Sports : 7th Grade VSMS girls track team celebrates successful season

This spring I had the privilege of coaching the Vinton-Shellsburg 7th grade girl’s track team. The girls did a fantastic job and were a great group to be around. They worked hard at practice and tried their best during meets. The combination of working hard and trying their best, as well as a lot of natural talent led to this team having a wonderful season.

The Vikettes completed in six meets this spring. They earned a trophy and second place finish in West Delaware to start the year. They followed that with a third place finish in South Tama. From that point on they took home first place in their four remaining meets. At Independence the girls edged Waverly Shellrock 141 to 133.5. Then at the Clear Creek Amana Invitational the team scored 124 points compared to Clear Creek Amana’s second place total of 93. At the WaMaC Conference meet in Independence the girls had a marvelous showing scoring 136 points to take home the WaMaC West Conference title. Then to finish the season on a high note the girls put an exclamation mark on the season by scoring 136 points again. This bested the second place team from Marion by 58 points.

Team scoring was very balanced from this group. Over the course of the year they scored points in every single running event and scored points in three out of the four field events. There were numerous times in individual events where the girls were able to place two in the top six to score points twice. It even happened a couple of times at meets that allowed two relay teams to score points as well. The following events placed first in at least one meet with many of them winning multiple times.

100m dash: Olivia Erhardt

200m dash: Hanna Timmerman

400m dash: Hanna Timmerman

100m hurdles: Olivia Erhardt

4 x 100m relay: Taryn Sutton, Davia Herger, Franki Evans, Olivia Erhardt, Kiley Shannon, Rebekah Kalina, Chelsee Tharp, Leah Whiting

Sprint Medley Relay: Davia Herger, Rebekah Kalina, Kaylee Sorem, Hanna Timmerman, Leah Whiting

Shuttle Hurdle Relay: Franki Evans, Lauren Upmeyer, Chelsee Tharp, Davia Herger, Olivia Erhardt

Long Jump: Rebekah Kalina

High Jump: Franki Evans, Lauren Upmeyer

While not every girl was able to place first at a meet they all had very successful seasons. From the first practice to the final meet individual marks kept improving. Each girl should be proud of the effort they gave and accomplishments they made.

A special thank you to Alexa Francois for assisting 8th Grade coach Don Lyle and me during the spring. Your help was greatly appreciated. A big thanks also to managers Maddie Gray and Raelynn Murray. They were willing to do whatever was asked of them and took the initiative to do things on their own if they saw something that needed to be done.

2015 7th Grade Vikette Track Team

Amelia Birker

Leah Bohnsack

Amanda Cardenas

Olivia Erhardt

Franki Evans

Sonnie Evans

Samantha Hammond

Davia Herger

Rebekah Kalina

Lillie Lamont

Kellsie Lane

Carli Lang

Kailey Lazenby

Tayler-Rae Lint

Maddie Novotny

Natalie Peters

Alyssa Reynolds

Abby Sasek

Raeleigh Schulte

Kiley Shannon

Kaylee Sorem

Hailey Strohecker

Taryn Sutton

Chelsee Tharp

Hanna Timmerman

Lauren Upmeyer

Leah Whiting