Next week the MVAOCOU Ram Track Team, along with the other track teams in the area will be competing in their district meets in hopes of advancing to the state meet where the competition will be somewhat elevated. A group of Ram team members were fortunate to already experience this elevated competition this year as they qualified for the Drake Relays held at Drake University in Des Moines in mid-April.
    Trista Ohlmeier (daughter of Mindi and Shawn Ohlmeier of Mapleton) qualified for the Drake Relays in the high jump. She along with her sister, Taya and Irelynne McNamara (daughter of Heather McNamara of Mapleton and Cory Johnshoy of Mapleton) and Reagan Seuntjens (daughter of Hillary and Pete Seuntjens of Danbury) with alternates Kylah Krause (daughter of of Anthon) and Brenna Mammen (daughter of ) qualified in the 4x100. In the boys 4x100, brothers Luther and Manny Cameron (sons of Lucy and Adam Cameron of Danbury), Peyton Gress (son of Deb and Aaron Gress of Charter Oak), and Tanner Dixon (son of Kristin and Lucas Dixon of Anthon) along with alternates Bo Clausen (son of Jaclynn and Kevin Clausen of Anthon) and Caden Kuhlmann (son of Ashley Kuhlmann of Soldier and Andrew Kuhlmann of Ute) earned the right to compete at the Drake Relays. Jace Henderon (son of Jodi and Josh Henderson of Ute) earned the ability to throw both the shot put and discus at Drake.
    "When we first arrived at Drake, I was amazed with how many different teams there were," commented Senior Peyton Gress. "It was extremely exciting to see all the levels of competition."
    The Drake Relays features elite track and field athletes at the middle school, high school and college levels. Thus, our Class 2A athletes were competing against the athletes in much larger high schools.
    "In comparison to State track, Drake Relays are more difficult to get into and even harder to win," said Reagan Seuntjens, a senior at MVAOCOU. "It's the top 24 taken from each of the classes, so it is super competitive with teams from all over Iowa. You can definitely tell the atmosphere is different and that there are legit athletes competing. It's amazing to be a part of it, and it was an awesome experience and honor."
    Being able to qualify takes talent and the drive to work hard to hit the Blue Standard.
    "At the Homer, NE, meet, I jumped a personal record of 5' 6"; I broke the school record and also hit Blue Standard. By hitting Blue Standard, I knew that I had qualified myself for Drake. As a senior, this meant a lot to me because I had never qualified before. I was very excited to go and compete with all of the classes and not just 2A," said Trista Ohlmeier. "I knew from the start of the season that I wanted to qualify in the high jump. When we started nearing the week of cut offs, I really locked in and told myself that I was going to qualify. When I jumped 5' 6" I was very proud of myself, and it was just a great overall feeling!"
    While she was justifiably proud for qualifying in the high jump, Trista was also part of the 4x100, an additional bonus for her.
    "It was also awesome that our 4 x 100 relay also qualified," she added. "This was even cooler to me because I got to run with Taya, Irelynne, and Reagan."
    The boys' 4 x 100 also qualified, but they had to work a bit harder than hoped to earn their spot.
    "I was excited to get to Drake this year because it's such a fast year for 4 x 100s, and we really needed to cut a lot of time to make it," explained Senior Luther Cameron. "We ran a time that would always qualify in other years easily, so we thought we were in. But, it's such a fast year that we still barely squeezed in."
    The 4 x 100 M relay is a very short-lived race with each runner only racing 100 meters, just over 109 yards each. Each runner literally ran for a matter of seconds. Thus, the hand-off of the baton could be a make or break factor in the race.
    "The timing and speed of the person receiving the baton is the key factor for clean hand offs," explained Seuntjens. "Putting the baton right into your teammate's hand when he/she sticks it up is crucial, too."
    Senior Jace Henderson had a rough outing which could have cost him his shot in the discuss, but his perseverance came through big time.
    "Heading into the final week, I was just pushed out of the top 24 in the discus, and I had a huge foul throw that Tuesday which was really upsetting because that would have easily qualified me for Drake," stated Henderson. "But, we had one more meet to go to, and I prepared myself very well for it and ended up throwing the best throw of my life which put me in the top 6 in the state at that time!"
    Earning a spot also in shot put, Jace luckily had an easier path to Drake with the heavy small ball.
    "In the shot, I had already previously thrown a good throw which had basically guaranteed me a spot in Drake, so it was left down to the discus to see if I could get both of my events down there! It took quite a bit of determination, and I was proud of how I used that determination to push myself to throw a great throw!"
    How does one push beyond the magnitude of the Drake Relays to give a good performance?
    "I felt prepared to run against the good teams because we have really good coaches and we earned the right to be in the relays, so we were just like the other teams there," Luther confidently responded.
    Added Peyton, "I felt prepared to go up against the competition we faced, and running our best was what was going through my mind. I knew that if we did our best we would do good, and that's what happened."
    So, how did the events do? Well, the girls in the 4 x 100 ran the 400 meters in 51 seconds, finishing 54th in the first round. The guys in the 4 x 100 ran the race in 43.95 seconds for a 44th place finish. In the high jump, Trista did a great job, tying for 5th place with a 5' 4" jump. Jace threw the shot put 48' 6.5" to place 18th and tossed the discuss 154' 8.75" to finish in 13th place. Well done to all!

    With the calendar moving to May, Danbury Catholic School held their annual May Crowning. Catholic tradition is to place a crown of flowers on a statue of Mary to remember the Holy Mother's love for her son and her part in our spiritual salvation.
    To the left, Sadie Cameron with help from William Dirksen (the arm behind Mary) crown Mary.

    The time to pick up the plants ordered through Danbury Catholic School is this week.
    For the Ida Grove location, plant pickup is Thursday, May 8, 4 to 6 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Parish Center.
    For Danbury, pickup is Friday, May 9 from 7:00 a.m. to noon and 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Catholic School gym.
    Didn't order plants but want some? Extra plants will be available to sale at both locations.