KQ-area athletes descended upon Drake Stadium in Des Moines for the second day in a row on Friday for Day 2 of the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships on the Blue Oval. After a solid opening day, Day 2 proved to be historic for some.
In the late afternoon, South Hamilton’s Austin Busch and Webster City’s JJ Moore were competing in the Class 2A Discus and the Class 3A Shot Put, respectively. Busch trailed Jesup’s Carson Lienau when he came up for his final throw, on his final toss as a Hawk, Busch’s mark of 169′ 2″ gave him the lead. After a 20 minute delay, where Lienau elected to allow a fellow finalist to take all three throws before his final throw, Lienau’s final attempt wasn’t near far enough, resulting in him taking a scratch, giving Austin Busch a state championship.
Just two minutes later and 30 yards to the south, LeMars Brandon VanderSluis stepped into the ring for his final throw, trailing JJ Moore, who had a throw of 59′ 4.25″. VanderSluis trailed by a mere half-inch, but fell short on his final toss, at 58′ 11″. Moore took one last throw, and built a new lifetime best at 59′ 5″ to win himself a state championship.
The daily double was the highlight of a stellar day for KQ-area athletes. South Hamilton’s Mackenzy Grady started off the day finishing 3rd in the 2A discus with a throw of 125′ 6″, as Roland-Story’s Madison Giese finished 11th with a throw of 111′ 6″. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows’s Nevan Foss placed 9th in 2A Boys High Jump, clearing 6′ 2″ on the day, as South Hamilton’s Grace Neuberger rounded out field events, as she bowed out of the 2A Girls High Jump at 4′ 10″.
Individual running events were limited on Friday, but South Hamilton’s Tanner Blue qualified for Saturday’s 2A 110 Meter High Hurdle final in a time of 14.90. Webster City’s Adeline Tesdahl would then compete in the 3A Girls 400 Meter Hurdles, finishing 10th in a time of 1:08.53, a new lifetime best for the Lynx sophomore.
Friday proved to be a big relay day, as Roland-Story’s Girls Distance Medley placed 4th in Class 2A in a time of 4:17.31 with the four of Sporleder-Petersen-Lande-Kilstofte. Then attention turned to the 4×200 Meter Relay, where Roland-Story appeared to claim 3rd in the boys race, but were later DQ’ed. Webster City would also DQ in the 3A Boys 4×200, while Clarion-Goldfield-Dows would place 18th in a time of 1:35.55. South Hamilton’s girls would shine in the 2A Girls 4×200, placing 7th overall in a time of 1:47.61 with the team of Galetich-Krumm-Thompson-Barkema.
The 4×100’s then took the track, as Roland-Story’s girls qualified for Saturday’s finals in a time of 50.74 with the team of Sporleder-Petersen-Faber-Lande. Eagle Grove placed 11th in a school-record time of 51.60 with Jeske-Steil-Anderson-Feske, while South Hamilton placed 24th in a time of 55.39. The 2A Boys 4×100 saw Roland-Story edge West Sioux by two-thousandths of a second, to claim the top qualifying spot in Saturday’s final in a time of 43.423 seconds with Johnson-Bunn-Carpenter-Thorson. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows was 23rd in 45.18. Finally, the 4×400’s took the track, as Roland-Story’s girls took home 15th in a time of 4:13.70, a new season-best with Bauer-Britten-Lande-Kilstofte. Finally, the Roland-Story Boys 4×400 set the 2A field ablaze, running a season-best time of 3:27.27, qualifying as the 2nd team for Saturday’s final with the team of Lande-Wilkinson-Johnson-Carpenter.
Action resumes tomorrow morning with the Girls Sprint Medley at 9 AM, where South Hamilton and Roland-Story will compete in Class 2A. Boys get kicked off at 9:50 AM with Roland-Story running in the 2A Sprint Medley.