Van Meter girls track breaks three school records, golf wins WCAC title

The Bulldogs tapped into some special moments this week. (Note: Events covered April 24-30)

Girls Track

Competing with the best teams in the state pushed the Bulldogs into a new gear at the Drake Relays at the end of the week, as Van Meter updated three school records at the annual three-day event.

Standing the tallest among the Bulldogs’ relay teams, the 4x800 meter crew of Brooklyn Fryar, Laura Streck, Lizzy McCann and Emma McCoy found themselves eighth across the finish line. They earned a spot at Drake running a time of 9 minutes 40.81 seconds. They cut that all the way down to 9:28.50 for the new program record, now ranked at the top of the Class 2A charts.

Over in the 4x100 and competing with over 90 of the fastest groups in the state, the collection of Makenzie Dubbin, Haedyn Rebelsky, Avery Banks and Eden Moore set the school record of 51.03 seconds. While that placed 48th overall, they are now ranked eighth among 2A teams.

And on her own, Moore also found her way into the record books with a time of 1:02.55 in the 400-meter hurdles for second place. Ranked first overall among 2A competition for the season, she holds a four-second advantage over the next in line. Moore also placed ninth in the 100-meter dash at 12.77 seconds.

Boys Track

The Bulldogs hosted an 11-team meet on April 25, placing fourth among the crowd, moving their way up the leaderboard in a handful of events.

Placed third, Cason Peterson set a new personal record of 52.08 seconds in the 400-meter dash, a fringe state-qualifying time ranked in the top 30 at the end of April. In the hurdles edition, freshman Ben Wall clocked 1:09.33 for his new best time in 12th place. 

And like Peterson, Ben Gordon is peering into the state meet conversation after hitting 20-foot-03 in the long jump for third place. That ranks 33rd in the Class 2A.

Girls Soccer (5-6)

For the first time this season, the Bulldogs lost back-to-back games.

First, North Polk (10-0) came through town on April 26 to take a 4-1 victory. Van Meter’s leading scorer Eden Moore was unavailable with a scheduling conflict with the Drake Relays. She’d return Monday to face Underwood (10-1) but the one-loss Eagles would also win 4-1. Moore scored Van Meter’s lone goal with an assist from Katie Vaught.

Boys Soccer (9-4)

Like the girls team, the Bulldog boys suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season as defeats from North Polk and Treynor (9-2) put an end to the six-game win streak. Treynor is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A and won 5-1 while North Polk is top-20 in 3A and won 2-1. 

With a 3-0 win over Underwood (6-6) on Monday, the Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 8 in 1A.

Girls Golf

Capping the regular season in Pleasantville on Monday with the WCAC tournament, the Bulldogs walked out with the crown after earning four of the top five scores of the day. Van Meter finished with a tally of 355, beating out Des Moines Christian (383) and Woodward-Granger (395).

On the solo circuit, Josie Bemis (84) was crowned champ while Emma Bruins (88) and Regan Bernhardt (90) backed her up with top-three scores.

Boys Golf

Hitting 384 as a team, the Bulldogs placed eighth at Tuesday’s WCAC meet at Lake Panorama. Slade Montgomery held the team’s top score of 86 strokes.