Shelby track teams praised for efforts at Cloverleaf relays
The Shelby boys girls and girls track teams competed in the Cloverleaf Early Bird Relays on Saturday in Lodi.
The girls finished seventh and the boys finished eighth. Due to the Shelby basketball team playing in the Final Four, some athletes opted out of competing in the relays.
Ferron Pena had the best throws for the boys, having the longest throws in the shot put and discus events. Pena threw the shot put 49-5.50, a personal record. Pena also threw the discus 137-11.0, both throws led all competitors.
The event is a relay event so a combination of all team participants in an event are totaled to determine a “relay” winner.
The boys won the discus relay and were third in the shot put relay. Along with Peña’s throws, Devin Marsh had the fifth-best discus throw (116-05.00), and Ben Dawson 15th (10400). The boys placed third in the shot put, following Pena were freshmen, Emmett Bates (31-00.00) and Asher Clark (29-06.00).
The boys 4x100 (Luke Baker, Kaiden Parsons, Blake Nixon and Renner Gano) placed 6th (1.50.72)
The girls’ 4x1600 (Channon Cundiff, Kailyn Schwall, Emma Mahek and Ella Reed) finished second with a 26.01.48 time.
The girls’ 4x200 (Hope Timko, Chloe Howell,
Hannah Walton, and Maddie Giles) placed sixth (2.32.91), and the foursome also finished eighth (1.07.18) in the 4x100.
Girls discus, Lily Clark 10th (77-06), Sadie Howarth 17th (53-10) and Kaydence Driscoll 23rd (38-7) combined to score points for the girls.
Shelby boys’ coach Chris Zuercher spoke about the first outdoor event of the 2024 season.
“We had a lot of JV and younger kids getting chances to race,” Zuercher said. “I was proud of the fight I saw from the kids today. We were definitely at a disadvantage. However these guys battled hard.
“We did have a lot of our varsity throwers, and they won the discus and were third in shot,” he said about the shot put event.
“Ferron Pena was extremely impressive as he had the best individual throw in the shot and discus,” Zuercher said.
“Ferron has put in a lot of work in the off-season, and it is paying off for him,” Zuercher continued. “I am very excited for him and the throwers. The first couple of weeks, we will be figuring out things, and hopefully, by the end of next month, we have a pretty good idea on who we are going to be putting where.”
Shelby girls coach Jordan Garrett also commented on her team’s performance.
“Cloverleaf always seems to be an interesting weather experience to say the least,” Garrett said.
The windchill was in the teens.
“Despite conditions, we saw a lot of grit and promise from our girls,” Garrett said. “We placed 7th overall. Our throws showed a lot of potential, scoring 3 points collectively in the shot and disc, then also
placing 6th in the ironman relay.”
“Our 4x16 was 2nd, 4x1 placed 8th, and our 4x2 and sprint medley both placed 6th,” Garrett noted. “We’re excited to see what these girls will accomplish this season, and definitely looking forward to warmer weather.”