After two full days of preparation by the track coaching staff and with the help of former coach Larry Silvey, the Ava red dog track was ready to host 11 schools on April 18.
Attending the meet were West Plains junior varsity, Gainesville, Cabool, Mtn. Grove, Hartville, Houston, Licking, Mansfield, Willow Springs, Bakersfield and host Ava. West Plains won the meet with 135 points.
Placing and securing points for the Ava Lady Bears were:
4×800 team of Kacy Longino, Kendra McCleary, Ashley Rieken and Christina Shortt place 4th with a time of 12:20.
4×100 team of Cheyanne Russ, Kayley Watson, Hannah Johnson and Amanda Greene finished 3rd with a time of 56.93.
4×200 team of Kayley Watson, Cheyanne Russ, Hannah Johnson and Nikki Rieken placed 1st with a time of 2:00.26.
4×400 team of Nikki Rieken, Amanda Greene, Hannah Johnson and Kayley Watson placed 3rd with a time of 4:48.22.
In individual events, Amanda Greene placed 6th in the 100 meter hurdles with a personal best of 20.45.
In the long jump, Greene also placed 2nd with a jump of 13’2.” Nikki Rieken placed 3rd with a jump of 12’11″ and Hannah Johnson was 4th with a leap of 12’8.”
In the triple jump Kayley Watson placed 1st with 29’0″, Courtney Mings was 3rd at 26’8″ and Brittany Walker jumped 25’9″ for 4th place.
In the 1600 meter run Christina Shortt ran a personal best of 6:49 for 6th place and Ashley Rieken came in next for 7th place with a time of 7 minutes flat.
In the discus, Makenzie Watterson placed 8th with a throw of 76’4.”
In the 400 meter run, Nikki Rieken placed 4th with a time of 68.9 and Courtney Mings ran her best time of 69.5.
In the 300 meter hurdles, Angel Perry ran a 63.19 to place 4th. Brittany Walker ran 67.42 for 6th place.
On April 21 the Mtn. Grove Relays were started and then cancelled about half way through due to lightning. The 4×200 team did get to perform and placed 3rd with a time of 1:59. Members of the team are Kayley Watson, Cheyanne Russ, Nikki Rieken and Hannah Johnson.
On April 26 the Bears and Lady Bears attended the 89th annual Aldo Sebben Relays hosted by Missouri State University.
With over 50 schools in attendance both teams were privy to some outstanding performances by track athletes from around the state.
This year qualifying standards were set and only the top 56 individuals were allowed in each event.
Nikki Rieken ran in the open 400 meter and long jumped. Amanda Greene competed in the open 100 meter dash, Makenzie Watterson threw the discus, Kayley Watson triple jumped and Hannah Johnson long jumped.
The 4×200, 4×100 and the 4×400 relays all competed with the 4×200 and the 4×100 turning in their best times of the season.
