Perry track’s Nehring, Myers climb leaderboard, boys soccer picks up win
The Bluejays and Jayettes have run into some tough competitors but a couple of burgeoning stars have helped narrow the gap this week. (Note: Events covered April 3-9)
Girls Track
Perry took to the field just down the road in Woodward on Thursday where they landed in seventh place among the seven attending teams.
Though that meant the team was outpaced in most events, the Jayettes’ inner competition remains strong.
Over in the 400-meter dash, the Jayettes also found a potential state qualifier in Taryn Nehring. Last season as a freshman, she was clocking times upwards of 1 minute and 7 seconds. On Thursday, she landed in second place with a mark of 1:04.73 seconds while chasing a state qualifier from Dallas Center-Grimes with under a second of separation. Nehring’s time currently ranks 43rd among Class 3A times, leaving plenty of work to do, but equal hope to make the final cut in a month.
And while Jayettes appear to be shorthanded in the field events — not having a high or long jumper — the throwing unit has stood out.
Consisting of Callie Steva, Sydney Barkley and Madelynn Hollingsworth, the trio of juniors set 5-of-6 personal records Thursday. Steva set her personal best mark in the discus with a 68-foot-3 toss for a team-best eighth place. She was ninth in the shot put with a throw five inches short of her record.
And the improvements don’t end there. All four of the 100-meter dash runners set their new best marks on Thursday. Sophomores Denise Rivera and Maria Aguilar were stride-for-stride with times of 14.39 and 14.49 seconds for 10th and 11th place, respectively.
Boys Track
The Bluejays found themselves climbing a steep hill in the flatlands of Woodward on Thursday, facing stiff competition from Des Moines Christian and Southeast Valley. In the end, thanks to a handful of standout performances, Perry made the short drive back home with a fourth place team finish in tow among the seven attending schools.
At the top of Perry’s roster were two silver winners: Renzo Saenz in the 100-meter dash and Owen Myers in the 400-meter hurdles.
The former took 0.3 seconds off his previous season record. At 12.03 seconds, he’s already lopped off 0.7 seconds from his time last season. It’s also the fastest time in Perry since Kato Dougan’s state qualifying run in 2019.
And speaking of state qualifiers, Myers’ is knocking on the door with a new PR of 1:00.32. That places him 25th among Class 3A hurdlers so far this season, putting him on the cusp of a qualifying slot and among the company of a number of qualifiers from last year.
Boys Soccer (1-0)
After opening the season with a 1-0 loss to ADM on April 3, the Bluejays bounced back with a 4-0 win three days later at North Polk.
Two of those goals came courtesy of Jonatan Banuelos. Sergio Sanchez and Anthony Chavez chipped in as well, with the latter making his penalty kick.
"What I've seen in our practices is we have a number of young kids who have a tremendous amount of talent and we're just building off of that," head coach Gary Overla said following the season-opener.
While Overla believes the team can make it back to the state tournament after falling one game short last season, he is also looking to the future.
"We don't have very many seniors this year. I kind of look of this year as, obviously we want to give as much as we can with what we have. But the future is pretty bright for us," Overla said.
Girls Soccer (0-4)
The Jayettes fell 10-0 in both their games this past week, falling to ADM and North Polk.
Editor and reporter Allison Ullmann contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Perry Chief: Perry track’s Nehring, Myers climb leaderboard, boys soccer picks up win
