Hawks earn medals in hurdle events

DES MOINES — It’s truly amazing what both Lynnville-Sully seniors Amanda Kiehl and Shane Jansen accomplished Saturday at the State Track Meet in their respective hurdle events, especially when you look at their running conditions.

The Hawks aren’t fortunate enough to have an all-weather track in Sully — it’s gravel.

“It’s really bad,” Kiehl said. “We just try as hard as we can and when we go to the meets, it’s almost easier because we’re running on such a bad track at home.”

And on the state’s best stage — the blue oval at Drake University — both of the seniors brought home medals in the Class 1A 100-meter girls hurdles and 110-meter boys hurdles.

Both were making their first state meet appearances in those events.

The Hawks started with Kiehl and she finished sixth overall with a time of 15.97 seconds.

Sarah Yeager of Cardinal won with a time of 15.00.

“I’m really happy — it was my best time,” Kiehl said. “I ran last year, but we didn’t do very well (in the distance medley relay). This year was a lot better.”

Kiehl qualified with a time of 16.37 in the preliminaries on Friday, taking second in her heat.

Jansen also was second in his preliminary heat on the boys side, taking a time of 15.62 into the finals.

And in the finals, Jansen ran his season-best time of 15.44. That earned him seventh place.

“I really didn’t think I could make the finals — I thought it would be real close,” Jansen said. “Last year I missed state by one hundredths of a second but I made it this year. It wasn’t very easy last year. I came out this year and ran hard.”

It was Jansen’s first trip to state. It also was junior Mariah Terlouw’s first individual appearance at the State Track Meet, competing in the 800 and 1,500 Saturday.

“It was my first year here individually and in the 800, the nerves kind of got to me,” Terlouw said. “I found out there are a lot of good runners out there. It was a hot day, but I’m not blaming that at all.”

Terlouw finished 19th in the 800 with a time of 2:29.26 while taking 22nd in the 1,500 with a time of 5:28.17. Sara Stoakes of North Tama won both titles. Stoakes won four titles on the weekend.

And on Friday, senior Josh Van Wyk finished 10th in the high jump with a leap of 6-feet.

Van Wyk’s season-high leap was 6-4, and that would have put him in the top-3.

“I jumped six foot at state last year so I didn’t go down any,” Van Wyk said. “The jumps felt good. I just barely hit it with the back of my leg on that last one.”

Kody Gillaspie of Westwood won with a leap of 6-7.

A total of six jumpers cleared 6-foot, but only Lenox’s Tyler Peterson placed due to number of misses.