The Ballard women's track team finished fifth at the Raccoon River Conference Meet in Carroll on Wednesday evening.  The Bombers would score 70.33 on the night.  ADM won the meet scoring 170 points.

Paityn Noe placed first in the 3000 M and 1500 M runs. She won the 3000 M with a time of 9:42 and the 1500 M with a school record of 4:37.  Noe also helped anchor the 4x800 M relay to a runner-up finish with a season best time of 9:58. The team of Annika Larson, Ava Richardson, Brenna Baumgardner and Noe cut 25 seconds off their previous season best time.  Kacey Larson had a runner-up finish in the high jump with a jump of 4'10". 

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Noel Boettger, Anya Jorgensen, Reagan Bartlett and Ally Baker placed third with a time of 1:11.24.  Annika Larson finiished third in the 1500 M run with a time of 4:59.32.  Ava Vance finished fourth in the 3000 M run. Noel Boettger placed fourth in the 200 M dash with a season best time of 27.14 and the distance medley relay team of Boettger, Kate Miller, Katie Tollefson and Brynn Wilson finished fourth in a time of 4:37.

The Bombers are back in action on Thursday - May 11 when they compete at the State Qualifying Meet in Carroll.  The meet will start at 4:00 PM.

Comments From Women's Head Coach Scott Barth:

"It was a beautiful night to compete and our team gave a great effort placing 5th in one of the state's toughest 3A conferences. Realistically, I knew the top 3 teams were deep and it was going to be a tough task for us to slip into one of those spots. I knew we would be in the mix for that 4th spot, but came up 2.5 points shy of Carlisle which left us in 5th place - only 0.33 points ahead of Gilbert. 

Paityn Noe was our double winner on the night placing 1st in the 3000 and 1500 meters. She won the 3000 with a time of 9:42 and the 1500 with a new school record of 4:37! This comes off her breaking of her own school record in the 3000 meters over the weekend at Drake with a time of 9:28.89, which gave her a second consecutive Drake Relays title and ranks her #3 on the all time Iowa list in the event. She also helped by anchoring the 4x800 relay to a runner-up finish with a season best time of 9:58. The team of Annika Larson, Ava Richardson, Brenna Baumgardner and Noe cut nearly 25 seconds off their previous season best time. Kacey Larson gave us our other runner up finish on the night in the high jump with a clearance of 4-10.00. 

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Noel Boettger, Anya Jorgensen, Reagan Bartlett and Ally Baker continued to show improvement placing 3rd with a time of 1:11.24. They cut over a second from their previous season best. Anniika Larson added a 3rd place finish in the 1500 meters with a solid time of 4:59.32. This cut over 5 seconds off of her previous season best time and showed she is nearing 100% after suffering a nagging injury a few weeks ago. Ava Vance shaved 10+ seconds off of her previous season best time in the 3000 meters adding a 4th place finish for the Bombers. Noel Boettger placed 4th in a tough 200 meter field with a season best time of 27.14 and the distance medley relay team of Noel Boettger, Kate MIller, Katie Tollefson and Brynn Wilson ran a solid race finishing 4th in a time of 4:37.

The RRC is, as I said, one of the premier 3A conferences in the state. As I look over the results, the race that stands out is the 4x400. We ran a season best time of 4:18.88 (cutting nearly 7 seconds off of our previous season best time) and placed 7th in the conference. The time we ran currently sits us in the top 20 in the state and sets us up for a potential run at qualifying for state in this event. That shows this league's depth and talent.

Now we will look ahead to the SQM meet next week in Carroll. This will be the 3rd meet of the season in Carroll, but it is a great facility and we have run well there. We have the potential to send a lot of events to the state meet. We look forward to the challenge we will face in competing against the assembled field of athletes."

TEAM SCORES

1. ADM, 170

2. North Polk, 115.33

3. Carroll, 110

4. Carlisle, 72.83 

5. Ballard, 70.33

6. Gilbert, 70

7. Winterset, 53 

8. Bondurant-Farrar, 40.5

9. Boone, 39