March 12, 2025

PCM girls climb up standings at Drake Relays

Karr finishes 20th in 100 hurdles, Mustangs’ 4x100 relay places 80th on blue oval

By Troy Hyde

The PCM girls 4x100-meter relay team which competed at the Drake Relays on Saturday featured (from left) freshmen Lillian Humpal and Jorja Teeter, junior Tiffani Koonce and freshman Morgan Karr. The foursome placed 80th in the field. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

DES MOINES — Three freshmen and a junior ran on the famous blue oval for the first time in their careers at the Drake Relays this past weekend

Morgan Karr competed in the 100-meter hurdles on Friday and then anchored the Mustangs’ 4x100 relay team on Saturday.

In both events, PCM was not faster than its previous season-best times but finished higher than it came in at.

“I was really happy for a group of four who had never competed at the Drake Relays before,” PCM girls’ head track and field coach Eric Karr said. “The 4x100 relay had a great experience as I expect all four of those runners to be back at the state meet.

“Morgan ran a nice, clean race and it was a great experience for her. I think she’s ready for a PR as we head toward the end of the season.”

PCM freshman Morgan Karr, right, competes in the 100-meter hurdles at the annual Drake Relays in Des Moines on Friday. Karr finished 20th in the 32-person field. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Morgan Karr came into the 100 hurdles with the 28th-best qualifying time. She ran a time similar to what she qualified with but finished 20th in the preliminary round on Friday morning. There were 32 runners in the field.

She was clocked in 15.76 seconds. The Mustangs will compete in a Class 2A state qualifier at Central Decatur later this year and Shenandoah’s Chloe Denton and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s Molly Shafer also will be at that location. Denton (15.59) placed 17th and Shafer (15.69) was 19th at the Drake Relays.

Ali Frandsen of Ames had the top time in the preliminary round and then finished first overall with a time of 14.33 seconds.

“I do wish I would have done better, but I also am just happy for the experience,” Karr said. “The goal was to get down to a 15.5 or a 15.6. I want to stay consistent most of all. I’m still working on my trail leg and we hope to get that figured out before state.”

Karr is currently battling shin splints. She competed in last week’s home meet on April 24 but rested until Friday’s preliminary heat. Coach Karr was prepared to use an alternate for the 4x100 relay on Saturday, but Morgan Karr powered through the injury.

“I was out last year for it,” Morgan Karr said. “It hurts, but I just try to power through it.”

The Mustangs’ 4x100 relay team came into the Drake Relays with the 87th-best qualifying time. They left Drake Stadium on Saturday morning with an 80th-place finish.

The foursome of Lillian Humpal, Jorja Teeter, Tiffani Koonce and Karr completed the race in 52.55 seconds. The Mustangs’ qualifying time was 52.22.

“We were trying to get a better time, but we also just wanted a good experience,” Teeter said. “It’s a lot of fun but really stressful, too, when you go off by yourself and split from the group.

“Having three freshmen on the team is a big deal I think. Everyone talks about it, but I’m not sure any of us know how big of a deal it really is.”

Humpal agreed that the experience was stressful at times. Having two other freshmen on the team helped her with the nerves and it made it less crazy.

“We wanted to move up and get a good time,” Humpal said. “It was very stressful at first. But when I got on the track I just kept telling myself to have fun.”

PCM junior Tiffani Koonce, left, takes the baton from freshman Jorja Teeter during the Drake Relays 4x100-meter relay on Saturday. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Koonce’s only experience in a big-time meet came at the state cross country meet her freshman season.

Her transition to sprints came earlier this season during sprint time trials at practice.

“We were at practice and coach was timing us, and I was tied for third for the fastest 25 meters so I started doing sprint workouts and here I am. I am very surprised,” Koonce said. “Running here was nerve-wracking. It happened so fast. Warming up felt really cool. The race was windy. I didn’t feel my fastest either.”

Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference rivals Greene County (51.44) and Roland-Story (52.18) finished 39th and 73rd, respectively, in the race.

EBF (52.16) and Davis County (52.03) are two schools that will be at the same state qualifier later this month and they placed 71st and 65th, respectively.

Des Moines Hoover was the girls’ 4x100 relay champion with a time of 48.81 seconds.

“We’ve run pretty consistently, but it’s a bigger meet and better competition so we really wanted to improve our time and our placing,” Morgan Karr said. “We had a sketchy handoff, but it worked out. We ran really hard for this and we are all glad we got to experience it together.”