March 19, 2024

CMB’s Kemp, PCM’s 4x200 relay look to turn silver into gold

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter senior Bryce Kemp and the Prairie City-Monroe girls 4x200-meter relay team experienced runner-up finishes in last year’s Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships.

This season, Kemp and three members of that Mustang relay squad seek to change the color of their medals when they return to the blue oval starting Thursday at Drake Stadium.

Kemp won the state title in the 110-meter high hurdles as a sophomore but settled for second last year.

Kemp participates in four events in his final track season, and the Raiders shuttle hurdle team comes into the weekend with the top qualifying time in Class 2A.

Jayci Vos, Mackenzie Clarke and Ashley Van Gorp will be joined by Emily Hugen in the 4x200 relay and that foursome hopes to be one position better than last year.

Vos also hopes to improve from her fourth-place finish in the 400 hurdles as she looks to climb up the medal stand.

Several other area athletes return to the state track meet later this week and here is a rundown of when and where those athletes will compete.

Kemp’s final trip to state begins at 9 a.m. Thursday when he takes part in the long jump. He placed fifth in the event last year. Kemp runs in a preliminary heat of the 200 at 1 p.m. Thursday and then is joined Kyle Cather, Brady Stover and Nissen for the shuttle hurdle preliminaries at 2 p.m. Thursday. Nissen and Kemp helped the Raiders place seventh in the event last year.

Kemp’s run to another title in the 110 highs begins in a preliminary heat at 9:40 a.m. Friday. The finals of the shuttle hurdle is 11:40 a.m. Saturday, the 110 high hurdles final is 1:45 p.m. Saturday and the 200 finals are at 1:35 p.m. Saturday.

The rest of the CMB”s qualifiers are individual events.

Mark Deutsch returns to the state meet in the 3,200-meter run at 10:10 a.m. Thursday. Cather will compete in th4 400 hurdles at 11:20 a.m. Friday and Hunter Gunderson makes his state high jump debut at 9 a.m. Friday. Joining Gunderson in the 2A high jump will be PCM’s Skyler Koder.

Patrick Girard was sixth in the shot put last year. He’ll try to better that this season when he hits the throwing rink at around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The other thrower competing at state for CMB is Clayton Weltha and he’ll take part in the discus at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

The Raiders’ shuttle hurdle team comes into the state meet with the fastest qualifying time of 58.21 seconds. PCM’s foursome of Ricky Reeve, Luke Pendroy, Austin Sneller and Koder also will compete at state.

The PCM and CMB girls also will be very busy.

Running in two individual events will be PCM’s Rachel Peter and CMB’s Bridget Hurley.

Peter takes part in the 3,000 at 9:40 a.m. Thursday and then runs in the 1,500 on Saturday at 2:25 p.m.

Hurley’s two sprint events are less than an hour apart. She’ll run in the 200 preliminaries at 12:40 p.m. Thursday and then makes her second straight state appearance in the 400 when she runs at 1:20 p.m. Thursday.

The Raider junior will be featured in two other relays with the same three teamates. Toni Spencer, Hurley, Maddy Poage and Mackenzie Schmitz run in the 4x100 preliminaries at 12:40 p.m. Friday and then that same group competes in the sprint medley relay at 9 a.m. Saturday.

PCM’s state-qualifying 4x100 team includes Vos, Emily Hugen, Van Gorp and Clarke. That same foursome runs in the 4x200 relay at 10:50 a.m. Friday.

The Mustangs are entered in five relays in all.

The 4x400 team includes Van Gorp, Vos, Rachel Peter and Rachel Stafford and the distance medley relay features Clarke, Hugen, Van Gorp and Stafford. They’ll run that one at 1:20 p.m. Friday.

PCM’s sprint medley and distance medley relay teams also advanced to state. The sprint medley foursome is Tatum Schnug, Hugen, Clarke and Stafford and they’ll run with CMB at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The distance medley team goes at 9 a.m. Friday and the four runners are Clarke, Hugen, Van Gorp and Stafford.

Vos and CMB’s Brianda Bane both run in the 400 hurdles at 11:40 a.m. Friday. Vos placed fourth in the event a year ago.

The final two events for the Raiders feature Spencer in the long jump (11:30 a.m. Thursday) and Payge Jurgens returns to state in the shot put at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Lynnville-Sully’s girls track team won the conference and distirict track meets in recent weeks. For the state meet, the Hawks will have eight entries in the state meet.

And the Hawks will be joined this year by future South Iowa Cedar League rival Colfax-Mingo, which advanced two relays and an individual to the state meet.

Both schools have a 4x800 state-qualifying relay team. That event will be 4:50 p.m. Thursday and the Tigerhawks foursome is Kennedi Hostetter, Ivy Moore, Dakota Hostetter and Bailey Pease, while L-S will run out Kasiah Ehresman, Mariah Vos, Cori Rice and Madison Rasmussen.

Dakota Hostetter will be in three events for the Tigerhawks. Aside from running in the 4x800 relay, she’ll also anchor the distance medley relay squad that was seventh in Class 2A last year and competes in the 1,500 meters at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

C-M’s distance medley team includes Jessica Albright, McKinzie Tjaden, Ries Wilson and Dakota Hostetter. They’ll run in that race at 2:40 p.m. Friday.

Individually, Wilson will participate in the high jump at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Lynnville-Sully’s Shelby Davis throws in the shot put at 2 p.m. Thursday and Elizabeth Van Manen returns to the state meet in the discus at 2 p.m. Friday.

Marissa Vos runs in the 3,000-meter run at 3:20 p..m. Thursday.

The final three events representing the Hawks include the 4x100, 4x200 and sprint medley relay teams.

Kasiah Ehresman, Madison Rasmussen, Mackenzy Rozendaal and Brenna Lanser run in the 4x100 at 6:20 p.m. Friday and the same foursome runs in the 4x200 at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

The sprint medley relay team for L-S includes Ehresman, Rozendaal, Lanser and Rasmussen.They run at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Sage Ehresman will be in two events for the L-S boys track team. He qualified in the 100-meters and the shut put. Colfax-Mingo’s Jake Lietz runs in the 400 and then anchors the Tigerhawks’ 4x400 relay team.

Both will have chances to win top-three medals in their events. Ehresman throws at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and runs at 4:35 p.m. Thursday.

Lietz’s 400 meters will kick off at 7:20 p.m. Saturday. The 4x400 relay team includes Blake Summy, Gabe Simpson, Andreas Juul and Lietz and they’ll go for the gold at 7:40 p.m. Friday.

The final Tigerhawk to reach the state meet was Colin Lourens, and he’ll compete in the long jump at 2 p.m. Thursday.

The Hawks won the state title in the 4x100 last year. Ehresman returns from that team to run this year and that group tries to qualify for the finals at 6:40 p.m. Friday. The foursome includes Caden Dunsbergen, Noah Engle, Noah Zylstra and Ehresman.