March 29, 2024

Area relays garner state medals Saturday

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DES MOINES — Two of the four relay teams knew they had a state medal going into finals Saturday of the 2016 Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships. Which medal of eight up for grabs those relay team carried home would be determined how well they did on Drake Stadium’s blue oval.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s girls were in the 4x100-meter relay finals of Class 2A. The Raider girls qualified Friday on a run of 50.99 seconds. CMB had been fourth in the event a year ago.

Colfax-Mingo’s boys also ran a season’s best time, 3 minutes, 31.86 seconds, in their qualifying heat Friday night in the Class 1A 4x400-meter relay competition. Eight teams qualify for the finals of the 4x400 and 4x100 relays in each class.

First on the blue oval Saturday were the girls’ 800-meter sprint relay finals, which were timed finals featuring all 24 state qualified relays running in heats. It was all against the clock for two area teams — CMB and Prairie City-Monroe — in the Class 2A division.

CMB’s junior Megan Ritter, freshman Shasta Moody and seniors Toni Spencer and Bridget Hurley finished 17th in 1:54.70. PCM’s foursome of freshman Morgan Uhlenhopp, sophomore Ashley Miller, senior Emily Hugen and junior Rachel Stafford placed 23rd in 1:55.87.

Spencer and Hurley came back onto the track later in the afternoon with sophomores Sailor Hinegardner and Brianda Bane for the 2A 4x100 final. They posted a 51.37 to end their state run and claimed the eighth-place medal.

“Our preliminary was a faster time, but his was about what we’ve run all year,” Hurley said following the race. “It’s very exciting to being back here as a senior, so it’s a little bittersweet because now I wish I could come back next year.”

Hinegardner ran the leadoff leg of the relay and Bane ran the anchor leg with the two seniors in between. Bane said she tried to get out strong and get a good lead.

“I feel a little pressure,” Bane said. “I like being the anchor runner.”

“This week has been amazing here at state, and the weather has been great,” Spencer said. “We were looking to place higher, but I’m so excited to be here. It’s a great honor to run at the state meet.”

Just like every other relay team at the state meet, Colfax-Mingo’s senior 4x100 relay quartet was shooting for the state championship. Blake Summy, Gabe Simpson, Colin Lourens and Jake Lietz put together a great senior season as the Tigerhawks’ 4x100 relay.

The foursome ran another season’s best time Saturday, 3:31.41, which earned them seventh place in the 1A competition.

“It’s not what we wanted, but earning a medal at state is special. You get to run in front of thousands of people and it’s a good experience,” Lietz said. “It’s a nice reward for all our hard work.”

Summy said his leadoff leg was tough as he had a good 100 meters then fell behind. He handed the baton off to Simpson.

“I couldn’t catch up. I ran hard but this what state is all about — the competition is tough,” Summy said. “To be here as a senior and to medal is awesome.”

“It was tough cutting from lane two to one. I had to watch everybody in front of me cut in,” Simpson said.

Simpson, Summy and Lietz have been running the 4x400 for three years and Lourens came on the team tho season.

“It’s been pretty incredible for us, coming from being sophomores and getting destroyed in this race here to medaling as seniors. We’ve put in a lot of hard work. We take energy from each other and push each other to get better,” Simpson said.

Lourens said his third leg felt good and knew if he could keep the team close when he gave the baton to Leitz, “Jake could make something happen.”

Colfax-Mingo junior Dakota Hostetter finished competing in the distance triple at the 2016 state track meet with two races on Saturday. Hostetter ran the Class 1A 3,000 meters on Thursday, finishing 14th in 11:43.71.

Hostetter ran the 800 meters Saturday in 2:30.64 to place 20th then competed in the 1,500 meters later in the day. She came in the state meet with the 24th-fastest time in both the 800 and 1,500. Hostetter posted a time of 5:17.41 for 14th in the 1,500 meters.

She competed in four races over the three days of the state track meet. She anchored the Tigerhawk girls’ distance medley relay team to an eighth-place medal on Friday.

“I’m worn out at this point. My legs are dead after four races in three days,” Hostetter said after the 1,500. “I wanted to get through it and not be last.”

Prairie City-Monroe’s Rachel Stafford, a junior, ran the Class 2A girls’ 800-meter race Saturday. She finished 17th in 2:25.96.

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