Vander Linden, McCoy medal in 1A 400 meters

DES MOINES — Sophomore Tyson Vander Linden and junior Corey McCoy claimed the first state track meet medals for Lynnville-Sully at the 2017 Iowa High School Track and Field Championships.

Running in the same heat of the Class 1A boys’ 400-meter dash on Thursday, Vander Linden and McCoy went 1-2 then had to wait to see how their times held up against the final heat of runners.

Vander Linden’s 50.54 seconds earned him the fifth-place medal and McCoy claimed the eighth-place medal in 51.25.

Avery Moore won the 1A 400 meters in 49.19 seconds.

Lynnville-Sully’s track teams had just four events on Thursday in the Class 1A competition. Three were races on Drake University Stadium’s Blue Oval.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to run here at state. It’s a dream come true and to claim a state medal is pretty awesome” Vander Linden said after it was all said and done on the track Thursday. “I knew I had to get out quick and go hard the whole way to get in the medals.”

Vander Linden pushed to the lead in the heat and pulled away from the field heading down the front stretch. McCoy made up the stagger and was right behind his teammate. It is McCoy’s second state medal in as many years after taking seventh in the 1A 800 meters last year.

The Hawk girls’ shuttle hurdle relay qualified for the 1A finals on Saturday. The foursome of senior Brenna Lander, freshmen Mallory Loftus and Abby Gruver and junior Camryn Russell posted a time of 1 minute, 10.64 seconds in the preliminary heat. They will run in the final at 11:50 a.m. Saturday.

Later in the day, the Lynnville-Sully boys’ shuttle hurdle relay team of sophomore Gage Vander Leest, junior Carson Dunsbergen and seniors Caden Dunsbergen and Ryan Hofer ran in a 1A preliminary heat. The four Hawks combined for a 1:02.11, which was 10th overall and did not advance them to Saturday’s final.

Sophomore Rylan James threw in his first state meet competition, finished 19th in the boys’ shot put. James’ best throw was 44 feet, 8 inches.

On Friday, Carson Dunsbergen competes in the 1A high jump, Hofer and Vander Leest run in the 110-meter hurdle preliminaries, Vander Linden competes in the 400-m hurdle final and the Hawk boys’ 4x400 relay team of Vander Leest, McCoy, Carson Dunsbergen and junior Brevin Hansen run in a preliminary race. The finals of the 110 hurdles and the 4x400 are Saturday.

The Lynnville-Sully girls’ 4x200 and 4x100 foursome of junior Lydia Akergen, senior Makenzy Rozendaal, Russell and Lanser are on the Blue Oval. The 4x200 is a final race and the 4x100 is a preliminary race with finals on Saturday

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