Schneider, Hellige, boys 4x400 team take conference titles

Girls 4x100 team places second at conference meet in Fairfield

BY ETHAN LILLARD
PCC Sports

FAIRFIELD - Fort Madison’s team scores might have been towards the bottom of the standings by the end of the Southeast Conference track meet yesterday at Fairfield High School, but multiple athletes collected gold for the Bloodhounds, bringing conference titles to their school.

Fort Madison’s boys finished fourth out of the five teams on the boys side with 65 points, while the girls finished fifth out of the five teams on the girls side with 28 total points.

Matt Hellige and Quentin Schneider had the best individual finishes on the day, with Helige taking first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 9:51.90, and Schneider taking gold for the Hounds in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.44. Combined, Hellige and Schneider’s first-place finishes contributed for 16 of the Hounds total 65 points total on the day.

Fort Madison’s 4x400-meter relay team of Brock Califf, Garrett Hannum, Andrew Schaeffer and Schneider placed first with a time of 3:34.19 for eight team points. With the eight points added on, nearly 37 percent of the Bloodhounds points Thursday came from gold medal finishes.

Hellige and Schneider weren’t done after collecting their gold, adding in three more top finishes. Hellige chipped in another six points towards the team total with a second-place finish in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:41.35, while Schneider placed third in the 100-meter dash and third in the 400-meter dash.

The Bloodhounds 4x200 relay team of Califf, Michael Mosena, Sheymouhr Redd-Donald and Schaeffer also took home a top three finish, placed second with a time of 1:37.48. Califf was part of another relay team that took a top three finish, as he teamed with Tate Johnson, Ross Quentin and Matthew Meierotto for third in the distance medley with a time of 4:03.28.

Ethan Deacon led the way in the field events for Fort Madison, placing fourth in the shot put with a toss of 41-11, and fourth in the discus with a throw of 123-02.

Girls

Katie Dennis, Reyna Lampe, the distance medley team and the 4x100-meter relay team owned the top finishes for Fort Madison’s girls, with the 4x100 team placing second and the rest collecting third-place finishes.

Reyna Lampe, Taylor Barnes, Olivia Williams and Aleaya Klesner finished the 4x100-meter relay in 1:15.33 for second. Lampe, Williams, Barnes and Raquel Schneider combined in the distance medley for a third-place finish with a time of 4:56.54.

Dennis placed third in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:43.50 for four points and fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:12.83. Lampe finished third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.61. Schneider placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:14.11, while Klesner finished right behind in fifth in 1:20.32.

When it came to long distance, Claire Hellman led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 3000-meter-run with a time of 12:55.16. Dennis took sixth in the 3000 with a time of 13:20.92.

Schneider finished sixth as well in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.67. Olivia Koechle also had a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 31.83.

Fort Madison’s 4x400-meter relay team of Schneider, Koechle, Lauren King and Kylee Cashman combined for a fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 5:06.58.

Williams, Klesner, Barnes and Lampe finished fourth in the 800-sprint medley with a time of 2:05.12. The same combo minus Schneider in place of Klesner took third in the distance medley with a time of 4:56.54.

When it came to field events for the girls, Cashman collected a sixth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 30-05.50, while Dalyn Wondra took sixth in the discus with a toss of 78-01.

This was the final tune up for both the boys and girls, as both squads head to Mount Pleasant Thursday for the state qualifying meet.