Thursday, May 14th was a beautiful day, a perfect day to run and jump at track and field. This was good, because the Ram Track and Field team was outside at Treynor for the district meet. The top two entries in each event was guaranteed a trip to State. Others who placed near the top had a chance to advance if their results were better than other competitors in other meets. This year, 12 events will have at least one Ram vying for a medal at State.
    This year three Rams will be jumping into the long jump pit.
    Irelynne McNamara (daughter of Heather McNamara and Cory Johnshoy both of Mapleton) returns to the long jump event. Between state qualification and competing at Drake Relays, this will be the fifth time she is jumping at Drake University, the home of the state meet. To qualify, she placed second and broke the school record with an 18' 3.25" jump.
    "It might boost my confidence a little bit more," Irelynne, a junior at MVAOCOU, said of returning to the long jump pit. "I'm more reliant on my approach and knowing what I'm doing and comfortable in the environment with how many people are there,"
    Tanner Dixon (son of Kristin and Luke Dixon of Anthon) also returns to the long jump. He also placed second at Districts, him with a 21' 6.75" jump. Last year he finished in fifth place at State. Does put a little more pressure on his jump this year?
    "Yeah, but I'm not gonna focus on that," said the senior. "(I'm) just gonna go out there and do what I can."
    Tanner added that he was looking forward to jumping again and added that, "it's actually cool that I have another person long jumping with me." That person, Bronx Siebersma also is heading to State with the long jump.
    "I started at 19' and I just kept getting better," said Bronx, a freshman and son of Shelby and Brad Siebersma of Mapleton.
    His journey to State got a little hairy at Districts, but Bronx was pretty confident he would advance. While he placed 4th with a 20' 11.25" jump, he relied on his final jump to get in.
    "I scratched two times, and you only got three jumps, so that last jump was pretty scary," he said. "when I jumped and they said ‘mark,' I got pretty excited."
    Two ladies will be running a short distance at State. Both Irelynne McNamara and Darla Hoskins (daughter of Vera and Adam Hoskins of Soldier) qualified to run in the 100 M dash.
    "It's been a really good (first season)," said Darla, a freshman. "I've been getting faster each time, and I've placed at each one (meet), and that's pretty good, too."
    At this meet, she earned the 3rd place medal with a 13.14 second run.
    Irelynne broke her second school record at districts, this time in the 100. She set the new record at 12.51 seconds. The run earned her 2nd place.
    McNamara and Hoskins will be teaming up with Audrey Hadden (daughter of Miranda Willis-Trucke and Eric Hadden of Mapleton) and Kylah Krause (daughter of Amber Krause) in the 4x100. The foursome took fourth place with a 50.93 second time.
    Kylah, a sophomore, looks forward to the atmosphere at State.
    "It's kind of cool and fun down there, and getting to watch other people run, too, is always fun," said Kylah.
    Audrey, a freshman, did not expect to go so State as a first-time varsity runner. She credits more experienced runners into helping her prepare for varsity-level racing.
    "It's been like they helped my confidence more," she said. "knowing that I can do it."
    The McNamara and Hoskins duo isn't done running, yet. They both have one more event, the one they both look forward to the most, the 200 meter dash.
    "It's a new race (for Irelynne) I've been getting good at, and this year it's becoming a favorite," said McNamara who snatched first place with a 25.9 second run.
    Darla's response was a little shorter but has the same sentiment.
    "I really like it," she said. She was just behind Irelynne with 26.55 seconds, getting the third place medal.
    Joey Koithan (son of Carol and Dan Koithan of Mapleton) will be running the length of the track a few times, individually in the 400 meter dash and in the 800 meter run. Joey's time in the 400 put him in the record book with a 49.87 second time and a 2nd place medal. While the graduate has run in state races before, they have all been relays. These two will have him taking to the track by himself, a new experience for him. He looks forward to running a fast 800. At districts, he ran the 2-lap race in 2:04.02 and earned the second place medal in that.
    Joey has two more races to run, both with teammates. He is the anchor (last runner) for the Sprint Medley and 4x400. He said he enjoys picking up the last leg of each race.
    "It's exciting," said the recent grad. "I mean, there may be a little pressure, but I enjoy it a lot, and knowing the other teams are gonna have their fastest guys there also brings up the energy a bit and lets me run my best, too."
    Joining Joey in both races are Tanner Dixon, fellow grad Manny Cameron (son of Lucy and Adam Cameron of Danbury), and Jake Scott (son of Toni and Jeff Scott of Mapleton). Both races also made the record books at MVAOCOU. The 4x400 set a new record at 3:28.18 and took 3rd place, and the Sprint Med team is now in the record book at 1:35.83. That relay gave each runner a 2nd place medal.
    Manny has a little experience at State, going last year. Between the two relays, there is no doubt that the sprinter likes the Sprint Medley the best. He doesn't like running 400 meters at all and even cringed when discussing the distance. While it's just once around the track, he points out that that is also a quarter of a mile. He credits his fellow runners in qualifying for State.
    "My teammates are fast," he simply said.
    Jake, a freshman, credits fellow teammates in making him comfortable while on the track. His nerves are at east thanks to them, he said.
    "I'm just kind of excited about what it's like to be down on the track with all the people around you," he said of going to Drake his inaugural year in high school track.
    Along with the tracksters, the relay alternates will attend State in case they are needed to fill out a team. Alternates are Chloe Hamman, Ali Hamman, Claire Smallwood, Bo Clausen, Lincoln Gotto, Xavier Folk, and Evan Cowgill.
    The events begin this Thursday. At 2:00 p.m. Dixon and Siebersma will be taking their turns at the long jump. At 4:20 p.m. McNamara and Hoskins will be running in the 200 M Dash preliminaries. At 4:30 McNamara will be leaping at the long jump. At 6:30 p.m. the two ladies will be running in the 100 M Dash preliminaries. Koithan will be running the 400 M Dash at 7:20 p.m.
    Friday at 6:20 p.m. the 4x100 team will be running in the preliminaries. At 7:40 p.m. the 4x400 team will be running in the preliminaries.
    Saturday at 9:50 a.m. the Sprint Medley team will be racing the track. At 11:05 a.m. Koithan will be running in the 800 M Run. The 100 M Dash finals for the ladies (if they qualify) will be at 12:55 p.m. The 200 M Dash finals will be at 2:20 p.m. At 3:55 the 4x100 finals will be held.
    Good performance to all.

    Hours before storms blew through the area, 73 MVAOCOU seniors became alumni at the school's commencement. The beautiful afternoon made a perfect setting for the reception line where hugs and photos filled the school lawn.
    In this issue you will find spotlights for most of the grads (and a couple more grads) along with photos from commencement.