Boone boys track keeps rising, girls track finishes strong

The Boone boys track and field team has only a handful of meets left before the postseason, but it appears to be hitting its stride as it comes down the stretch.

The Toreadors have already won a pair of meets this season, which head coach Tony Cosentino said he was surprised by.

“If you would have said that we were going to win two meets this year, I would have been like ‘no, no way,’” Cosentino said. “I didn’t think we even had enough to even fill the events.”

He added that he has just been experimenting and trying guys in different events, and they have just been surprising him and the team has been doing really well.

As Cosentino has been experimenting and switching things up, he has also noticed how the team has improved as the season has gone on.

He mentioned how sophomore Jude Baumgardner has added four feet to his PR in the shot put, while he has noticed the relay teams drop times as well.

“As a coach I feel proud of the guys putting in effort day in and day out,” Cosentino said. “And with the four meets we have this week, including Drake, they’re tired but they’re competing, and I really appreciate that.”

That 4x100 relay team has also continued drop time as the season has progressed, and it improved enough to qualify for the Drake Relays this weekend.

The Toreadors will have a few meets before that, including senior night, and since Cosentino said the 4x100 is a quicker one to recover from, he’s planning to have them run those and work on exchanges and the details.

Boone had just recently ran at the Drake Blue Oval on April 13, so the relay team should know what to expect, and Cosentino said the team actually ran their season best time there.

“They loved being down there and they even said, ‘wow that’s a fast track,’” Cosentino said. "I think going down there again they’re realizing ‘hey we ran our fastest time here let’s do it again,’ so they’re looking forward to being back.”

Following the Drake Relays, the season will be starting to come to a close, with the conference and district meets coming up next for the Toreadors.

Cosentino said no matter where Boone goes for districts it will be tough, and he said the team will have to compete hard to finish on a high note.

Girls track finishes strong

The Boone girls track team continued its strong season when it competed at the Tiger Relays this past week.

The Toreadors ran at the Tiger Relays on April 19, running against seven other teams and placing third overall after scoring 79 total points.

Boone was led by junior Carly Busch, who had a couple of top finishes. Busch earned first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.95 seconds while she grabbed third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.98 seconds.

Also performing well individually was junior Emma Wiebold and senior Erin Ades. Wiebold grabbed third in the shot put with a throw of 32-11.50 while Ades nabbed third in discus with a throw of 108-10.

The Toreadors 4x800 meter relay team also did well, placing first with a time of 11:07.13.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Boone boys track keeps rising, girls track finishes strong