Heading to Belle Plaine for the first meet of the season, Lone Tree girls track coach Chad Shield was pretty confident that the Lady Lions were a stronger team than the one that finished eighth at the same meet a year earlier. 

“I thought fourth or fifth place was realistic,” he said. 

Lone Tree was in third place with one event left — the 4x400 meter relay. 

Senior Lexi Norris and freshmen Cate Sexton, Vivian Zaruba and Rylee Shield turned in a third-place time of 4:43 to give Lone Tree 93 points, which tied the meet hosts for second place behind Alburnett.

It was almost 24 seconds faster than Lone Tree’s best time from the previous season. 

“I am really proud of the way the girls competed Friday night,” Shield said. “They showed a lot of grit and toughness. Our girls set 22 personal records and scored in 16 of the 19 events. We double scored in three events — and the three events we didn’t score in, we finished one place from scoring.” 

Rylee Shield and Zaruba each won a race in the season opener. Shield finished nearly five seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.34, and she also finished second in the 200-meter dash. Zaruba, who won the 3000-meter run, was one of several Lone Tree athletes to have an excellent start to the season in a new event. 

“Our  4x800 team featured three girls who had never ran an 800 before, and they finished third,” Shield said. “Vivian Zaruba and Lila Bell had never ran a 3000 and they finished first and third respectively. Kelly Marshek and Avery Morarie had never ran the 400 hurdles before, and placed fifth and sixth respectively.

"This is Kinley Hayes’ first year out for track as a senior and she placed third in the shot put. Our 4x100 team finished well above seed.  It is those moments as a coach I really enjoy and appreciate. It shows the team-first attitude of the girls.”  

Kasey Chown won a conference championship in the high jump last year with a jump of 4-foot-6. She opened the season tying for second place with a jump of 4-10 on Friday. 

The distance medley of Arlie Lorack, Sexton, Norris, and Zaruba also earned a second-place finish with a time of 5:06.

Shield said that a cold weather practice helped prepare his team for the first meet of the season. 

“We were planning to be outside 30 to 45 minutes with specific tasks that needed to be done, “ he said. “We ended up outside for an hour and 30 minutes and everyone was focused, engaged, preparing themselves well, and not one girl complained or asked if we could go back inside. 

"I felt that was a pretty good indication mentally they were ready to take on whatever weather we would encounter at Belle Plaine. Fortunately it ended up being the best day of the week.

“To come out and get second really shows the hard work the girls have been putting in the last month is paying off. I feel this meet will really build confidence within our girls moving forward knowing we can compete with some of the best programs in the state.”

Full Results

Lone Tree will be at WACO and West Branch on Tuesday and Thursday before hosting its annual invitational on Monday, April 11.