameson Witt to place second in the sprint medley with a time of 1:38.81. South Hamilton won in 1:38.02.

Rouse teamed with Caleb Sparks, Jakson Fleischmann and Trent Payne to place second in the distance medley with a time of 3:53.60. Greene County placed first in 3:50.84.

Witt placed third in the open 400 with a time of 53.06 and he joined Fleischmann, Payne and Rouse in winning a bronze medal in the 4x400 with a 3:35.54 showing. Kir Wol, Stetson Kane, Max Clark and Ihle won a bronze in the shuttle hurdle with a 1:09.68 effort and Seth Pencook was third in the 3,200 after finishing in 10:56.45.

The Ballard boys won two events and placed second and third once apiece at the Comet Relays.

Swain, Peasley, Rouse and Witt won the sprint medley with a 1:38.04 effort. Witt ran a season-best 400 time of 52.05 to take first and the shuttle hurdle team of Wol, Kane, Clark and Ihle finished second with a season-best effort of 1:08.52.

Rouse added a bronze medal in the 200 at Alleman with PR time of 22.89.

Brady Kruger turned in a quality round of nine holes and Lincoln Miller and Brenden Wright were close behind for the Ballard boys golf team during its home triangular with Winterset and Carlisle.

Kruger carded a 38 to take medalist runner-up honors behind Winterset's Luke Linde, who dominated the meet with an impressive medalist round of 33. Miller and Wright were two strokes behind Kruger with identical rounds of 40 to tie for third.

Ballard's Mason Gatchel and Andrew Princehouse each shot a 44 to tie for 10th. Jake Oldenkamp placed 18th with a 54.

Senior Maddie Kielsmeier had a good week for the Ballard girls golf team.

Kielsmeier was medalist runner-up at the Winterset triangular after shooting a 47 over nine holes. Winterset's Jaya West won medalist with a 47.

Chastyn Gering took eighth with a 50, Madelyn Baltes 12th with a 56 and Aubrey Estrem 14th with 61 as the other Bombers to turn in a counted score. Taylor Engstler and Breanna Kruger also golfed for the Bombers, placing 15th and 16th with respective rounds of 62 and 63.

Kielsmeier took fourth at the Woodward-Granger Invitational with an 18-hole score of 96. Adel-Desoto-Minburn's Cecilia Gardiner was medalist with an 89 and the Tigers' Tess Kenny and Kendal Book were second and third with respective scores of 91 and 95.

Estrem placed sixth with a 99 and Alliyah Thompson shot a 101 to take 11th for the Bomber girls at Woodward. Madison Moore shot a 103 to place 13th as the final scored Bomber golfer and Baltes and Gering tied for 16th with identical rounds of 106.

Kaitlyn Zugay took first in the No. 1 singles tournament and Vanessa Nop won the No. 2 singles competition for the Ballard girls tennis team at the Grinnell Invitational.

Zugay scored three 11-0 shutouts. She defeated Grinnell's Madison Hey, Nevada's Brooklyn Estes and Albia's Peyton Popson.

Nop was also 3-0. She scored a 9-2 win over Grinnell's Zoey Stoner, blanked Nevada's Gracie Doson by an 11-0 score and earned a 10-1 win over Albia's Katelyn Scieszinski.

Ellie Volkmann and Jocie Hobbs were a perfect 3-0 in the No. 2 doubles spot for Ballard. Volkmann and Hobbs edged Grinnell's Anna Key and Ali Wood by a 6-5 score and earned 11-0 victories over Nevada's Kaitlyn McGaffin and August Martinez and Albia's Maggie Spurgin and Brookelynn Spinler.

The Ballard No. 4 doubles team of Riley and Peyton Askelsen was also undefeated on the day. The Askelsen sisters defeated Grinnell's Kennedy Harms and Daria Kline in a 7-4 battle, rolled to an 11-0 win over Nevada's Chloe Peterson and Harper Schnettgoecke and cruised to a 10-1 victory over Albia's Lillian DeMoss and Addi Hill.

Kiley Calvert and Gracie Ross were 2-1 in the No. 1 doubles spot for Ballard. Memphis Inglett and Ava Easter also went 2-1 in No. 3 doubles play for the Bombers.

During the Ballard girls' win over Saydel Calvert, Ross and Volkmann earned 8-2 victories in the Nos. 2, 3 and 5 singles matches, Zugay and Nop won the Nos. 1 and 4 matches by 8-3 scores and Hobbs pulled off an 8-6 victory in the No. 6 match.

In doubles play Volkmann and Hobbs pulled off an 8-0 shutout in the No. 3 match and Zugay and Nop, Inglett and Easter and the Askelsen sisters each won by an 8-1 score in the Nos. 2, 4 and 5 matches respectively.

In the victory over Webster City Zugay, Ross and Nop all won by 8-1 scores in the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 singles matches. Hobbs pulled off an 8-2 victory in the No. 6 match, Volkmann prevailed by an 8-3 margin in the No. 3 match and Calvert won by an 8-4 score in the No. 2 match.

Doubles play saw Calvert and Ross get an 8-5 win in the No. 1 match, Zugay and Nop claim an 8-2 victory in the No. 2 match and Volkmann and Hobbs pull off a 9-7 victory in the No. 3 match.

The Ballard boys tennis team swept eight of its nine matches during the victory over Iowa Falls-Alden.

Ian Godbold won the No. 1 singles match over the Cadets' Aaron Halverson by 6-0 and 6-4 scores, Emmett Miller scored 6-2 and 6-0 wins over Tyson Pohlman in the No. 2 match and Dawson Brekke delivered 6-0 and 6-1 victories over Calvin Hutchinson in the No. 3 match. Drew Pingel earned a pair of 6-1 wins over IFA's Lance Smuck in the No. 5 match and Beau Warg delivered 6-2 and 6-4 victories over the Lynx' Brayden Moestchen in the No. 6 match.

Jaron Watson overcame a 7-5 opening-set loss to the Cadets' Nick Frohwein in the No. 4 singles match. Watson won the next two sets by 6-0 and 1-0 (15-13) decisions.

In doubles play Miller and Godbold pulled off two 6-1 victories over Halverson and Hutchinson in the No. 1 match and Miller and Brekke scored a pair of 6-4 wins over Pohlman and Smuck in the No. 2 match. The No. 3 doubles match saw Ballard's team of Jace Krogh and Rylan Culp defeat IFA's team of Frohwein and Gavin Neely, 6-1 and 6-4.

Ballard only picked up one set victory as a team in its loss to Boone. Dawson Brekke rebounded from a 6-4 loss in the opening set to the Toreadors' Joe Jordan in the No. 3 singles match with a 6-0 victory in the second set, only to lose the ultimate tiebreaker, 1-0 (10-7).

Luis Renk de Moura scored 1 goal and dished out an assist for the Ballard boys soccer team during its victory over Hampton-Dumont-CAL.

Liam Hurst also scored a goal for the Bombers and Caleb Lehmkuhl dished out an assist. Parker Becker made 10 saves at keeper.

Ballard fell behind 2-0 at the half and could not recover in its loss to Bondurant-Farrar. The Bombers finished with six shots on goal and Becker made six saves.

Ethan Haus won the 3,200 and 1,600 distance races and the Collins-Maxwell boys track team also earned four silver and five bronze medals during the Clary Invitational.

Haus ran the 3,200 in 11:15.61 to beat South Hardin's Ethan Klendworth, who ran an 11:33.96. Collins-Maxwell's Silas Kimberley took third in 11:47.03.

In the 1,600 Haus clocked in at 5:02.00 to beat Klendworth's 5:19.60 for first. Kimberley also came in third in this race with a time of 5:28.50.

Isaac Brown clocked in at 11.30 in the 100 dash for Collins-Maxwell to take second to the 11.20 time by Eagle Grove's Cayden Schultz. Luke Huntrods threw 131-7 in the discus to take second to the 135-0 throw by Clarion-Goldfield-Dows' Mason Allen and Huntrods also placed third in the shot with a toss of 39-1.5.

The Collins-Maxwell 4x400 team placed second in 3:56.20 and the Spartan sprint medley team also took runner-up with a time of 1:48.06. Collins-Maxwell's distance medley and shuttle hurdle teams both placed third with respective times of 4:14.00 and 1:16.80.