MARENGO – In what may be the prelude to the South Iowa Cedar League girls’ track meet, Montezuma and North Mahaska battled for the team title Monday at the Ruth Ahrens Relays in Marengo. Iowa Valley hosted the annual meet which included seven SICL teams plus PCM. Montezuma won the meet with 147 points while NM was second with 139. Sigourney was distant third with 68.

The effort brought a smile to the face of NM coach Amy Griffin.

“The girls ran very well, and we had a lot of personal bests in both field events and running events,” said Griffin. “I am very proud of the effort the girls put in last night and look forward to Eddyville on Thursday.”

Hannah Wernli and Emmerson Jedlicka paced North Mahaska accumulating 16 points each. The Warhawks won five events and scored double in four events, three of them in the field events. Sydney Andersen and Regan Grewe went one-two in the shot out. Andersen threw 33-feet 11-inches while Grewe was close behind at 33-4. Jayden Hiner and Ava Huffman picked up second and fifth in the high jump with Hiner going over the bar at 4-10. Huffman had a jump of 4-6.

Aly Steil won the 800 meters in 2 minutes 39.6 seconds and teammate Abby Van Weelden was sixth in 2:55.41. Wernli and Breckyn Schilling snagged the last double for NM in the long jump. Wernli had a leap of 15-5.5 and Schilling jumped 15-4.

Kayla Readshaw won the 400 meters in 1:07.32 and Wernli won the 100 hurdles in 17.62. Jedlicka took second in the two distance races. She covered the 3,000 meters in 13:33.53 and 1,500 in 5:44.63.

In the relays, North Mahaska took the top spot in the shuttle hurdle in 1:17.27. They earned second in the 400 relay (56.09), 1,600 relay (4:30.72) and the 3,200 relay in 11:36.90. The sprint medley and distant medley teams placed third. No runners were listed for the relays on the final result sheet.

North Mahaska will run Thursday at the always competitive EBF Relays at Eddyville.

Team Scores: 1. Montezuma 147, 2. North Mahaska 139, 3. Sigourney 68, 4. English Valleys 61, 5. Iowa Valley 57, 6. Belle Plaine 54, 7. HLV 34, 8. PCM 2.

Andy Knockel accounted for 17 of North Mahaska’s points at the boy’s version of the Ruth Ahrens Relays at Marengo Tuesday. BCLUW won the meet with 126 points with North Mahaska heading a list of seven South Iowa Cedar League schools with 100.5. Belle Plaine placed third with 90 points.

Knockel tied for first in the 200 meters, anchored the 1,600-meter relay team to first, was a member of the third place sprint medley team and took fourth in the 100. He covered the 200 in a tie with BCLUW’s Tyler Bracy in 23.9 seconds and anchored the relay team of Nate Sampson, Asher DeBoef, and Lane Harmon to first in 3:43.30. Knockel ran the third leg of the sprint medley behind Gage Ries and Hunter Wernli, then handed off to Kaleb Stout for the anchor leg. The team finished third in 1:43.78.

North Mahaska had four double placings in the meet. Brayden Veiseth won the 1,600 meters in 4:49.35 while Ben Yang was fourth in 5:29.6. Lucas Nunnikhoven placed first in the long jump with a leap of 19-feet 7-inches and Stout jumped 18-5 for fifth place.

Max Reed was involved in a pair of doubles taking third in the 110 hurdles in 19.19 while Clay Thompson grabbed fourth in 19.52. Reed and Thompson went fourth and sixth in the 400 hurdles respectively. Reed ran 1:05.8 while Thompson clocked a 1:10.22.

North Mahaska’s other top finish was in the 3,200-meter relay when the team of Harmon, DeBoef. Veiseth and Yang covered the course in 8:43.13.

North Mahaska will run Tuesday at BGM.

Team scores: 1. BCLUW 126, 2. North Mahaska 100.5, 3. Belle Plaine 90, 4. Iowa Valley 87.5, 5. BGM 66.5, 6. English Valleys 57, 7. Sigourney 29, 8. HLV 26.5.