Portch and Partridge put on a show at WIC meet

 OAKLAND (April 30) -- AHSTW’s Ryann Portch and Drake Partridge combined to win four individual gold medals and seven overall Tuesday night, emerging as the top area point winners at the Western Iowa Conference Track & Field Championships held in Oakland.
 Portch won the girls’ open 400 and 800 titles while Partridge swept the boys’ 100 and 200. Partridge also anchored the Vikings’ first-place 4x200 and 4x100 relays and Portch anchored the Lady Vikes’ sprint medley relay to victory.
 On a night with periodic light rain, temperatures in the 40s and a cold northwest wind, Treynor swept the WIC team titles. The Cardinal boys won eight events and scored 185 points to hold off second-place Underwood (143) and the Cardinal girls rallied past Logan-Magnolia 130-125 by outscoring the Panthers 18-11 in the final two events (4x100 and 4x400).
 The AHSTW girls (106 points) and IKM-Manning boys (97) both placed third on the night while the IKM-M girls (60) and AHSTW boys (47) placed seventh.
 The Lady Vikes won five gold medals overall - tied with Tri-Center for the most in the girls’ field - and placed 22 times in 18 events, scoring in everything but the high jump.
 “They showed up focused, hungry and mentally driven to compete, and they did just that,” said AHSTW coach Jenny Hamilton, noting that 15 girls contributed at least one point to the cause.
AHSTW girls:
 Portch’s 400/800 double included a 400 time of 1:01.66 that was just shy of a season-best. She teamed with Holly Hoepner, Claire Harris and Kelsi Cornejo at the start of the meet to win the sprint medley in 1:56.01, which was a season-best.
 Also winning conference gold medals for the Lady Vikes were Kinsey Scheffler in the discus (107 feet) and Hoepner in the 400 hurdles (1:09.81). Hoepner earlier took third in the 100 hurdles.
IKM-Manning girls:
 Alexa Ahrenholtz won the high jump (4’6”) and placed second in the 100 dash (13.53) to lead the Wolves, who scored 16 times in 15 events. Ahrenholtz also ran a leg of the third-place 4x200 relay, teaming with Jodi Opperman, Lexi Branning and Gabrielle Cadwell.
IKM-Manning boys:
 The Wolves scored 21 total times in 18 events while competing without their top sprinter in freshman Amos Rasmussen, who is nursing a sore hamstring.
 IKM-M started and ended the meet with relay gold medals as Stephen Grimm, Parker Behrens, Raine Meneough and Alex Lingle won the sprint medley in 1:40.15 and Grimm, Adam Gruhn, Behrens and Lingle won the 4x400 in 3:37.67. Many of those same runners contributed to second-place efforts in the 4x800 and 4x200.
AHSTW boys:
 The Vikings placed just six times in four events Tuesday, but all four of those events turned to gold. Mixed in with his 100 and 200 titles, Partridge teamed with Joey Cunningham, JJ Madsen and Korbin Martin to win the 4x200 and 4x100 relays as well.