March 28, 2024

PCM’s Strovers brings home hardware in 2A long jump

DES MOINES — Payton Strovers’ goals in the long jump coming into this season were to break the school record and bring home a state track meet medal.

Check and check as the Mustang senior wrapped up his prep long jump career with a fourth-place finish during a hot day at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium on Thursday.

“I know once I get the medal it will be pretty cool,” Strovers said. “This was the goal. To get top three and set the school record. I had a lot of help from Preston (Van Wyk) and some others always encouraging to do my best.”

Strovers broke the school record earlier this season with a leap of 21 feet, 10 inches. On Thursday, his jump of 21-6 1/4 on his final attempt pushed him into a tie for fourth and he gets the fourth-place medal because his third best jump of 21-3 was better than OABCIG’s Cooper DeJean.

Strovers and DeJean went into the finals second after starting their day with identical jumps of 21-4 1/4.

“I felt good going into the finals, but I knew I could do better. It was a good experience,” Strovers said.

The Mustangs competed in five other events on the first day of the state track meet that reached temperatures over 95 degrees.

Both shuttle hurdle relay teams advanced to Saturday’s finals.

The Mustang girls’ team of Morgan Uhlenhopp, Megan Cowman, Chelsea Bird and Margo Chipps set a new school record with a time of 1 minute, 7.86 seconds.

That time was the third fastest of the preliminary round. The Mustangs were .04 seconds behind Emmetsburg for second.

“It feels really good. We have been trying for that record since our freshmen seasons. We also got a medal so that makes it even better,” Cowman said. “We wanted to get higher than we were seeded, which was sixth. We are looking good right now.”

Later in the day, and in 90-degree weather, the Mustang boys qualified in the final spot with a season-best time of 1:01.45.

The team of Nick Buswell, Nigel Sperfslage, Reed Worth and Cole Dustin all earned their first state medals. They’ll try to move up the standings in the finals Saturday.

“The goal coming in was to make finals and we were able to do that. We came in ninth so we just hoped to beat at least one team,” Buswell said. “This is my first state medal so that’s awesome.”

The other final of the day for PCM came in the 2A girls’ long jump. Lexi Kuecker placed 20th overall with a leap of 15-11, which was close to the 16-1 she qualified for state with.

“I am glad it was close to what I jumped at districts. It was a good experience. It was the softest sand I have ever been in,” Kuecker said. “The nerves are up when you come here. You just hope for the best. At least I was consistent with my qualifying jumps.”

Worth and Sierra Foster both competed in the 200-meter dash preliminaries. Worth was just outside of advancing to the finals as he finished 11th with a time of 23.14. Foster was 14th in the girls’ 200 with a personal-best time of 26.83.

“It was fun. I didn’t run my best, it’s always fun to compete in front of a big crowd,” Worth said. “I will take it. I came here with no expectations.”

Dike-New Hartford’s Parker Kiewiet won the 2A boys’ long jump with a mark of 22-10 3/4, a leap he did on his final attempt.

Greene County’s Colby Kafer was second with a leap of 22-6 1/2.

Strovers was sitting pretty good heading into the finals, but several jumpers passed him in the finals. Strovers scratched on his first two jumps in the finals but got his best mark of the day on his last attempt to climb to fourth.

“I was just looking at the board, trying to get a jump in,” Strovers said. “That last jump was pretty decent. The second scratch was my best jump. I felt like it was my best one.”

PCM returns to Drake Stadium for seven more events on Friday. The first event of the day is Dustin in the 110 high hurdles preliminaries at 9:40 a.m. Chipps goes in the 100 hurdles preliminaries at 10 a.m.