Baxter boys finish third at Van Meter

VAN METER — Despite winning just one event at the Bill Miller Invitational on Monday, the Baxter boys track and field team still placed third in the final team standings thanks to eight top-three finishes.

Max Handorf claimed the Bolts’ only win of the night, but Baxter was second three times and third four times and that helped them score 86.5 points to edge Pleasantville for third.

PCM won the meet championship with 135 points, while Des Moines Christian (115.5) also hit triple digits in second.

The rest of the top five were Baxter (86.5), Pleasantville (84) and host Van Meter (79). There were 12 teams in attendance.

The Baxter girls were missing six athletes for the meet, but Camryn Russell set a new career-best mark to win the long jump and also had the Bolts’ lone second-place finish.

Van Meter won the girls meet championship with 126 points, while Carlisle (114), Interstate 35 (89), Des Moines Christian (65) and Panorama (61) completed the top five. Baxter was 12th in the 13-team field with 27 points.

Handorf’s win came in the 3,200-meter run. He won the race in 10 minutes, 27.85 seconds, while Matt Richardson was fourth in 10:53.38.

The duo also was third in the 800 and 1,600, respectively. Handorf’s 800 time was clocked in 2:14.33 and Richardson completed the 1,600 in 4:44.53.

Treyton Travis was the runner-up in the 400 in a career-best 55.64 seconds, Logan Jones finished second in the 400 hurdles with a career-best time of 1:00.73 and Carter Smith took second in the discus with a throw of 136 feet, 5 inches.

Logan Rainsbarger grabbed a third-place finish in the 110 high hurdles. He posted a time of 16.37.

Travis tied for fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-6 and Smith placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 41-4 1/4.

The Bolts were third in the 4x400 relay, fourth in the 4x800 and fifth in the distance medley.

Rainsbarger, Cody Samson, Jones and Cainan Travis completed the 4x400 relay in 3:47.84.

The 4x800 relay team of Samson, Jones, Handorf and Richardson posted a time of 9:17.89 and Treyton Travis, Rainsbarger, Samson and Richardson completed the distance medley relay in 4:02.11.

Russell won the girls’ long jump with a career-best leap of 16-2. That currently ranks 13th in Class 1A.

She also was the runner-up in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.55. Avery Wonders placed sixth in the high jump with a leap of 4-10.

The Bolts’ sprint medley relay team of Russell, Grace Anderegg, Wonders and Kendall Brummel placed fifth in a season-best time of 2:04.76.