L-S track teams send plethora of entries to state meet

MADRID — The Lynnville-Sully track and field teams had one state qualifier from each squad when the Hawks left Madrid after competing in a Class 1A state qualifier on Thursday.

But when the official state meet lists were released on Friday, the Hawks found out a whole lot more events will be represented on the blue oval this week.

The Hawks performed well in the state qualifier as both teams finished third in the team standings.

The L-S boys will have seven entries in the state meet after scoring 101 points on Thursday. Madrid won the meet with 195.5 points and Fort Dodge St. Edmond was the runner-up at 115. No other team in the 13-team field scored more than 70 points.

“We want to be our best at the end of the season, and we had a lot of season-best performances this evening,” L-S boys track and field coach Darin Arkema said. “It’s tough to have asked for much more from the guys as they gave it their all, had themselves focused and ready and worked together to finish third as a team.”

The Hawk girls will send five events to the state meet. They scored 90 points in third with host Madrid winning with 114 and St. Edmond finishing second at 99. Collins-Maxwell (89) was one point back in fourth. No other team scored more than 75.

The only automatic qualifiers for the Hawks came from Corder Noun Harder in the boys’ 100-meter dash and Greenlee Smock in the girls’ 3,000.

“It was a good night at Madrid for the Hawks,” L-S girls track and field coach Kevin Johnson said. “When you get to this level, the competition gets better. I’m proud of the efforts all night of all of our girls.”

Only the champion in each event at every 1A state qualifier advances to state automatically. But the next best 14 times and distances also earn at-large berths.

Noun Harder won the 100 in 11.96 seconds. Smock ran to a win in the 3,000 with a time of 11 minutes, 17.99 seconds, which was the fourth fastest qualifying time in 1A.

The L-S boys were second in six events and all but one were good enough to lock up at-large state berths.

Conner Maston will compete at the state meet in the high jump after finishing second with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches. Carter Dunsbergen tied for fourth in the event with a jump of 5-6.

James Gruver is a state qualifier in the 400 hurdles. He was the runner-up in a career-best time of 56.62 seconds. That time was the fifth best qualifying mark in 1A and his best by more than a full second.

Dunsbergen did make the state meet in the 110 hurdles. He finished second in 16.09.

The shuttle hurdle and distance medley relays were second and both will compete at the state meet.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Blake Rea, James Gruver, Mason Jansen and Dunsbergen finished in a season-best 1:06.06.

The distance medley relay foursome of Noun Harder, Hardenbrook, Gruver and Maston set a new season-best time of 3:48.45.

The sprint medley relay team also will be a state participant after finishing third. The team of Kyle Squires, Noun Harder, Hardenbrook and Maston scored a season-best time of 1:38.77.

The final runner-up finish came from Ryan Annee in the long jump. He set a new season-best leap by more than nine inches but his jump of 19-10 3/4 was not good enough to advance. He missed the final at-large spot by one inch.

The 4x400 relay team of Maston, Caleb Rea, Blake Rea and Gruver finished third in a season-best time of 3:39.67.

The 4x100 relay team was fourth. That group included Squires, Annee, Hardenbrook and Noun Harder and they finished in 46.59.

Hardenbrook scored a fourth-place finish in the 200. He finished the race in 23.56 and the final at-large spot was clocked in 23.53.

The 4x200 and 4x800 relay teams both were fifth. The 4x800 relay group of Isaac Johnson, Blake Van Wyk, Kale Ehresman and Zach Morningstar finished in 9:44.65. The 4x200 relay team of Squires, Annee, Jansen and Caleb Rea completed the race in 1:38.79.

Morningstar had the other top-six finish as he was sixth in the 3,200 with a time of 11:08.93.

Smock will compete in the state meet in three events. Besides winning the 3,000, Smock was second in the 1,500 with a time of 5:21.05, which is the ninth best qualifying time in 1A.

Three other events qualified for state.

Korinne Jansen made it in the long jump after a runner-up finish and season-best leap. She was second with a jump of 15-11 1/2.

The 4x100 and 4x800 relay teams ran season-best times and are state bound.

The 4x800 team of Megan Van Zante, Cayler Noun Harder, Caitlin Alberts and Smock were second in 10:29.99.

The 4x100 squad of Carsyn McFarland, Jansen, Reagan McFarland and Dylann Huyser finished in 52.59, which was the ninth fastest qualifying time.

The distance medley relay team was third but missed out on state. That foursome included Jansen, Huyser, Van Zante and Alberts and they ran a season-best 4:43.57.

The 4x200 relay team of Carsyn McFarland, Aliya James, Jansen and Huyser was fourth in 1:55.

The sprint medley, 4x400 and shuttle hurdle relay teams all were fifth.

The sprint medley team of Reagan McFarland, James, Carsyn McFarland and Alberts finished in 1:58.87.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Riley Van Maanen, Allie Van Wyk, Elizabeth Elliot and Meleisha Vos hit the finish line in a season-best 1:22.81.

The 4x400 group of Morgan Jones, Cally Gibbs, Kinsley Tice and Noun Harder finished in 4:43. 27.

The Hawks doubled up in the 200 and 800. Carsyn McFarland (28.95) and Sydney Jansen (29.9) were 4-5 in the 200 and Smock (season-best 2:34.54) and Alberts (season-best 2:34.65) finished 4-5 in the 800.

James took sixth in the 100 in 13.86.

The Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

The Hawks’ busy three days kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday with the boys shuttle hurdle relay preliminaries. Smock runs in the 3,000 at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday. The 4x800 relay final kicks of at around 5:50 p.m. on Thursday and Korinne Jansen competes in the long jump at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Friday’s schedule begins with Maston in the high jump at 3:30 p.m. Also competing that day will be Dunsbergen in the 110 hurdles prelims at 4:10 p.m., Gruver in the 400 hurdles final at 5:50 p.m., the boys distance medley relay final at 6:30 p.m. and the girls 4x100 relay prelims at 7:10 p.m.

On Saturday, the sprint medley relay final will start at around 2:20 p.m. and Smock finalizes the weekend with the 1,500 at 5:05 p.m.