Newton’s Jenkins claims 3A 400 state medal

DES MOINES — Sydney Jenkins has run at the state track meet for four years. She’d never experience of winning a state medal until Thursday.

The Newton High senior posted her personal-best time of 59.46 seconds to claim the seventh-place medal in the Class 3A girls’ 400-meter dash. Jenkins was all smiles — in between catching her breath — after Thursday’s race.

“It’s awesome. It was a great reach, and it was really fast,” Jenkins said. “I tried to get out hard and stay ahead. I just muscled through it at the end when I started to feel it.”

Jenkins ran in the same heat as Dianna Slight, a junior from Boone, who just set a state record in the race, winning in 54.73 seconds. The old 3A record was 56.05 seconds set in 2014 by Olivia Loy of Anamosa. There were seven of the top eight runners in the race, who ran the race in less than 60 seconds.

“I’m thankful I officially ran under 1 minute,” Jenkins said. “I really fell good about the race. Running here is a great experience. It’s amazing to be able to end a great season and my track career with a state medal.”

Jenkins said she did a lot of visualization of the race she wanted to run in Thursday’s competition. She said she has run at state in the 200-meter dash, which is tough “but the 400 is even tougher.”

Jenkins is not done at the 2016 Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships. She returns to Drake Stadium Friday to run with seniors Alex Hutchinson and Leela Spencer and sophomore Liz McVey in the 3A 4x100-meter relay preliminaries. That race is at 12:40 p.m.

The same Newton foursome will run in the 3A girls’ sprint medley relay final at 9 a.m. Saturday. If Newton qualifies for the 4x100 finals, the quarter run at 3:05 p.m. Saturday in the finals.

“I’ve had great encouragement from my teammates, my coaches and my family ,” Jenkins said. “This was a bit sad and very happy moment for me, ending my senior season of individual events.”

Opening Thursday’s 3A action for Newton was the Cardinal girls’ shuttle hurdle relay team of sophomores Alexis Stout, Audrey Lucas and Morgann Eide and freshman Abbie Barr. They turned in a season’s best time of 1 minute, 10.27 seconds, finishing 17th.

Next up was sophomore Jace Lukefahr competing in the 3A boys’ discus event. Lukefahr got two fair throws in during his three preliminary attempts. On the second throw, he pushed the discus to 134 feet, 1 inch to finish 18th.

“I was really surprised I qualified for state and I was really nervous today. It’s a lot more serious here than at other meets,” Lukefahr said. “I did a lot of foot work during the week to prepare for state. I felt comfortable once I got into the ring today. It was a great experience for me.”

Just after Jenkins ran her 400 meters, Newton junior Brennen Dodd was on the blue oval track for the 3A boys’ 400 finals. Dodd ran a season’s best 51.49 seconds placing 16th. The race was won by JoJo Frost of Center Point who edged out Vinton-Shellsburg’s Tyler Bartz — 49.02 to 40.05.

The second day of the state track and field meet has Newton sophomore Haley Revell competing in the 3A girls’ shot put and Newton junior Connor Gholson takes on the 3A boys’ long jump field at 9 a.m. Friday.

Stout runs in the 3A girls’ 400-meter hurdles at 11:40 a.m. The Newton boys’ distance medley relay team of sophomores Clayton Baltisberger, Matthew Karsten and Jack Callaghan with Dodd anchoring run in the 3A finals at noon.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com