The boys and girls’ track teams both placed third at the Chuck Silvey Urbandale Co-Ed Invite April 17.

Junior Jordyn Kleve placed second in both the 3000 meter run and 1500 meter run, running a new personal record as well as breaking her old school record. In the 3000, Kleve ran 10:00.06, crushing her old record by seven seconds. She had the school record in the 1500 at 4:43.6, and last night she ran 4:43.22. “I wanted to go out and have a good run and hopefully get a PR,” Kleve said. “It was a nice day with no wind, and it was a perfect opportunity to go get it. I was really happy because I didn’t feel dead, and it was a nice surprise because I wasn’t expecting it.”

Pat Hennes, the girls distance coach, was proud of Kleve after each race. “The great thing about both races was that she negative split during both, which means that she got faster as the race went on,” Hennes said. “Most people get slower as the race goes on, so for her to get faster shows me that she can improve her times even more.”

As the Drake Relays and the state meet get closer, Kleve hopes to improve even more. “I want to continue to improve my times and to feel strong finishing Drake and state,” Kleve said. Hennes hopes the athletes running in the relays have fun with it. “The biggest goal is always that they take the pressure off of themselves, let themselves enjoy it as much as possible and not get caught up in the hype of the event,” Hennes said. “If they’re able to relax and enjoy it, they’ll have better races.”

Other highlights from the girls meet included juniors Keely Larkin and Shana Hudson placing first and second in the varsity discus division with Larkin throwing a 104-06 and Hudson throwing a 99-03. The varsity 4×400 meter relay team ran a personal record race with a time of 4:03.79. Team members included freshman Elle Brown, senior Ronnoja Ayers, sophomore Maddy Bradley and junior Kristen Stucker. They went from being seeded 19th in the state rankings to seventh in the state. The 4×200 meter relay team won the varsity division with a time of 1:46.12; team members included Ayers, junior Maddie MacGregor, Stucker and Brown. Brown also placed fourth in the long jump with a jump of 15-03.75.

The boys’ division had many highlights as well. Sophomore Drew Hershey won the varsity 1600 meter run with a time of 4:26.43. Senior Connor Westlake finished second with a time of 4:27.13. Junior Ben Renner won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:01.12, while Adam Johanson came in fourth with a time of 2:02.38. The junior varsity 4×400 meter relay broke the freshmen record with an overall time of 3:39.99. Team members included freshmen Carter Wunsch, Gannon Svestlen, Johnny Pater and Grant Gossling.

Both the boys and girls coaches are excited for what the remainder of the season entails. “The coaches are very proud of the athletes and their performances,” girls head coach Chris Siewert said. “At this point in the year, athletes will start to pop off good times. Throw in good weather and you will really start to see the good stuff. (30 personal records) really shows the direction we are heading.”