ANKENY — A mix of youth and experience led the Ottumwa girls track team to an impressive day at the Class 4A district track meet in Ankeny on Friday.

Freshman Sarah Ryan flashed her immense talent. Senior Katherine Person added another accolade to her career list. And senior Kendra Spurgeon showed plenty of grit.

The all-around effort gave the Bulldogs 50 points and a sixth place finish. West Des Moines Dowling won the district with 139 points.

“It was a remarkable evening,” Ottumwa coach Steve Green said. “We had a lot of amazing things happen.”

The Ottumwa boys team finished sixth at the district and the Bulldogs will send five events to the boys state meet next weekend. Ottumwa coach Jim Nickerson was very pleased with the results, as the Bulldogs set personal best records in more than 20 events.

“We really peaked at the right time,” said Bulldog coach Jim Nickerson. “This was by far the best meet we had time-wise, and we all really came together as a team.”

Headed to state for the Bulldog boys are Kurt Hopkins, who placed fourth in the shotput (48-7), Jordan Conley, who took third in the 110 hurdles (15.67), Clint Utter, who placed fourth in the 400 dash (51.02), and the Bulldog shuttle hurdle (59.9) and 4x400 (3:23.78) relay teams.

The 4x400 team was a delight for Ottumwa, as Alex Kelly and Tim Easton each broke 50 seconds in their splits to spur the Bulldogs to a second-place finish. Utter and P.J. Schaeffer joined Kelly and Easton for the personal-best time.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said Nickerson. “With all the injuries and scheduling problems we had this season, they all really came through when it counted. I’m very pleased with this team’s accomplishments.”

The shuttle hurdle team consisted of Drake Bittner, Tyler Craff, Jacob Morrissey and Conley and finished fourth.

For the girls, Ryan pushed her freshman campaign to historic heights on Friday, qualifying for the state meet in both the long jump and the 100 meter dash. Ryan won the long jump with a leap of 17-3.5. She later followed that with a time of 13.0 in the 100 meter dash to punch her ticket for Des Moines in that event.

“Sarah Ryan by tomorrow morning could go to state in four events as a freshman,” Green said. “That’s one of the first regional champs we’ve had as freshman since I’ve been here. This is a rarity.”

Katherine Person earned an automatic berth in the state meet with her second place finish (15.98) in the 100 meter hurdles. It will be her fourth trip to Des Moines.

“Katherine Person had an outstanding night as a senior,” Green said. “She just does a wonderful job with leadership. Her performance on the track speaks for itself.”

Maybe the most impressive performance Friday came from Kendra Spurgeon. After falling during her leg of the shuttle hurdle relay, Spurgeon bounced back to run three personal best times on Friday. Spurgeon took fourth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 28.29 to give herself a shot at state.