It would have appeared earlier this year that Coach Weverka's Lady Cats were a sure thing for a four-peat for the conference championship but things can change unexpectedly. With throwing standout Abby Stallbaumer out for a prior commitment, and Mya Weverka out sick the Lady Bobcats fell short about 30 points.

Coach Weverka stressed that the others would have to step up if they were to continue their conference dominance and the Lady Bobcats understood the assignment, winning the championship by 45 points.

Charli Vickers won the final field event gold medal as she set her personal best in winning the high jump while Joslynn Reiff placed fourth and Annalee Starr took fifth place. Adding to the points was Riata Remund and Devin Peterson fourth and fifth in the discus. The Lady Bobcats began the track events in a much better position than the boys with a large lead, and it only grew as the day continued, really taking off with the 3200 meter relay as Ivy Tullis, Faith Bierman, Ella Cool and Tallianna Martin cruised to a silver medal finish. Cool came through as she ran down two girls in the last lap of the eight-lap race to take silver. Bierman also fought hard to earn a sixth place in this event. The finals events on the track started with Vickers running in the 100 meter hurdles for a bronze medal. Recoy got the girls the first finals gold with a win in the 100 meters, the junior winning the event despite struggling with a painful foot injury. Senior Heidi Donegan then ran a personal best 800 meters, taking fourth with a time of 2:42. Coach Rick Peterson said the race of the day, in his mind, was the 1600 meter run and Tallianna Martin who ran a magnificent race.

“Talli ran on the shoulder of the Mullen runner whom she hadn't beaten,” he said. “That changed quickly, as Talli took a big chance, kicking from the 300 meter mark, passing the Mullen runner, and then not giving up her lead down the home stretch.” That run, Peterson continued, took the conference and school record. Also showing a lot of determination in this race were Tullis and the very leg weary Cool, who placed third and fifth, respectively.

The 200 meters, with Recoy and Brynn Schwarz, was a fantastic race with Schwarz holding form for the win and Haile finishing third, all three top runners getting identical times. The relays ended the day for the Lady Bobcats in a fine fashion, with the quartet of Reiff, Schwarz, Ross and Recoy winning the 4x100 relay. The 4x400 relay was put together with girls that had some energy left in their legs. Tullis, Ross, Reiff, and Schwarz took bronze and ended the girls’ 145-point scoring run in the conference meet. Despite missing several key competitors, the girls scored the most points in the history of the meet. The girls are on an incredible roll, with 2 weeks remaining until the district meet.

The Lady Bobcats are back in action on May 6 at the Dave Blevins Invitational at Arnold, the final home track meet of the season, beginning at 9:30 a.m.