Tradition reigns supreme for WB-ND, Danville girls track teams


McKenna Marlow

West Burlington-Notre Dame senior McKenna Marlow helped the Falcons win the SEI Superconference South Division team title Thursday at WACO.

WAYLAND — The names and faces change, but the results remain the same in the SEI Superconference when it comes to track and field.

West Burlington-Notre Dame won another South Division team title while their close rival, Danville, took second.

And Pekin continues to dominate the North Division.

On Thursday at WACO High School, it was more of the same as WB-ND beat Danville by 29 points to claim the South Division crown.

Pekin beat Lone Tree by 60 points to win the North Division.

“All the girls are super nice. It’s really a family here. All the girls really support each other and stay on the track to cheer you on,” West Burlington-Notre Dame sophomore Addison Reid said. “Just having the right mindset to take you everywhere. Being a team and being a part of it is really cool.”

“It’s really fun to be on the relays with all these girls because you depend on each other to get the handoffs and not mess up and false start,” said Danville freshman Taylor Jones. “It’s really nice because we all challenge each other. We know we all have potential and if we push each other hard enough we might become really good.”

WB-ND had 176 points followed by Danville (147), Van Buren County (110), Mediapolis (82), Central Lee (35) and New London (29).

Pekin won the North with 185 points followed by Lone Tree (125), Wapello (84), Highland (79), Louisa-Muscatine (76), Winfield-Mount Union (54), Columbus (53), WACO (48) and Hillcrest Academy (24).

Danville freshman Alaina Gourley had a monster night, winning four individual titles. Gourley won the 400 in 1 minutes, 00.81 seconds, the 800 in 2:34.58, the 1,500 in 5:27.80 and the 3,000 in 12:33.57.

WB-ND senior Elise Oleson capped her conference career with a pair of championships. She won the shot put with a heave of 35 feet, 7 inches, then took the discus crown with a throw of 106-7.

Also for the Falcons, Ava Parkins won the 100 in 13.09 and Amiya Davis won the 200 in 26.77.

WB-ND cleaned up in the relays, taking the 4x100 in 52.23, the 4x200 in 1:53.93, the 4x400 in 4:24.82 and the distance medley relay in 4:42.44.

WB-ND coach Mike Gurius has been able to put together relay teams using a mixture of athletes from all classes, including Reid and fellow sophomore Ady Lamm.

“That was one of our best ones,” Reid said after the distance medley. “Everyone went out and attacked. I think having that mindset that you see that person in front of you and you know you can pass them and beat them.”

Danville, the 2018 Class 1A state champions, has something special brewing again. Like WB-ND, the Bears have talent galore in all four classes, including a freshman group which already has contributed at every meet.

Junior Alexis Dietsch won the 400 hurdles in 1:12.71 and junior Kenna Furnald won the long jump at 16-1.

The Bears also won the sprint medley relay in 1:59.15.

“It motivated me,” Jones said of the Bears’ winning tradition under head coach Natalie Ford.

“I really hope one of my relays qualifies for state because that is something really big. I want to go to state at least once in my four years. That’s my favorite part.”

Van Buren County’s Marlee Mertens won the 100 hurdles in 17.87 and the Warriors won the 4x800 in 11:13.21 and the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:15.06.

The sledding was much tougher in the North Division for area teams and athletes with Pekin and Lone Tree asserting their dominance. They combined to win 15 events.

Winfield-Mount Union thwarted the complete sweep.

Senior Keetyn Townsley won the 100 hurdles in 17.14 seconds and ran anchor leg on the winning shuttle hurdle relay team which posted a time of 1:12.33.

“It’s pretty fun being conference champion last year and this year. It’s pretty cool,” Townsley said of the 100 hurdles.

“It wasn’t my best. But it was one of my better ones. I was a little tired after running the 4x200, but overall it was good.”

WACO’s Zoey Dennler won the 400 hurdles in 1:13.21.