The South Hamilton Hawks track and field teams made the trip south of Des Moines on Thursday night, to compete in the Class 2A, District 6 State Qualifying Meet at PCM High School in Monroe. The Hawks were joined by the host Mustangs, Colfax-Mingo, Des Moines Christian, East Marshall, Interstate 35, Pella Christian, Pleasantville, Roland-Story, West Marshall, Williamsburg and Woodward-Granger.
In the field events, Austin Busch dominated yet again, sweeping the shot put and discus, throwing 57′ 2″ in the shot put and 157′ 2″ in the discus. Mackenzy Grady also punched her ticket to the Blue Oval in the discus, with a throw of 112′ 9″. Grady also placed 6th in the shot put with a throw of 34′ 8″. Grace Neuberger would place 3rd in the high jump, clearing 4′ 10″, while Taylor Remsburg was 8th in the long jump with a jump of 14′ 3.25″. Carter Balvanz would place 9th in both the shot put and discus.
In the individual events, South Hamilton saw two individual champions punch their ticket to state, as Tanner Blue won the boys 110 meter high hurdles in a time of 14.89 and Ashlyn Erickson won the girls 400 meter dash in a time of 1:01.72. Kate Barkema also qualified for the state meet, placing 2nd in the 100 meter dash in a time of 12.90, as Kelbe Krumm also qualified in the 200 meter dash, placing 2nd in a time of 26.67. Tanner Blue would also place 5th in the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 59.51, as Eli Potter and Nicholas Severseike placed 7th and 8th in the 800 meter run. Paige Doolittle and Mercedes Beaune would also place 7th and 8th in the 3000 meter run.
In the relays, the lone automatic qualifier for South Hamilton was the girls 4×100 meter relays, placing 2nd in a time of 50.99 with the quartet of Kate Barkema-Ashlyn Erickson-Makena Galetich-Kelbe Krumm. The girls 4×200 would place 3rd in 1:48.70, as did the girls 4×800, in a time of 10:33.89. The girls sprint medley also placed 3rd in a time of 1:56.50, while the highest placing boys race was the 4×800, which placed 5th in a time of 9:31.67.
South Hamilton’s boys would place 9th with 41 points, while South Hamilton’s girls would place 4th with 78 points. Des Moines Christian won the boys meet, while Williamsburg would claim the girls title.