(Des Moines, IA) — The weather was dreary but the blue oval was not and the fans did not stay away. Day Number One of the Iowa High School State Track and Field meet saw some terrific performances, 12 total state meet records and the 2nd largest attendance for a Thursday at Drake Stadium.
Lili Denton of St. Albert was one of those who ran away from her competition and won the 3000 in dominating fashion, earning a Class 1A State Meet record at 9:42.04 which is the fastest time in the entire state of Iowa.
Trent Warner of Nodaway Valley dominated in the 1A Shot Put — his first throw was his best at 53–11.75 and it was good enough to win gold
Riverside’s Boys 4×800 relay team of Brody Henderson, Owen Fenner, Cruz Jaquez, and Dawson Henderson took the lead on their 2nd leg and never let it go crossing the finish line with a state championship. Dawson was the anchor and said they did it as a team
Taydem Graden of Ogden won the state title in the Long Jump — going 18-03.50 to leap to the top of the podium
For Atlantic, it was a long day for Sophomore Ethan McNeal who said his legs were tired after his third race — McNeal was 10th in the 200 prelims to start, then was 14th in the 100 prelims and a short time later finished 13th in the 400 finals
Colin Rudy finished 18th in the 400 for the Trojans and ran a PR of 52.21. The Boys 4×800 relay team of Preston Williams, Vincent Meisinger, Mason Betts, and Rudy finished 22nd at 8:23.84. The Boys Shuttle Hurdle relay team was DQed, one of 8 teams that were disqualified in the race including ADM which had set a meet record. In the field events, Gavin McLaren was 12th and Xavier Darrow was 19th in the Discus — they both have the Shot Put on Friday.
For the Atlantic girls, Sophomore Lila Wiederstein was 18th in the 100 prelims at 12.77 and 17th in the 200 prelims at 25.97 seconds and says she can take this day for future meets and future races
Other highlights from Thursday
Tri Center’s girls 4×800 relay team finished 2nd and the Shuttle Hurdle Relay advanced to Saturday’s finals with the third fastest time.
Lindsey Sonderman of Harlan was 2nd in the 3000 with a PR of 9:51.96; Ashlyn Rau finished 9th.
Cauy Konz of Treynor had the fastest time in the 200 prelims and the 100 prelims. The Cardinals Boys Shuttle Hurdle team had the fastest time in the prelims.
Riverside’s Sophia Fenner was 4th and Sophia Taylor was 12th in the Shot Put. The girls 4×800 relay finished 5th. The Boys Shuttle Hurdle team made it to Saturday’s finals. Cole Jeppesen was 11th in the 100.
AC/GC Boys shuttle hurdle relay qualified with the fastest time for Saturday’s finals. Eli Madsen got a 7th place medal in the 400.
Griswold’s Boys Shuttle Hurdle just missed the finals; Holden Jensen was 12th in the 3200; Cody Dorscher was 11th in the 400; the Griswold girls Shuttle Hurdle team made it into the finals with the third fastest time — the top three times in the prelims were all Corner Conference teams with Stanton first and Fremont Mills 2nd.
Luke Sternberg of AHSTW finished 3rd in the 400 (49.63) and had the 5th fastest time in the 200 prelims at 22.46 seconds. The Boys 4×800 relay was 10th.
Gabe Funk of Lenox was 2nd in the 400 at 49.33 but was way behind Koby Hodnefield of South Hamilton who won at 48.13.
William Anderson of Logan Magnolia had the 2nd fastest time in the 200 prelims and the 2nd fastest time in the 100 prelims.
Brody Crozier of Southwest Valley was 9th in the 100 and missed the finals by .02 seconds.
CAM’s Girls Shuttle Hurdle team had the 5th fastest time in the prelims and advanced to Saturday’s finals.
Finally, the attendance for the meet was 14,106 the 2nd largest for a Thursday ever.
Complete results on a different page at westerniowatoday.com.
Day One Audio Recap
